Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication Of The Rights Of Women

Caitlin Parrott

Dr. Radeva-Costello

English 232

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Mary Wollstonecraft’s Value of Reason

Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, was written to advance the rights of woman and national education in 1792. The essay is a philosophical feminist work that was highly controversial during this time. The mission of Wollstonecraft’s essay was to further the notion that men and woman are equal. Interestingly, Wollstonecraft as well wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Men. Through her writings, Wollstonecraft sought to enforce the idea of equal opportunity for women to close-minded thinkers. A major issue of the eighteenth century was that women were greatly oppressed, with no political rights and were limited to few occupations.

As a former governess and schoolmistress, Wollstonecraft was “frustrated by the state of girls’ education, and was sincerely interested in developing a more rigorous and more appropriate set of subjects for girls and young women” (Jacobs-Beck, 62). In this paper, I am going to explore the ability of Wollstonecraft to appeal to the value of reason in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, and argue that through rationalism, critiques of male authors, and religious arguments, the proposal of a more rigorous education for women is both attractive and valid.
Throughout A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft skillfully validates her points by appealing to rationalism in her arguments. Wollstonecraft was highly educated, and her knowledge is also a testament to the intelligence of women. To introduce the importance of her matter, Wollstonecraft outright states the purpose of her essay, in which she expresses “my main argument is built on this simple principle, that if she be not prepared by education to become the companion of man, she will stop the progress of knowledge and virtue . . .” (Wollstonecraft, 211). Wollstonecraft sets the tone of her essay in a professional manner that will attract the attention of her readers to seriously acknowledge her arguments. In addition, Wollstonecraft clarifies the professionalism of her writing, in which she states “I shall disdain to cull my phrases or polish my style;--I aim at being useful, and sincerity will render me unaffected; for wishing rather to persuade by the force of my arguments, than dazzle by the elegance of my language .

. .” (Wollstonecraft, 215). Wollstonecraft does not want the reader to feel pity for her, nor does she want to appear one-sided to her sex. Wollstonecraft does not proclaim that men and women are completely equal beings to further her notion of women’s education. Rather, Wollstonecraft proposes a valid point, stating that “In the government of the physical world it is observable that the female in point of strength is, in general, inferior to the male. This is the law of nature . . .” and “a degree of physical superiority cannot, therefore be denied . . .” (Wollstonecraft, 214). Therefore, Wollstonecraft is valid in asserting her arguments for a more rigorous education for women by confirming that fact that men are superior physically. However, Wollstonecraft points that women are treated as subordinate beings because of this fact by nature. Nevertheless, women can be made useful to society by promoting their thoughts, intellect, skills, and abilities. For example, a mother who is highly educated will raise virtuous children. Wollstonecraft validates this statement by proclaiming that “if children are to be educated to understand the true

