ipl-logo

Mary Wollstonecraft's The Vindication Of The Age Of Enlightenment

1102 Words5 Pages

The Age of Enlightenment happened in the 18th century from 1685-1815. This is a long period of time that brought unconventional yet necessary ideas to the public’s eyes. Ideas of feminism started to be talked and argued about because of the notable and headstrong Mary Wollstonecraft. She was only 19 when she decided to be independent and who realized that education for women is crucial and needed advocacy. Her influence and passion gave her the reputation of being the “founder of feminism” (Pedersen 432). Along with the ideas of Wollstonecraft and feminism, The Age of Enlightenment also brought the ideas of John Locke and the role of government, Voltaire and freedom of speech and religion, and Montesquieu for separation of powers. The works …show more content…

In her book, Wollstonecraft argues and slams Jean Jacques Rousseau’s multiple times on his view on education and his belief that women should only have education on how to be a better wife and mother (Poonacha 428). Wollstonecraft critiques him, “Rousseau declares that a woman should never, for a moment, feel herself independent that she should be governed by fear to exercise her natural cunning, and made a coquettish slave in order to render her a more alluring object of desire…” To add, Rousseau is advocating for the rich and upper-class families, while Wollstonecraft is speaking up for middle class women who most of them are forced to please men and take care of their children (Poonacha 430). Rousseau is not the only guy she critiques, she also mentioned Edmund Burke in her pamphlet The Vindication of the Rights of Men. Despite education for women being an emotional and personal topic for Wollstonecraft, she balances her writing with reason (Volkova 896). She provides details and logic that back up her statements. She gives relatable examples and alarming possible outcomes. One of Wollstonecraft’s point is that, women are dependent on men because of the way society views marriage. Women from before based their survival on the approval on men, instead of furthering on their educational needs (Poonacha 427). Wollstonecraft, in order to convince her readers for change, gather up what women lack and blames it all back to their lack of education, thus proving her point more. She does not only attack men who she believes is wrong, but she also mocks these privileged women who are gullible and too caught up with only themselves, fashion, and criticizing other females. She writes, “and these young ladies, with minds vulgar in every sense of the word, and spoiled tempers, entered life puffed up with notions of their own consequence, and looking down with contempt on

Show More
Related
1004 Words | 5 Pages

As a woman striving for intellectual and philosophical pursuits, she challenges the stereotype of women as intellectually “inferior” to men. Moreover, Wollstonecraft strategically employs references to other influential thinkers and philosophers of her time, such as John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. By aligning herself with prominent intellectuals, she positions her ideas within a broader philosophical context, making her arguments appear well-grounded and respected by her peers. This tactic further enhances her ethos and enhances the credibility of her

Read More
618 Words | 3 Pages

Philosophers believed that men act like tyrants and act immature so they need to change their ways. In Document F-1 Mary Wollstonecraft says “But if women are to be excluded, without having a voice, from participation of the natural rights of mankind, prove first, to ward of the charge… there is not a shadow of justification for not admitting women under the same.” Wollstonecraft is fighting for equality, believes the only reason women are not equal is based off of old tradition, and it is time for change.

Read More
1023 Words | 5 Pages

The main argument was woman can everything man can do. The purpose it was written was the failure of the French Constitution to give woman rights. Wollstonecraft saying that woman need to educate their children and be the best wife to their husband as can be. Wollstonecraft wrote, “But few parents are willing to receive the respectful affection of their offspring on such terms. They demand blind obedience, because they do not merit a reasonable service: and to render these demands of weakness and ignorance more binding, a mysterious sanctity is spread round the most arbitrary principle;”(CH 11) (Pg 2) Wollstonecraft is advocating that if woman do not have an education they will feel like they don’t have anything quality to teach her children, so then her children will not respect her.

Read More
470 Words | 2 Pages

In her document she claims that, “Women must be allowed to found their virtue on knowledge, which is scarcely possible unless they be educated by the same pursuits as men”(Wollstonecraft, On National Education). Wollstonecraft dynamically argued that if women had the right to study, they’d be able to prove they aren’t inferior by ignorance and low desires. Despite the fact that these four philosophers had contrasting ideas on how to enhance daily life, they all concentrated the same central idea. They each contributed something unique to their society, which has influenced our daily

Read More
286 Words | 2 Pages

Wollstonecraft’s view of gender has been extrapolated upon by other authors; such as John Stuart Mill and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Both Mill and Stanton extrapolate upon the idea that society is to blame for the inequality between men and women. In Mill’s “Subjection of Women” he talks about how society gives all men power; power, which men uses to tyrannize women. Men are given superiority over women and men uses this superiority to further subjugate women. Mill affirms that men “are entitled to command” (674) and women “are bound to obey” (674).

