Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Women, is one of the earliest feminists in Western Civilization. When she was nineteen, she and her sister founded and taught in a school, an experience which led her to write Thoughts on the Education of Daughters, in which she asserted her view that the young girls she taught had been "enslaved" by men through their social training. Joining the radical thinkers of her day, she published A Vindication of the Rights of Men in 1790. This was, in essence, a defense of the democratic ideals which had developed in society as a result of the Revolution--both French and American.
By far Wollstonecraft's most famous work, through which she gained her then unsavory reputation as a feminist, was A Vindication of the Rights of Women. This controversial work argued for the need for more civil rights for women, a cause which Wollstonecraft believed could only be furthered by permitting women better education .She asserted that a woman was capable of any intellectual feat that a man was--provided that her early training did not brainwash her into deference to man.
Wollstonecraft believed that women's freedom should extend to their sexual lives. In her writings, she compared married life for a woman to prostitution. She pursued her own sexual freedom through an affair, and bore an illegitimate child. Later, she fell in love with William Godwin, the father of her second daughter, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Tragically, Mary died from complications while delivering her child.
During her lifetime, Wollstonecraft raised arguments in support of women's rights that would figure prominently in the women's rights movements of the following two centuries. Her work in pursuit of equality for women led to her being dubbed the founder of the British women's rights movement.
Bittner, Terrie.
Mary Wollstonecraft Mother of England's Feminist Movement. 1999. <www.feminista.com/v3n6/bittner.html>
(November 13, 2000).
This site explains Wollstonecraft's convictions in light of the
observations she made of girls' behavior while working in the girls' school.
Bittner explains Wollstonecraft's determination to promote effective female
education through her Thoughts on the Education of Daughters. The site
also recounts many facts of Wollstoncraft's life which no doubt urged her cause:
she had seen her father batter her mother, and had had to rescue her sister from
an abusive husband. The text analyzes her beliefs next to her personal
experiences, and so provides a realistic perspective on the woman.
Cucinello, Patrice.
Mary Wollstonecraft. [no date given.] <www.english.upenn.edu/~esimpson/Teaching/Romantics/patrice.html>
(November 13, 2000).
This site asserts that the education of women lay at the
cornerstone of all Wollstonecraft's works, the necessary societal reform which
she stressed above all others. Cucinello mentions that, in her arguments
urging female independence from men, Wollstonecraft often worked to
convince her readers that marriage was the ultimate insult to their personhood,
as it entailed the woman surrendering all control over her person and
possessions to her husband. The text offers an important window into the mindset
of Wollstonecraft.
Flexner, Eleanor. Mary Wollstonecraft: A Biography. New York: Coward, McCann, &
Geoghegan, Inc. 1972.
"Mary Wollstonecraft: A Biography" would be useful to those seeking
information about both Mary's life and her most famous works. This book contains not only
bibliographic information, but also letters that were previously uncited in other books
about Wollstonecraft. Mary Wollstonecraft's life as one of the first advocates of
women's
liberation is chronicled in a well written, engaging manner.
George, Margaret. One Woman's Situation. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1970.
Except for a passive and negative history, Margaret George maintains that women do not
have a history; however, women do have a pre-history in which Mary
Wollstonecraft's
achievements are an important pre-historic document. This is the basis for
George's
biography of Wollstonecraft, in which she focuses on Mary's position as one of the
earliest feminists.
Ingpen, Roger. Preface. The Love Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft to Gilbert
Imlay. By
Wollstonecraft. Folcroft: Folcroft Library Editions, 1974.
In this book, Roger Ingpen has gathered what he calls "the most passionate love
letters in our literature," the letters of Mary Wollstonecraft to Gilbert Imlay.
Ingpen begins the book with a brief biography contained in the preface. The biography is
not meant to be comprehensive, but rather simply an introduction to Wollstonecraft. This book
would be useful for anyone researching the love affair of Wollstonecraft and Imlay. It
also illustrates Mary's unconventional existence, and the actions for which many
of her time
would have condemned her.
Kemerling, Garth. Mary
Wollstonecraft (1759 - 1797). 1996. <www.philosophypages.com/ph/woll.htm>
(November 13, 2000).
This site reiterates some of Wollstonecraft's observations at the school
where she taught. It also mentions her book, History and Moral View of the
Origins and Progress of the French Revolution, written as a result of her
interest in revolutionary politics. Kemerling states that this interest was
connected to the democratic ideals inherent in the Revolution, which also
factored in women's rights. Wollstonecraft's political leanings are examined in
some detail.
Sunstein, Emily. A Different Face. New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1975.
Sunstein's biography of Mary Wollstonecraft focuses on her search for personal
independence, and how it contributed to the larger feminist movement. The author writes a
comprehensive biography in which she follows the trials and triumphs of Mary
Wollstonecraft's life. Sunstein then asks, "what kind of life should a woman
ask for?"
Tomalin, Claire. The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft. New York: Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich, 1974.
Claire Tomalin looks at the life of Mary Wollstonecraft with emphasis on her reputation
both before and after her death. She explores the influence and relationship between
Mary's life and that of other feminists, such as Jane Austen and Helen Maria Williams.
O'Quinn, Daniel. "Trembling: Wollstonecraft, Godwin, and the resistance to
literature." EHL 64 (1997) : 761-88.
This scholarly article would be beneficial for those studying resistance to literature.
The goal of the article is to "tease out how the resistance to novels participates
in a formulation of community and class consolidation."
Smith, Amy Elizabeth. "Roles for readers in Mary Wollstonecraft's A
vindication of the rights of women." Studies in English Literature
32 (1992) : 555-70.
The focus of this article is the debate by scholars over the primary audience intended
by Mary Wollstonecraft in "The Vindication of the Rights of Women." One side of
the debate justifies this as intended for a female audience. Because women were
unaccustomed to rational discourse, this might have been why Wollstonecraft wrote in such an informal
manner for her intended female audience.
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URL: http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/marieantio.html Original written by Aleisha Cheatle, 1998 Revised by Dawn Drumin, 2000 November Last Revision: 2000 November 17 Copyright © MMV Prof. Pavlac's Women's History Site  |
