Mary Wollstonecraft Research Paper

~ The utilization of metaphors and similes throughout Mary Wollstonecraft's piece conveys the argument that she poses to society. The added effect of the powerful metaphors incorporated into her writing is evidently necessary in order to illuminate her main viewpoints. Mary Wollstonecraft compares the way women act to “mere animals” and the way “such children should be expected to act”. The comparison between mere animals and women depicts how society has stripped away women’s dignity by poorly educating them. She further explains that women are portrayed as acting like children and are not able to act like stable adults in their relationships.

During the Age of Enlightenment in the late eighteenth century, Mary Wollstonecraft presented a radical essay, A Vindication of the Rights of Women, that shed light on the largest, underrepresented groups of the time, women. The essay voiced the inequalities women at the time faced and called upon Wollstonecraft’s audience to invoke a revolution for the rights of women. Through her writing, she presented a compelling argument that slowly allowed women to question their “place” in society and demand change to the British social order. While these changes did not happen quickly, her work sparked the feminist movements through its unique message and called upon women to demand equality through the Match Girls Strike and Women’s Suffrage

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

Women in Wollstonecraft’s time were only valued for their attractiveness, were only useful for their role as a mother, and were not given the right to an education nor the right to jobs. Wollstonecraft observes that “when a women is admired for her beauty, she suffers herself to be...intoxicated by the admiration she receives as to neglect...the indispensable duty of a mother, she sins against herself by neglecting to cultivate an affection that would equally tend to make her useful and happy” (Wollstonecraft 6). In other words, women getting so wrapped up in presenting themselves as beautiful in order to meet society’s standards then completely neglect their natural role as a mother that would make them “useful” by society’s standards by fulfilling the only role they really could at the time: a mother. Instead of being praised for being a virtuous mother, women were valued solely for their sexual attractiveness. Once their beauty fades and they have already birthed and raised their children, as Wollstonecraft states, “let them not expect to be valued” (32). During Wollstonecraft’s time, a typical woman was “dependent on her husband’s bounty for her subsistence during his life or support after his death” (19). A woman did not have any other job than to be impregnated and raise her husband’s offspring, meaning she had to be financially dependent on her husband. Women could not “study the art of healing” nor “be physicians [or] nurses”—jobs Wollstonecraft argued “women might certainly study” given the opportunity

Everyone should be treated as equals. However, in Mary Wollstonecraft’s era, women did not have the same equal rights as men. It was a time period of sexism and double standards. In her work Vindication of the Rights of Women, she argues and defends for the equality of women. Wollstonecraft believed that everyone has the ability to reason and learn; therefore women should be able to receive the same amount of necessities involving proper education, support, attitude, respect, etc., that are needed in order to accomplish goals as any other person, in this case, men. As of today in the 21st century, Wollstonecraft would be disappointed due to the amount of disrespect society contributes on women, as well as some women who have no respect for their own self-worth. In order to improve, changes must start from within.

In favor of educating women to end the inequality affecting both sexes, Wollstonecraft argues the deterioration of virtues is in result of the negligence of knowledge. According to Wollstonecraft “If women isn’t fitted by education to become a man’s companion, she will stop the process of knowledge” (Wollstonecraft 2). In other words, women who aren’t allowed to peruse an education that allows them to become as knowledgeable as a man will

Mary Wollstonecraft was born on April 27, 1759. She was the second of seven children born to Edward and Elizabeth Wollstonecraft. Her father inherited a large sum of money but he eventually lost it all because he did not know how to make a profit in farming. As he moved the family from one failed farm to another Edward became a bitter and unstable drunkard. He favored his oldest son and terrorized the rest of the family (Todd, Revolutionary 326-417). Elizabeth submitted to her husband’s abuse without protecting the children from his cruelty. Her mother’s submission brought out Mary’s protective instincts and she became the protector of the family during her father’s rages (Bailey 563). Edward’s abuse I love and her mother’s withdrawal caused Mary to dislike abuse in any form. (Todd, Revolutionary 351).

In "A Vindication of the Rights of Women", Mary Wollstonecraft uses both her experience and observations as a rhetorical device in an attempt to educate women about the necessity of having both a strong mind and body. Throughout "A Vindication of the Rights of Women", Wollstonecraft emphasizes the importance of these virtues by responding to other author’s ideas on the subject and using their words as evidence of how the patriarchal society views women and their ‘roles’ as citizens of society. Wollstonecraft, in her pragmatic treatise, critiques women and their behavior in an attempt to affect change in how women are perceived and in how women perceive themselves.

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.

She acknowledged how most people believed that women should be beautiful, emotional, and dependent on men. Therefore, women were discouraged from going to school. Out of all the problems in society during that time, this had affected the most amount of people. Wolstonecraft thought the both genders should live by the same principle and equality.You can infer this by when she says ‘’...both sexes must act from the same principle.. Women must be allowed to found their own virtue on knowledge, which is scarcely possible unless they be educated by the same pursuits as men.’’ This means both sexes should hold the same value and be educated the same, but men are afraid that they will be more intelligent than they turn out to be. Wollstonecraft used self-example to explain her reasoning. Wollstonecraft believed that your gender shouldn’t affect how you’re supposed to be treated, what kind of education you should get, or what kind of job you’re supposed to

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.

Wollstonecraft also writes, "taught from their infancy that beauty is woman 's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and, roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn

Mary Wollstonecraft was a teacher, in the process of advocating for her students, even against the traditionalist ideals held by their society. She specifically, asserted that “women, like men, were rational creatures deserving of education” (Rowson, 2007, para. 22). Document two, Unfortunate Situation of Females, Fashionably Educated, and Left without a Fortune (1787), shows us that Wollstonecraft “encouraged women to act virtuously in every situation, but she despaired over the fact that women's education and social conditioning left them with few options to support themselves… Wollstonecraft argued that women were rational creatures deserving of education.” (Para. 1).

In this time period, women were not concerned with education, and rarely continued school after the eight grade. Women were focused on being physically attractive, and learning pleasure skills such as art, and music, to entertain guests and their husbands. Wollstonecraft insisted that women spend more time on their studies, as she explains in the Vindication of the Rights of Women, “In public schools women… should be taught the elements of anatomy and medicine, not only to enable them to take proper care of their own health, but to make them rational nurses of their infants, parents, and husbands” (Wollstonecraft 82). In this statement, Wollstonecraft is wisely appealing to both women and men, because in this case, the women still uphold their job of being the primary caretaker of the children, while also having access to a quality

Mary Wollstonecraft’s, A Vindication of the Rights of Women, is another example in which an Enlightenment author exhibits their opinion on the education and purpose of women. Contradictory to Rousseau’s writing, Wollstonecraft believed that women have a greater purpose than to serve man, and that is to be independent and care for others while they also care for themselves. She stated that unlike in Emile, women should be seen as and act independently and take care of themselves. She believed that women are not on this Earth for the purpose of serving men, and that they can stray away from these duties if they wish. Education wise, Wollstonecraft believed that a woman should not be limited to caring for their families, but may choose to pursue a higher learning, such as nursing and healing. But, she also said that caring for their children and husbands is not to be seen as a lesser job that women take part in, and that it is to be respected. Although Wollstonecraft incorporated some