Mary Wollstonecraft's Treatment Of Women In Jane Eyre

In the interaction between people, it is crucial that each party’s development of beliefs remains independent of the other’s person as a whole, and is instead focused upon the logic of the argument itself. True rational discourse may only be achieved when the two parties grant one another their utmost respect. This basic guiding principle of reasonable discussion is necessary in avoiding falling into the trap of ad hominem attack or becoming dismissive of another’s ideas simply by the judgement of their appearance. In the past, and still in the present, attacks on the opponent’s person rather than his or her ideas have been rampant, especially in politics. In the time of Mary Wollstonecraft, however, being a woman was reason enough for one’s thoughts to be entirely dismissed. Wollstonecraft

The idea of women’s autonomous thought present in Wollstonecraft’s claim in her A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is a valid extension of the major themes referenced within Jane Eyre. Throughout the novel, Jane Eyre is repeatedly subjected to the attempts of others to exert the power of their social standing upon her. However, in each recurring instances, Jane became further comfortable in rejecting the tradition of women’s submission to men and achieves her own end. After being a servant to the wishes of Gateshead Hall for years as an unsupported orphan, Jane manages to discover an independence