Essay Analysis of Mary Wollstonecraft’s Place in the Canon

Mary Wollstonecraft was a pioneer in feminist thinking and writing. She was influenced by Thomas Paine that all women should have equal rights. When Wollstonecraft was younger she witnessed her mom being verbally and physically abused by her father. Her father referred to her mother as a piece of property who cannot have the same future as him due to her sex. After her mother’s death, Wollstonecraft decided to make her own livelihood with her sister Eliza and her best friend Fanny.

The eighteenth century brought about a great deal of change and a new-found interest in science and reason. Because of this, many great inventions, ideas and innovative theorists arose from this time period. Among them was a forward-thinking essayist by the name of Mary Wollstonecraft. In her book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft preaches her belief that the oppression of women is largely due to lack of female education. Although the term "feminism" wasn’t coined until decades later, Wollstonecraft paved the way for future women’s rights movements by advocating equality in education for women. She believed men and women should be equal in the very basic aspects of life, such as in loyalty in marriage. Wollstonecraft

After the Declaration of the Rights of Man the first woman to publish a statement titled, “Declaration of the Rights of Woman” should have been expected. Only two years after the original declaration Olympe de Gouges published her statement. That woman greatly inspired Mary Wollstonecraft and she published a statement titled, “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” in 1792. Mary was a career woman and made her living by writing and is known for her protests against subjugation of women. Mary believed that everyone would be better off having a woman that is well-educated, independent, strong and capable in the world. She fought against the education system and how men treated women. She strongly opposed how women were only taught about beauty

She was a mother, a moral and political philosopher, a writer, and a feminist. Mary Wollstonecraft was the ideal image of what represented the push towards modern feminism. Some may even consider her as the founding mother of modern feminism itself. Much of Wollstonecraft’s literature is influenced by her own life experiences. In 1785, Wollstonecraft took on an employment opportunity as a governess. While spending most of her time there, she had a moment of epiphany where she realized that she was not suited for domestic work. Soon after, she returned to London and became a translator and wrote for a well-known publisher and discovered her love of writing. Eventually, years later she was then able to publish her most notable work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is still a very popular book which can be seen as a guide to becoming a better citizen and understanding feminism in a critical context. This essay will argue that Mary Wollstonecraft is still relevant to the feminist cause today as her views portrayed in her book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman are still relatable to many of the feminist issues that currently exist around the world. This essay will do so by comparing how her views in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman can still be used as guiding principles to tackle feminist matters.

Mary Wollstonecraft was born on the 27of April 1759 in London. Her father Edward could never keep a job so her family moved a lot. Her father Edward was very abusive towards her mother Elizabeth. Mary had to defend her mother when her father was beating on her.Growing up in all that commotion affected her later in life. It made her think marriage was the same as bondage.

John Locke was a philosopher who was born in England 1632. “He lived in England during both the English civil war and the Glorious Revolution.” Locke believed that all men are naturally in “a state of perfect freedom within the bounds of law of nature.”He believed that only the middle and upper class should have

Mary Wollstonecraft was born on April 27, 1759, in Spitalfields, London. Her father was abusive, and her mother later died in 1780. She wasn’t formally educated; however, her level of education wasn’t unheard of for a woman of her time, and she studied famous works of literature and the Bible. As a very accomplished woman, she wrote many books, such of which promoted many controversial ideas for woman’s rights that persist in society to this day.

Mary Wollstonecraft was a radical Enlightenment writer. In one of her most famous literatures, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft envisions a society founded upon reason. Wollstonecraft believes the only way society can progress through the inferiority between men and women is to allow them an equal education. Progress will only be made if all members in society are equally intelligent. And thus, reason must be the foundation of this intellect. Ultimately, these ideas, reason and progress, were major philosophies developing during the Enlightenment. Mary Wollstonecraft was an Enlightenment philosopher; advocating for the importance of reason and progress within society, support this

The vindication of the rights of women, by Mary Wollstonecraft, is a cry for help. Recorded amongst the pages from within a time period where society pushed her to a breaking point where she described her existence as a sorrow indignation...

