Notes on Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Notes on the Rights of Woman

1)      Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

a)      Wollstonecraft’s Biography

i)        grows up in abusive household—protects mother from tyrannical father

(1)   becomes lady’s companion but returns to nurse mother

(2)   leaves home for good; works as seamstress then schoolmistress

ii)      turns to writing to pay off debts after school fails

(1)   Thoughts on the Education of Daughters published in 1786

(2)   Meets Joseph Johnson who publishes Mary, A Fiction (1788)

iii)    becomes part of Johnson’s circle (Blake, Paine, Priestley, Fuseli, Godwin, Barbauld and Joel Barlow)

(1)   A Vindication of the Rights of Men published anonymously in 1790; with her name in 1791 and earns her reputation

(2)   Publishes A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792

iv)    Her public behavior stigmatizes her and her argument

(1)   enamored of Fuseli and publicly pursues him

(2)   goes to Paris in 1793 to forget Fuseli; meets and “marries” Gilbert Imlay

(3)   has child with Imlay (Fanny); they split

(4)   returns to England and finds Imlay living with actress; attempts suicide

(5)   he sends her to Scandinavia; she returns in Oct 1795 to find him living with a different actress; attempts suicide by jumping into the Thames

(6)   publishes her letters to Imlay in attempt to win him back; letters win admiration of Godwin

(7)   pregnant with Godwin’s child, they marry; child born (Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (later Mary Shelley); Wollstonecraft dies

(8)   Godwin publishes his Memoir of Wollstonecraft, which details all of the above; his attempt to honor her ends up scandalizing her

v)      Even some modern feminists still upset over the damage Wollstonecraft did to women’s rights. While her writing advanced the cause, her lifestyle tainted it for decades if not centuries

b)      Dedication to M. Talleyrand-Perigord (who advocated female education but along Rousseau lines—trained for subservience to men)

i)        Refers to wives as slaves (305)

ii)      Sees women as coerced into their domestic role (305)

c)      Introduction

i)        offers no apology for treating women “like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood” (308)

ii)      women’s education creates weak women

(1)   women “are rendered weak and wretched”—not naturally so but made (306)

(2)   “false system of education” to blame (306-7)

iii)    women’s treatment makes them dependent

(1)   treating women softly softens them; treating them as dependents trains them to be dependent (308)

(2)   women “objects of desire” (309)

(3)   women’s “artificial weakness” (the weakness they have been trained up to) “produces a propensity to tyrannize, and gives birth to cunning” (309)

d)     The Rights and Involved Duties of Mankind Considered

i)        Society must be judged by how well it enables (310)

(1)   Reason

(2)   Virtue

(3)   knowledge

ii)      How would we (Europe) be judged? (not in Longman 3^rd  or 4^th or 5^th )

(1)   slavery (235)

(2)   a history showing power gained through vice (236)

(3)   subordination of man to man

(a)    monarchy (310)

(b)   example of army and navy (310-1)

(c)    clergy and universities (311)

e)      The Prevailing Opinion of a Sexual Character Discussed

i)        Women are assumed to not have enough Reason to acquire Virtue (311)

(1)   and yet they must be virtuous

(2)   this lack is the product of a poor education (311)

(3)   frequently compared with children—yet children can grow into rational beings while women cannot (312)

ii)      Example of Milton

(1)   He makes women subservient to men because they lack reason (312)

(2)   He has Adam argue for an “rational” partner (312-3)

iii)    Women enslaved by their lack of proper education

(1)   education by snatches if at all (313)

(2)   always secondary to beauty (313)

(3)   compared to soldiers

(a)    gallantry like coquetry (314)

(b)   both acquire manners (rules) without morals (thought) (314)

iv)    Enslavement desired by the “sensualists”

(1)   Rousseau a sensualist—woman as plaything (241-2) (not in Longman 3^rd or 4^th)

(2)   sensualists claim that the “whole tendency of female education ought . . . to render them pleasing” (315)

v)      Dr. Gregory’s conduct book

(1)   assumes certain traits in women “natural” (316)

(2)   encourages lying, weakness, dependence (316)

(a)    Wollstonecraft refutes

(i)     encourages friendship over love (316)

(ii)   speaks against passion (316)

(3)   goal is to get a husband

(a)    women must look beyond a husband

(b)   proper education—“a well stored mind would enable a woman to support a single life with dignity” (317)

vi)    “Teach them, in common with man, to submit to necessity, instead of giving, to render them more pleasing a sex to morals” (319)

f)       The Same Subject Continued

i)        Different education and treatment of boys and girls (320)

(1)   refutes claim that girls naturally like sedentary activities while boys like active activities

(2)   Her evidence and experience—gender differences socially constructed not natural

ii)      Dependence of body leads to dependence of mind (320)

(1)   women encouraged to be “delicate”

(2)   a kind of tyranny exercised by the weak

iii)    “It is time to effect a revolution in female manners” (321)

(1)   Men compared to viceregents (colonial?) (321)

(a)    because they rule the weak they are bound to become tyrannical

(2)   Women trained to dependence are left defenseless when they lose their protectors (fathers, brothers, husbands)

(3)   Women trained to be coquettes cannot be adequate teachers of the young

iv)    Man and woman must be the same

(1)   there are no “sexual” virtues (i.e. virtues that belong to one gender and not the other)

(2)   wealth and female softness debase mankind

g)      Concluding Reflections

i)        Sexual distinction is arbitrary (325)

ii)      From the tyranny of man, the greater number of female follies proceed (325)

iii)    Compares women to dissenters (325)

iv)    “Asserting the rights which women in common with men ought to contend for, I have not attempted to extenuate their faults; but to prove them to be the natural consequence of their education and station in society. If so, it is reasonable to suppose that they will change their character, and correct their vices and follies, when they are allowed to be free in a physical, moral, and civil sense” (326).

h)      Some Discussion Questions

i)            Describe Wollstonecraft's conception of human nature -- what are the main human faculties or characteristics, and how should they be ranked and otherwise related?

ii)          According to Wollstonecraft, how are women seen in relation to these conceptions of human nature?

iii)        What does it mean to call something “natural”? How does Wollstonecraft use this key term?

iv)        On 308, Wollstonecraft opposes "virtue" to "elegance." How does she define virtue, and how is it opposed to elegance?

v)          How does Wollstonecraft's style and manner of argumentation generate authority for her as a writer addressing inequities in gender relations?

vi)        On 312 and elsewhere, what does Wollstonecraft suggest is the key to men's continuing domination over women? (treat them like children)

vii)      What is Wollstonecraft's criticism of Milton on 312-3 and elsewhere?

viii)    Why is education so important a concept to Wollstonecraft on 320 and elsewhere? You might relate this question to her view of human nature.

ix)        Explain Wollstonecraft's analogies between women and soldiers on 313-4. What do such comparisons allow Wollstonecraft to argue about the "naturalization" of perceived gender differences?