Louisa May Alcott's novella "Behind A mask" speaks of more forward-thinking feminist ideas then Margaret Fuller's "The Great Lawsuit". Alcotts' racy little short story grabbed the reader from the beginning and made sure you were tied firmly to Jean Muir's apron strings for the rest of the lurid tale. It gave a woman, of low-birth and little training (other then that of the stage), the chance to make big, bold decisions. Fuller wrote of Queen Elizabeth and Queen Isabella and Queen Victoria, all aristocratic and high-born, but Alcott gave a mere governess the chance to make decisions and shape her future by whichever way she could.
Alcott, even though the novella was written under a pseudonym, proves that she is far ahead of her time by allowing a woman to play the role that is usually reserved for men, that of the "crafty trickster". Jean Muir is not a nice woman, neither is she a good person. She lacks the virtue and the saintliness that usually accompanies female characters in the domestic literature prevalent at the time. In her thirties, unmarried, an actress, an alcoholic- characters like Jean Muir were seldom seen because they were looked on as impossible heroines. Alcott allows a woman to be evil/crafty, whereas before this was a trait reserved for men, as women lacked the intelligence/ability to act with wicked intent.
Having widely read works and a large literary following like Louisa May Alcott did does not immediately point to her being the better writer. Though her writing is desperately fun, fluid, exciting, and easy to read, Margaret Fuller's poetic and declamatory writing style in "The Great Lawsuit" takes the cake as the better written work. As to which author I enjoyed reading, that is another story altogether.
Readers of her own sex would be happier with the tale than men. All men and women wear masks. It is only a matter of how rigidly the society forces masks on people.
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