For instance, men had many rights over women including obtaining an education. Women were subsidiary and began to work towards gaining more rights than taking care of household needs and motherhood (Puchner 7). For example, Mary Wollstonecraft and Olympe de Gouges were a few authors that became known for their works during this movement. Both women wrote excerpts to help women gain privileges and equality (Puchner 45 & 551). Wollstonecraft argued that marriage was the same level at prostitution and unequal rights in education led women to feel as though they were slaves that had to submit to their husbands. Although many of her ideas were rejected during her life, she became known as the founder of feminism (Puchner 45). On the other hand, de Gouges was outspoken about ending slavery and the rights of unwed mothers (Puchner 551) during the French Revolution (Mian). She believed all women should have freedom and be able to speak publicly about issues (Puchner 551). To continue, women began to go to salons to gain insight on other women’s beliefs and gain support of their own ideas

A woman, which was odd because during that time women were not equal. Though now, in modern day, equality between women and men is less likely to happen, but that’s how it was back then. Mary thought that women should be equal, and the best way to insure that would be giving women the same education and natural rights as men. If they were given the same opportunities and, even more, the same choices as men. In her book A Vindication of the Rights of Women that was written in 1792 “women must be allowed to found their virtue on knowledge, which is scarcely possible unless they be educated by the same pursuits as men.” She basically tells her audience that women should be educated same as men so they will find value in themselves, and so they can have value in society. In another paragraph of her book she writes “the only method of leading women to fulfill their peculiar duty is to free them from all restraint by allowing them to participate in the inherent rights of mankind.” Wollstonecraft believes women in order to give women equality they should have the same natural rights, as well. This also means she supports the idea that there are natural rights that mankind should all have. This though in modern day in quite self explanatory was not in her day and definitely adds that not just men, but women also should receive natural rights since they are, in fact,

Because of their revolutionary ideologies and writing styles Mary Wollstonecraft and her daughter Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley are two of the biggest names of the Romantic Revolution. Considering that Mary Wollstonecraft is the mother of Mary Shelley, Wollstonecraft more than likely had a huge influence on Shelley’s writing. Although Wollstonecraft died shortly after the birth of her daughter, Shelley was still very much influenced by her mother’s writings and the overall ideals of the Romantic Revolution in general. Despite the fact that Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley had different writing styles, their work is still comparable. The most famous of Wollstonecraft’s work are her pieces that expressed the necessity of gender equality and promoted the ideas of modern day feminism.

Mary Wollstonecraft, who was born during the age of enlightenment in the 18th century, is one of the most prominent feminists in women’s history. Her book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman led her to become one of the first feminists, advocating for the rights of women. Born in a time where women’s education was neither prominent nor important, Wollstonecraft was raised with very little education. However, events in her life influenced her to begin writing, such as the way her father, Edward John Wollstonecraft treated her mother, “into a state of wearied servitude” (Kries,Steven)1. In 1792, she published Vindication on the Rights of Woman, which is one of the most prominent feminist pieces to date. This book is considered a reply to

Mary Wollstonecraft often associated with the start of Feminism. She was born in 1759 to “semiliterate working class parents” (Snodgrass 1). She grew up in a household that was flooded with abuse, alcoholism, and parental favoritism toward her brother- which caused self doubt (Snodgrass 1). In preparation of her future she grew up reading philosophy, history, and teaching herself French and German (Snodgrass 1). She worked as a widow’s companion, a teacher in an all girls academy, and edited for the New Analytical Review. She passed in 1797 at age 38 of puerperal fever only 10 days after the birth of her baby girl named Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (Snodgrass 2). . She became known during the time of Enlightenment. During this time, intellectuals used reason to move towards a better society. Reason is the use of the scientific method to an understanding of all life. Since as long as anyone could remember, male philosophes believed that women were inferior to men. Intellectuals such as Thomas Hobbes, believed that “ natural and biological differences between men and women preluded women from full participation in the social contract- in public life at large and politics specifically” (Curtis 1). This is what led Mary Wollstonecraft to disagree. Because of Mary Wollstonecraft, the world is a better place.

In today’s world of 2017, feminism is more relevant and controversial than ever, with a new, controversial president and more and more women in positions of power. However, feminism has changed and evolved since the first writers expressed their wish for more women’s rights, as do all movements. “It is time to … restore to them their lost dignity—and make them, as a part of the human species, labour by reforming themselves to reform the world,” wrote Mary Wollstonecraft in her Vindication in the Rights of Women (Wollstonecraft 49). Mary Wollstonecraft, the mother of the feminist movement wanted women to be able to be a good wife or mother through education, but today’s feminists are educated already- they want more rights for women, such