Mary Astell Thesis

Mary Astell Topic? 2 outside sources (Women rights obligations etc.)

During the 1600s marriage was a high demand among men and women. This was the time when England was impacted by different events that occurred. As a man in England they were responsible for keeping the country’s political and economic businesses going. While, women did not have a huge amount of responsibility politically or economically. The seventeenth century in England marriage and sexual morals was important Mary Astell, who was an English feminist writer and rhetorician. She was known for her advocacy of equal opportunities for women. She could express her political and theological through the different works she published. She was the voice for women during this time.

In Mary Astell’s essays, Some Reflections upon Marriage and A Serious Proposal to the Ladies she uses imagery and descriptive language to persuade women to remain single. She uses her feminism political views to display how women should advocate for themselves when they need a voice when they are forced into a marriage.

In the essay, Some Reflections upon Marriage, Mary Astell addresses happy marriages and failed marriage. She talks about how money is based on some marriages in England and how some marriages do not last because they lack the emotional concept that comes with marriage. Astell also addresses the viewpoint of men and what marriages mean to them. She says that some men marry for love and some marry because of the women’s appearance. But, she addresses the women opinion on marriage and how some women marry because it’s the norm and it’s not a necessity. Astell states, “If marriage be such a blessed state, how comes it, may you say, that there are so few happy marriages? Now in answer to this, it is not to be wondered that so few succeeded; we should rather be surprised to find so many do, considering how imprudently men engage, the motives they act by, and the very strange conduct they overserve throughout” (Astell 2421). In this quote Astell addresses the how can marriage be a happy thing that happens in life, but there are so few marriages that last long and where both men and women are happy in the marriage. She argues that a happy marriage will not last because of the man’s

actions and how they do not conduct themselves in a manner where they are not married. She further then describes the purpose of marriage to men and what they look for in a woman. She describes, “For pray, what do men propose to themselves in marriage? What qualifications do they look after in a spouse? What will she bring? Is the first enquiry: How many acres? Or how much ready coin? Not that this is altogether an unnecessary question, for marriage without a competency, that is, not only a bare subsistence, but even a handsome and plentiful provision, according to the quality and circumstances of the parties, is no very comfortable condition” (Astell 2421). When a man looks for a woman to marry they tend to ask various of questions or have a standard that they are held to marrying during the seventeenth century. Some men are focused on what contributions they will bring such as: money, land and appearance. Men are more concerned about the money than the actual marriage. She argues what is marriage without money or without things that women cannot contribute.