Lady Castlejordan and her deceased husband wanted nothing more than a family of strong, athletic, strapping young English boys. As luck would have it, the couple was fated only to give birth to daughters. Defiant against the constraints of womanhood in Victorian England, the Belturbet girls are raised to be boys at home and girls in public. All three relish the independence that living as young men affords them. But as the “boys” grow older, their place in society becomes more and more scandalous and uncertain. Moreover, what will happen if they should chance to fall in love? Arthur Wing Pinero’s The Amazons was ahead of its time in challenging traditional gender roles. This fun and breezy comedy turns the Victorian rules of womanhood on its head by showing three free-spirited girls who can do all that woman and man may do.
The Amazons guide sections
