Mary Wollstonecraft: A Radical Englishwoman
Mary Wollstonecraft lived in a time where women had no right to vote, no right to education beyond what their mother or governess taught them, and basically no right to individuality or an opinion. They were considered possessions and virtually had no mind of their own. She realized that this was a problem of society and openly voiced her opinions on the matter. She wrote the book A Vindication of the Rights of Women in response to a literary response to the society's so-called proper behavior of a woman and what her rights should be. But her opinions were brought on by more that the ability to think for herself; she suffered much during her childhood and throughout the years to come. Wollstonecraft dealt with the beating of her mother and sister, death of a close friend, and even a nervous breakdown of her sister. Her own experiences in her life inspired her to write a book that would cause her to be criticized harshly for her radical views.
From the beginning, Mary's life was one large cry for help. Her father,
always in the middle of some economic failure, would beat Mary's mother and
the children during his drunken fits of rage and frustration over losing money and
being a failure. She had witnessed time and again her mother being abused by
her father, and many times she would throw herself in front of her father to keep
her mother from receiving yet another blow (Ferguson 1). Another domestic
violence situation she encountered was that of her sister, Eliza. Eliza had suffered
a nervous breakdown, and Wollstonecraft was convinced that this was caused by
her husband's abuse. Wollstonecraft then proceeded to kidnap her si...
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...iety would be viewed as chauvinistic. How is it that women were so sadly looked down on when this particular woman was so extremely advanced for her time? She may have received criticism on her book, but her writings were persuasive enough to
affect the views of women and eventually men for many years to come.
Bibliography:
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Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Women. in Abrams.
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Women's History. Ed. Terri Bittner. Apr. 1998. .
Born as a free woman in London, England Mary argued for education along with unjust laws for women that subjected them to a form of slavery. As the world around her at the time was facing a political breakthrough with the United States using idea’s formed by philosophers John Locke and Thomas Hobbes theories in the social contract, to break free from England, she hoped the French Revolution would create an era of equality and reason. Wollstonecraft places her opinion that the condition of adult women is caused by the neglect of education for girls. Most of the essay is based on her argument for education of
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Indisputably, Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the most influential figures of Enlightenment, also considered the ‘first feminist’. It is certain that her works and writing has influenced the lives of many women and altered the outlook of some societies on women, evolving rights of women a great deal from what they used to be in her time. It is clear that Wollstonecraft’s arguments and writing will remain applicable and relevant to societies for many years to come, as although there has been progression, there has not been a complete resolution. Once women receive so easily the freedom, rights and opportunities that men inherently possess, may we be able to say that Wollstonecraft has succeeded in vindicating the rights of women entirely.
In the essay, Wollstonecraft is a woman in the 1700s, who currently experiencing inequality due gender that she was born into. During this era, women do not have many rights as a citizen, nor as a human being. Women are expected to perform household duties, such as cooking, cleaning, raising children, and being completely submissive to their husband. However, one woman had a different opinion of what a woman is capable of doing, and her name is Mary Wollstonecraft. Mary believed that woman should be treated equally as men, in the manner of education, respect, and status.
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It is a declaration for the equal rights of man and women. The political significance of Mary Wollstonecraft cannot be overstated—her work is regarded as one of the first greatest feminist treatises in history and is also seen as the first step towards liberal feminism. She fought equality for women in the political sphere, but she also addressed the need for equality in the social, private realm. She emphasized the need for reform in women’s status, education, and maternal duties. In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft argues that men and women are born with the same ability to reason. Therefore, men and woman should equally be able to exercise reason and attain knowledge. And conclusively, educated women would ultimately improve society; they would become better wives and mothers (72, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman). She argues that the current education system (i.e. Rousseau’s ideas of women education) restricts women and subjects them into passivity. Women are not perceivably “smart” as men because they have not been given the opportunity to be; women receive a “disorderly kind of education” (46, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman). Women are kept in passivity, forced to superficiality and shallowness. She derides these traits that are seen as inherent to a woman’s nature and asks the powerful question: how are women supposed to contribute to society if they have been reduced to their appearance and bodily function? For a thriving, modern and true civilization to succeed, each and every individual must be encouraged to seek moral and intellectual development, including
The 18th and 19th centuries were a time of immense social change across the European continent as the Enlightenment took hold and France immersed itself in revolution. The impact of these events was amplified by a flood of documents declaring the undeniable rights and equality of man. However, the documents contained an inherent hypocrisy. The highly praised authors had neglected to award any dignities or justices to women. In response, the female writers of the time released their own declarations of rights, and pointed out just how unequal their position was. One of these documents, The Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft, argues for the equality of the sexes and against the male need to suppress women. Her initial
Her book pushed women into wanting greater rights. She stated that what women needed to feel more inferior was education. Mary said that “Till women are more rationally educated, the progress in human virtue and improvement in knowledge must receive continual checks.” (Pettinger): meaning that women don’t get the same education opportunities as men therefore men see them as a person who doesn’t do anything but stay home and does what they say. She said that it was only the lack of education that made women seem to be intellectually inferior. Men will see them weaker if they don’t know how to do anything, if women did have the education that they need then they are able to speak their mind and change the way that men see women. Women shouldn’t think that they need men’s help in order to be someone in
Wollstonecraft, Mary, and Mary Wollstonecraft. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman ; & A Vindication of the Rights of Men. New York: Cosimo Classics, 2008. Print.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. “A Vindication of the Rights of Women with Structures on Political and Moral
In Mary Wollstonecraft’s The Wrongs of Woman, or Maria and Mary Robinson’s The Natural Daughter women are subject to many hardships economically, simply because they are women. Women are not given sufficient opportunity, as men are, to pursue a living. Even if she is a woman of taste and morals, she may be treated as though she is a criminal and given no means to protect herself. In order for a woman to be sustained, she must marry into slavery, dishonor herself through unsavory work, or be lucky enough to be properly educated and given proper reference.
A wise man once said “Man is only great when he acts from passion.” When you hear the word passion, the first thing that might come to your mind is something related to love, and you’re not entirely wrong. According to Merriam- Webster’s dictionary, passion is defined as a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something or a strong feeling (such as anger) that causes you to act in a dangerous way. All in all, it is a strong feeling, be it happiness, sadness, anger or liberality. You can be passionate about many things such as love, sports, food, or intimacy. However, it can also mean having a strong yearning for something.
Women today are still viewed as naturally inferior to men, despite the considerable progress done to close this gap. Females have made a huge difference in their standing from 200 years ago. Whether anyone is sexist or not, females have made considerable progress from where they started, but there is still a long journey ahead. Mary Wollstonecraft was an advocate of women 's rights, a philosopher, and an English writer. One of Wollstonecraft’s best works was “A Vindication of the Rights of Women” (1792). In her writing, she talks about how both men and women should be treated equal, and reasoning could create a social order between the two. In chapter nine of this novel, called “Of the Pernicious Effects Which Arise from the Unnatural Distinctions Established in Society,”
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Mary Wollstonecraft was a self-educated, radical philosopher who wrote about liberation, and empowering women. She had a powerful voice on her views of the rights of women to get good education and career opportunities. She pioneered the debate for women’s rights inspiring many of the 19th and the 20th century’s writers and philosophers to fight for women’s rights, as well. She did not only criticize men for not giving women their rights, she also put a blame on women for being voiceless and subservient. Her life and, the surrounding events of her time, accompanied by the strong will of her, had surely affected the way she chose to live her life, and to form her own philosophies.