Although Sophie Tieck was an incredibly prolific author, she has been almost completely forgotten today. She was convinced that "one acts unjustly against the female sex". In her literature, she was particularly interested in the relationship between the sexes, the possibilities and limits of female agency and a new concept of romantic love.

Her story "Male fidelity" (“Männertreue”) from 1795 is about young Sophie's revenge on her fiancé Karl: he swore allegiance to his fiancée too wholeheartedly and then (almost) broke it at the first opportunity. But he had no idea that Sophie was setting a trap for him. She hired a seductress to teach Karl a lesson. At first glance, "Male fidelity" looks like a comedy-like tale of the Enlightenment. However, it reverses conventional gender roles. For in the Enlightenment, women were often seen as emotional and men as rational beings. In Tieck’s story, however, Sophie speaks rationally throughout, while her fiancé Karl only appears emotional:

 Sophie gave the reasons for her opinions, he countered her with the most fiery declamations.

So it is not the duped man who has the last word, but the thoughtful woman. She places the demand for fidelity in relation to the uncontrollability of human feelings – and names love as the highest power:

Promise faithfulness with regard to your actions. No man can promise feelings; he is not master over them. But then, if he allows himself to be led by these feelings into unlawful actions, [...] then only love [...] can tear apart the judgment of condemnation.