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Mary wollstonecraft text
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1. It all depends on how I was raised because If anyone is going a big influnece in your life it most likey going to be your parents. If my parents taught me to be open-minded and respect everyone's opinions, then I would defiently be persuaded by Wollstonecraft's arguments. But if i was raised to be close-minded and sexist, then I wouldn't even bother reading the rest of her arguments. 2. The comparison Wollstonecraft makes between children and women is that women are treated like little innocent children. This reveals that the status of women is small,limited, and unequal because they are only taught to please their husbands instead of being able reach their potentials as human beings and be best at whatever they want to be. 3. Wollstonecraft
What is it that separates and elevates human beings from the rest of the animal world? It is the ability to logically explain an action, decision, or conviction; it is the capacity to reason. As Rousseau states, “Only reason teaches us good from evil” (Wollstonecraft 238). According to him, as well as countless other intellectuals of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, through the exercise of reason men become moral and political agents. Of course, this Enlightenment theory does not include women. Rousseau declares his opinion of the female, “O how lovely is her ignorance!” (253) The woman is the man's fantasy, the man's student, the man's plaything. Controlled, contained, and defined by the man, the woman is inferior to him and thus, not human.
"This is the very point I aim at. I do not wish [women] to have power over men; but over themselves" (Wollstonecraft 63). Wollstonecraft made this statement in response to Roseau dictating that if society "[Educated] women like men..." (Wollstonecraft 63), and women would resemble the male sex, and then carry less power over men. Instead of succumbing to men, Wollstonecraft stressed how education could elevate a women to reach equal statue in society. Following similar ideas to the Tao Te Ching and the Art of War, Wollstonecraft serves education as a tool of discipline to women who can use it to help elevate them in society. Wollstonecraft points out in her introduction that, "One cause to [the problem of women sacrificing their usefulness and strength to beauty attributes] to a false system of education..." (Wollstonecraft 6), and how a reformation and push for women to better educate themselves and look past what is currently there will help them reach higher status in society; therefore giving them their own independence. As Wollstonecraft dictates, "It follows then, I think, that from their infancy women should either be shut up like eastern princes, or educated in such a manner as to be able to think and act for themselves (Wollstonecraft
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
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.
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.
Women spend years raising young boys, just to have them receive a better education than they posse, this is not an unfair testament to the society that Wollstonecraft lives in. Women simply have no standing in the society no matter what they do or accomplish, they are always considered subordinates to men. According to their society, men will always have the upper hand when it comes to the more useless member of society,
Mary Wollstonecraft was as revolutionary in her writings as Thomas Paine. They were both very effective writers and conveyed the messages of their ideas quite well even though both only had only the most basic education. Wollstonecraft was a woman writing about women's rights at a time when these rights were simply non-existent and this made her different from Paine because she was breaking new ground, thus making her unique. Throughout her lifetime, Wollstonecraft wrote about the misconception that women did not need an education, but were only meant to be submissive to man. Women were treated like a decoration that had no real function except to amuse and beguile. Wollstonecraft was the true leader in women's rights, advocating a partnership in relationships and marriage rather than a dictatorship. She was firm in her conviction that education would give women the ability to take a more active role in life itself.
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
There is no doubt that Charlotte Bronte knew the works of Mary Wollstonecraft, and she knew them well. Although Wollstonecraft's ideas were written a hundred years beforehand, many women did not read her work because it was not easily attainable. Many women were not educated to read this piece of literature and many men deemed it unimportant to their education. Bronte's works were cleverly disguised in women's entertainment, the novel. The main themes both women discuss are education, love and marriage.
Wollstonecraft argues that if women are given more rights in society in regards to choosing an ideal partner, then this will contribute to distinguishing inequality between sexes, and will help to provide women with more control in her marriage. She will be able to select her husband based on her own decisions, and select if he will truly care for her and will consider her, and she will be able to teach her children equality. Wollstonecraft suggests that for gender equality to occur in society and in a marriage then a “marriage should be modeled along the lines of a higher friendship” (Todd & Butler, 1999) and that people should marry “another based on the basis of character rather than status or wealth” (Todd & Butler, 1999). By having friendship
In both of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poems, The Cry of the Children and The Feminine Education of Aurora Leigh, the role of gender is evident. Browning brings attention to the causes and nature of women's subordination to men in society in an attempt to remove that subordination through awareness. There were limited educational and employment opportunities available for women, and Browning aims to challenge these issues of gender inequality because she feels women should have equal opportunity as men. In society males are often associated with the public sphere whereas the private sphere refers to females. However, the overlap between the two spheres are women in the positions of teachers and writers. In such a position, Browning uses the slight influence she may have and writes to question the sexual roles of men and women as they are understood. She challenges the role of female teachers in Victorian England and critiques the inadequate education they are providing. The two poems differ for one focuses on the poor treatment of children in mines and factories, and the other criticizes the education of women . Nevertheless, in both pieces of literature Browning recognizes the status of women in society. In The Cry of the Children the poem focuses on the poor treatment of children, yet the role of women in Victorian England is still evident. Throughout the poem The Feminine Education of Aurora Leigh issues of gender inequality are apparent through the inadequate teachings and the repressed attitude of Aurora Leigh's aunt.
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,”
She questions, “What if, in raising our children, we (the parents) focus on ability instead of gender. interest instead of gender” (36)? Simply, if negativity towards the opposite sex is eradicated in a new generation, there will be no more inequality to worry about. She also parallels Wollstonecraft in commenting on the fascinating diversity of males and females.
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.
Wollstonecraft disagreed with Rousseau in several different areas. She created a counter argument on Rousseau’s work that was based on “the standard Enlightenment philosopher’s contention that all human beings have reason and that when reason is educated all human beings can become good and virtuous citizens” (p.19). Her work “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” opened with “in the grand light of human creatures, who in common with men are placed on this earth to unfold their faculties” (p.19). She believed that both women and men have the faculty of reason and if women’s were not alongside with men’s, women could stop the process of knowledge and virtue. She believed strongly that throughout the post revolutionary Soviet Union as well as in China, there was no gender equality and the issue behind this was never properly addressed. “Wollstonecraft called Rousseau’s portrait of Sophie “grossly unnatural”” (p.19). It should be noted that Wollstonecraft describes this view of women that Rousseau had of women as “by their very construction, slaves, and not allowed to breathe the sharp invigorating