Summary Of A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman By Mary Wollstonecraft
The nineteenth century was a time of unequal gender opportunities. Men were the superior figure, while women were unable to participate in many actions. As a child Mary Wollstonecraft grew up watching her mother be mistreated by her father which was taken to heart and carried on with her. With this, she wanted to make a change in world and share her thoughts that no other woman could have been able to do. Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, is known as the first great feminist treatise that expresses the rights of women to have equality of education and to civil opportunities. Wollstonecraft was the first women to express her thoughts and bring the subordinate attitude to society about how women should have the right to a
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First, she explains that there is no reason to believe that "masculine women" are threatening when the term "masculine" only suggests the highest talents and virtues of mankind. Michael Stuprich is able to agree with Wollstonecraft when he acknowledges that “men are larger and stronger by nature, giving them certain natural advantages, yet the virtues of the mind do not seem to rely on physical skill or other concerns with the body”(Stuprich). Indeed, there is no reason to fear that women will attain so much courage and fortitude that they will not need to depend on men at all; "their apparent inferiority with respect to bodily strength, must render them, in some degree, dependent on men in the various relations of life" (Wollstonecraft 260). She makes it clear that her text will not be cluttered with superficialities, instead she will write what she believes in and not what worry about what others, particularly men, will have to say about her. The ultimate reason in this treatise shows the intellectual heights she believes women can reach without having to rely on their beauty and charm. Beauty and charm is what every women desires to have in order to attract others, but it is a women’s intelligence that will last a lifetime and that no one will ever be able to
First, she explains that there is no reason to believe that "masculine women" are threatening when the term "masculine" only suggests the highest talents and virtues of mankind. Michael Stuprich is able to agree with Wollstonecraft when he acknowledges that “men are larger and stronger by nature, giving them certain natural advantages, yet the virtues of the mind do not seem to rely on physical skill or other concerns with the body”(Stuprich). Indeed, there is no reason to fear that women will attain so much courage and fortitude that they will not need to depend on men at all; "their apparent inferiority with respect to bodily strength, must render them, in some degree, dependent on men in the various relations of life" (Wollstonecraft 260). She makes it clear that her text will not be cluttered with superficialities, instead she will write what she believes in and not what worry about what others, particularly men, will have to say about her. The ultimate reason in this treatise shows the intellectual heights she believes women can reach without having to rely on their beauty and charm. Beauty and charm is what every women desires to have in order to attract others, but it is a women’s intelligence that will last a lifetime and that no one will ever be able to