Read More
1223 Words | 5 Pages

Wollstonecraft had said, “...a profound conviction that the neglected education of my fellow-creatures is the grand source of the misery I deplore, and that women, in particular, are rendered weak and wretched by a variety of concurring causes…’(Wollstonecraft, 1). Between Shelley and

Read More
1401 Words | 6 Pages

Mary Wollstonecraft brought about the idea that women were only inferior to men because of their social status and the fact that women weren’t allowed to learn. That meant that women lacked the education that they needed in order to be in the same social class as the men. Wollstonecraft was

Read More
775 Words | 4 Pages

In the book of vindication of the right of a woman, Wollstonecraft brings out clearly the roles of a woman in her society and how it has led to oppression of women (Wollstonecraft 22). Wollstonecraft believes that men and women are equal given the same environment and empowerment, women can do anything a man can do. In her society, education for women is only aimed at making her look pleasing to men. Women are treated as inferior being and used by men as sex objects. Wollstonecraft believed that the quality of mind of women is the same with that of men, and therefore women should not be denied a chance for formal education that will empower them to be equal with men.

Read More
586 Words | 3 Pages

These challenges brought upon the radical movement and the rights of women for formal education equality. This era was a time of rational thinking and was the beginning of change in social practices of child rearing, marriage and education for women. The change had a positive impact on women in regard to education. Women felt more confident in pursuing education to become educators and contribute intellectually to their society. If it wasn’t for Wollstonecraft rational thinking, the educational rights of women would not have transpired for

Read More
750 Words | 3 Pages

Mary Wollstonecraft’s A vindication of the rights of women written in 1792 can be considered one of the first feminist documents, although the term appeared much later in history. In this essay, Wollstonecraft debates the role of women and their education. Having read different thinkers of the Enlightenment, as Milton, Lord Bacon, Rousseau, John Gregory and others, she finds their points of view interesting and at the same time contrary to values of the Enlightenment when they deal with women’s place. Mary Wollstonecraft uses the ideas of the Enlightenment to demand equal education for men and women. I will mention how ideals of the Enlightenment are used in favor of men but not of women and explain how Wollstonecraft support her “vindication” of the rights of women using those contradictions.

Read More
660 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout this text, Wollstonecraft discusses how close-minded society was about women and equality. She describes society as being under the impression that women and men were two different animals. Society also believed that men were free and logical thinkers that could rule and change society while women were seen as pretty objects that could bear children. Wollstonecraft’s feminist view discusses that the problem was not only men inhibiting women, but women themselves were also not pushing against the ideology that men were superior. She continues to explain her new feminist ideology that discusses changes in society that would create equality.

Read More
1580 Words | 7 Pages

Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in response to a report to the French National Assembly, which stated that women should only receive a domestic education (Johnson Lewis). She believed that women needed to be educated in order to find their way to equality with men. Wollstonecraft writes in the introduction: “The education of women has, of late, been more attended to than formerly; yet they are still reckoned a frivolous sex, and ridiculed or pitied by the writers who endeavor by satire or instruction to improve

Read More
5726 Words | 23 Pages

Chapter iii Mary Wollstonecraft concept of education for women In this chapter we will be discussing Wollstonecraft concept of education for women. For Wollstonecraft education is very important for women as it will help them strengthen their mind and help them become a better mothers and wife`s. Wollstonecraft was a passionate advocate for education reforms. I would like to present the criticisms on Rousseau's ideas on education put forth by Mary Wollstonecraft in her political treatise "A Vindication of The Rights of Woman" (1792).

Read More
8266 Words | 34 Pages

She supported the belief that motherhood in itself was not derogatory or damaging. But when women do not acquire proper formal education, because of then duty as mother or wives then they suffer from loss of self-esteem and dignity. Wollstonecraft states that women should not sacrifice themselves at the altar of motherhood. Wollstonecraft says, “To be a mother a woman must have sense, and that independence of mind which few woman possess, who are taught to depend entirely on their husbands.

Read More
1224 Words | 5 Pages

The second chapter of the book is explicitly questioning men, (specifically Jean Jacques Rousseau), who have argued over the ages that women don 't have enough mental strength to become morally sound on their own and that they need the guidance of men to make rational decisions in life. But Wollstonecraft believes that if women have souls, then they must have the same rational powers as men. The only other opposition to this is to claim that women don 't have souls, which even the worst misogynists in the world would hesitate to argue. The biggest challenge to women 's education seems to be the belief that women should be kept innocent like children and taught nothing other than the skills for pleasing their future husbands. The kind of education that these authors were promoting, she felt, was making women incompetent and counterproductive, making the text degrade the other half of the human species and teach women to please people all their lives in the name of virtue.

Read More

More about Mary Wollstonecraft's The Vindication Of The Age Of Enlightenment

Related Topics

Open Document