Two women

Two Women (1842-1843) is the second novel written by Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda. In this work the author addresses some of the main themes that star in the great novelistic creations of the nineteenth century: arranged marriages, adultery, female education and the role of women in nineteenth-century society, themes par excellence of the great novels of Spanish and European realism-naturalism.
The novel Two Women introduces the female point of view about adultery and the possibility of divorce, by centering the conflict between two women fighting for possession of a man.
Gómez de Avellaneda raises a simple argument in which two women of very different temperament and training – Luisa, prototype of the feminine ideal of the time, and Catalina, a new woman, who guides her own way of life – will fall madly in love with Carlos, a man unsuitable for both, because he will be unable to reciprocate with the same intensity with which he is loved by them. and it will cause, therefore, the unhappiness of both Louise and Catherine.
Both characters, although opposed in education and life trajectory, are presented by the author as women aware at all times of the authenticity of their feelings, capable of fighting to preserve their love and of making a resolution, wrong or not, that puts an end to that unfortunate situation in which they find themselves.
In Two Women Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda reflects on her own experience, her circumstances and her emotional state. The novelist questions the world around her and pours into her creations some reflections, thoughts and personal beliefs molded under the garb of romantic aesthetic ideology.

“I repeat to you for the hundredth time, sister, that it is absolutely necessary for my son to know a little of the world before entering into such solemn commitments as those of marriage.
“Yes, because throwing a poor twenty-year-old boy, who comes out of a school, in that Babylon of Madrid, to be perverted and corrupted, is the best means of preparing him to be a good husband. To the truth, brother, that you run with success!
“Leonor, you interpret my words with an arbitrariness that astonishes me. Who tries to throw Carlos, as you say, to be perverted and corrupted? Can not my son go to court recommending appreciable and prudent subjects to guide him in that which you call Babylon? In addition, in Madrid as in Seville there is good and bad: I do not know why it should be assumed that everyone who goes, will necessarily be perverted. You have such unfair and tenacious concerns!
“And you such inconceivable whims… So, in short, Francisco, you are resolved, despite the repeated reflections that I make to you, to send the boy to Madrid as soon as he arrives in Seville.

Fragment of the work

Reference edition: Madrid, Gabinete Literario, 1842.