„Significant and complete”? — about Norwid’s female characters
The following article is an attempt to analyze female characters of Cyprian Norwid’s literary output. As he criticizes the depiction of women in the works of Polish Romantics, Norwid calls for the introduction of important, businesslike and reliable female characters into literature. In his poetry and prose he creates two types of female characters: glorified ideal women and criticized society dolls, who are entangled in the social bonds of Norwid’s times. A woman that is utterly important for the following analysis is Maria, the main character of Pierścień Wielkiej Damy. The article concerns Norwid’s essayistic and epistolary work on femininity and woman’s social position as well.