In 19^th century Sweden it is possible to observe how literary themes about women reflect social reforms for women. This connection serves to justify that the female as a performer on the stage of Swedish society can be studied and understood in the light of the literature from the same period. Thus, the aim of this article is to describe the evolution of the status of women through the fictional theme of the female actress, as depicted by three authors in this comparative study: Carl Jonas Love Almqvist (1793-1866), August Strindberg (1849-1912) and Anne Charlotte Leffler (1849-1892). Their texts The Queen’s Tiara (1834), Miss Julie (1888) and Skådespelerskan [The Actress] (1873) show that they all were engaged in the debate about the status of women. Their different perspectives offer material to analyse how the female actress as a character was used to express women’s striving to perform as well on the public as on the private scene.