''Fidelity'' is a novel written by author

Susan Glaspell Susan Keating Glaspell (July 1, 1876 – July 28, 1948) was an American playwright, novelist, journalist and actress. With her husband George Cram Cook, she founded the Provincetown Players, the first modern American theatre company. First known ...

(1876–1948). The novel was first published in Boston, in 1915, by Small, Maynard & Company. The story revolves around the life experiences of Ruth Holland, a young woman from a Midwestern town called

Freeport, Iowa Freeport is an unincorporated community in northeastern Winneshiek County, Iowa, United States. History A post office was established in April 1854, and remained in operation until being discontinued in November 1905. William H. Strayer (1866- ...

, who defies the societal mandates of her times when she falls in love with a married man and runs away to Colorado with him. When she returns to her hometown after 11 years, she has to deal with the death of her father, the break-up of her family, and the rejection of her loved ones. Although the novel was not well-received by critics when it was originally published, later reviews have been more positive, with Marcia Noe's ''Susan Glaspell: Voice from the Heartland'' proclaiming it to be Glaspell's best novel.

Structure

The novel is structured around 'moments of suspense and disclosure', and moves between past and present events and between the main story and subsidiary plots. Complex moral issues are looked at from multiple perspectives. The ambiguity of Ruth's dilemma is reflected in the use of the technique of shifting points of view originated by the psychologist William James. Glaspell sheds light on her subjects with various 'lamps', in the sense that different characters present their own standings regarding the concept of fidelity.

Plot and theme

''Fidelity'' is the third novel by Susan Glaspell and it elaborates on the concept of woman’s fidelity to marriage, men, society, family and especially to herself. For the plot, Glaspell got inspiration from her own life experience and mainly based on the relationship she had with

George Cram Cook George Cram Cook or Jig Cook (October 7, 1873 – January 14, 1924) was an American theatre producer, director, playwright, novelist, poet, and university professor. Believing it was his personal mission to inspire others, Cook led the fou ...

, who was married by the time they met and could not marry Glaspell until he got his divorce. The novel deals with Glaspell's major themes: the controversial relationship between women and society, and the conflicts arising from the clash between women's longing for freedom and their need to be part of a community or family that seek to suppress them. Ruth Holland, Glaspell's main character, is a fiery woman who struggles to become a new woman and to detach herself from the binary gender images advocated by the

patriarchal Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of Dominance hierarchy, dominance and Social privilege, privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical Anthropology, anthropological term for families or clans controll ...

society she lives in. She has to face the consequences of her doings and struggles to decide whether she has been unfaithful to society's demands or faithful to her needs and desires. According to Barbara Ozieblo Rajkowska, author of ''Susan Glaspell: A Critical Biography'', Glaspell exposes moral issues in multiple perspectives, not just as contests between good and evil. In her novel, Glaspell deconstructs the romantic myths of love and marriage. ''Fidelity'' serves as commentary on what Glaspell saw as a middle-class society that prioritizes marriage as the ultimate goal, and shows that romantic love cannot be expected to fulfill everyone's existences.

Structure

Plot and theme

References

Further reading