principles of patriotism, their mother must be a patriot . . .” (Wollstonecraft, 211). However, Wollstonecraft proves the restraints upon women who wish to further educate themselves. She states that “men in their youth, are prepared for professions, and marriage is not considered as the grand feature in their lives; whilst women, on the contrary, have no other scheme to sharpen their facilities (Wollstonecraft, 232). This social restraint forces women to marry advantageously in order to rise in the world, rather than pursue an education that would be economically beneficial to their lives. Wollstonecraft argues that the social restraints on women stem from the stereotypes in the arts of the eighteenth century. She is rational in this assertion by stating that “novels, music, poetry, and gallantry, all tend to make women the creatures of sensation, and their character is thus formed in the mould of folly during the time they are acquiring accomplishments, the only improvement they are excited, by their station in society, to acquire” (Wollstonecraft, 233). Overall, Wollstonecraft appeals to rationalism through her evidence-based argument and professionalism of writing. Due to her ability to sensibly argue these points, the reader can see validity in her assertion for a more rigorous education for women.
In addition to providing rational arguments to assert the importance of women’s education, Wollstonecraft as well analyzes the works of male authors to further verify her points. Wollstonecraft criticizes the arguments made by Rousseau, Milton, and Dr. Gregory in her essay. Through these criticisms, Wollstonecraft provides rational insight and appeals to the reader by criticizing influential male authors of the eighteenth century. For example, through one of Milton’s writings in Paradise Lost, Wollstonecraft states that “he tells us that women are formed for softness and sweet attractive grace . . .” (Wollstonecraft, 217). This assertion by Milton proves the stereotype that women must remain elegant and are destined to serve for the pleasure of men. Wollstonecraft critiques Milton’s view on the purpose of women with the philosophy of Rousseau. According to Rousseau, the most perfect form of education is exercised to strengthen the body and the heart. However, this was Rousseau’s opinion in regards to men. Wollstonecraft as well believes this is the best kind of education, stating, “I extend it to women, and confidently assert that [women] have been drawn out of their sphere by false refinement, and not by an endeavor to acquire masculine qualities.” (Wollstonecraft, 219). Therefore, if a woman adheres to “masculine qualities” that woman will obtain dignity and the ability to support herself. However, this was not the view of society and many writers in the eighteenth century, who favored the traditional form of education for women. Wollstonecraft makes note of this, and states “I must declare what I firmly believe. That all the writers who have written on the subject of female education and manners from Rousseau to Dr. Gregory, have contributed to render women more artificial, weak characters, than they would otherwise have been; and, consequently, more useless members of society” (Wollstonecraft, 219). Rousseau displays in his philosophies that female education should only be used to make women more pleasing, but he however displays contradicting ideologies. Wollstonecraft proves his points to be nonsense in which he declares that a woman should be “ . . . a coquettish slave in order to render her a more alluring object of desire, a sweeter companion to man, whenever he chooses to relax himself” (Wollstonecraft, 222). Wollstonecraft rebuttals this statement, and explains that if by nature women are inferior to men, their virtues must be the same in quality. If they are not, then virtue must be a relative idea, because the manner of virtue should be founded on the same principles and have the same purpose. In addition, Dr. Gregory made a similar error through his contradicting philosophies. In regards to Dr. Gregory’s daughters, Wollstonecraft states that “he advises them to cultivate a fondness for dress, because a fondness for dress, he asserts, is natural to them” (Wollstonecraft, 224). Wollstonecraft proves the senselessness of this statement, in which she declares that the soul is not found of dress in a pre-existent state, and brought this inclination with it into a new body. It is clear that Wollstonecraft’s rational counter-arguments to significant male righters of the time further validate her petition for the rights of women and female education.
One of the major points of Wollstonecraft’s essay is to display the equality between men and women in accordance to religion. Through her religious arguments, Wollstonecraft can as well validate the reasoning that women deserve to have the same opportunities as men to further their education. For example, Wollstonecraft explains that “. . . for if men eat of the tree of knowledge, women will come in for a taste; but, from the imperfect cultivation which their understandings now receive, they only attain a knowledge of evil” (Wollstonecraft, 218). Wollstonecraft is asserting that both Adam and Eve ate fruit from the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden. Since Adam and Eve both ate the forbidden fruit and failed the will of God, both men and women need to work at obtaining virtue. However, since women have been denied an education, they have no means to obtain virtue. Therefore, it is rational for the reader to see how it is contradicting for virtue to be reserved to men. Wollstonecraft argues that virtue should not be limited to one sex, in which she states “. . . I see not the shadow of reason to conclude that their virtues should differ in respect to their nature. In fact, how can they, if virtue has only one eternal standard? I must therefore, if I reason consequently, as strenuously maintain that they have the same simple direction, as that there is a God” (Wollstonecraft, 223). In addition, Wollstonecraft points that there is another contradiction, in which it is the prevailing opinion that woman was created for man. Wollstonecraft explains that Eve was part of Adam’s ribs. Therefore, society makes the deduction that her creation was only created for his convenience or pleasure. However, Adam cannot be a man without the aid of Eve, who supplied part of his rib. Thus, women are vital to men and not created for convenience. The rational arguments made by Wollstonecraft in regards to religion further emphasize that women are of the same nature of men, and need the opportunity of education to obtain virtue, as God wills it.
Mary Wollstonecraft is very successful at appealing to the value of rationalism and providing logical evidence to her arguments. During the eighteenth century, Wollstonecraft’s sensible arguments stuck controversy to close-minded thinkers that truly believed in the social norm of women as subordinate beings. Wollstonecraft demonstrates that women are not simply decorations to society or assets to be obtained in marriage, but rather equal human beings who deserve the opportunity to educate themselves. The professionalism and validity of her essay is displayed through rational arguments, critiques of influential male authors, and religious evidence. Through her essay, Wollstonecraft hoped to “persuade women to endeavor to acquire strength, both of mind and body . . . and that those beings who are only the objects of pity and that kind of love, which has been termed its sister, will soon become objects of contempt” (Wollstonecraft, 215). Her essay can be considered one of the earliest works for feminist philosophy, and can even be argued to have influenced many feminist writers today. Mary invoked new ideologies into many men and women of the eighteenth century, and helped inspire the movement for women’s education.