Gender Equality in Hardy's and Wollstonecraft's Works

In Thomas Hardy’s “The Ruined Maid” and Mary Wollstonecraft’s “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman,” it is quite clear that both literary works carry a strong, bold statement about the standards of women using different perspectives. Mary Wollstonecraft, an author and advocate of women’s rights born in the mid-1700s, grew up in an era in which women had very limited or no rights at all. Thomas Hardy, a late Victorian novelist and poet, had also grown up in an era in which women had barely anything to call a right. Majority of these non-existent rights dealt with the relationships women and the status of gender equality. Throughout both of these pieces of literature, the arguments brought upon both authors are clearly similar in that they bring

They both hold many conflicting and controversial messages about gender equality and the disadvantages of being a women during the mid-1700s or the Victorian rein. Analyzing Hardy’s satirical poem, one cannot help but sense that Hardy’s “The Ruined Maid” carried a more symbolic meaning in comparison to Mary Wollstonecraft’s life and works. Looking at Thomas Hardy’s “The Ruined Maid”, ‘Melia or Amelia, the ruined maid, is shown to be a successful woman living her life out in luxury as anyone would every want despite being a woman that goes against the social norms of a Victorian. She is seen, as by the fellow country girl, as prim and proper with luxurious clothing and accessories as well as speaking in a formal manner in comparison to the rural speech used in the poem itself. Hardy’s poem also seemingly defines the differences of man and woman during the Victorian era. The whole poem is centered on Amelia and the other country girl, but if say they had been replaced by men, the meaning prove possibly an entirely different meaning. Seeing as the country girl held some envy for Amelia’s prosperous ruin, as a man, it would be natural to feel envy for another person’s success. However, the scenario, from Victorian eyes, may be deemed fitting for the male counterpart as it was natural to believe that men were vastly superior to women both in physical strength and intellect as observed by