Analysis Of Chapter Two Of A Vindication Of The Rights Of Women By Mary Wollstonecraft
Women over centuries have been painted with the brush of kind, gentle, and innocent, as if they are trapped in childhood. Even though these are not bad descriptive words, they are not faltering either, they take away from their potential. Wollstonecraft addresses concerns with the depiction of women, as these artificial objects that men possess. She does this in her book A vindication of the Rights of Women, which is the follow up book to Vindication of the Rights of Men. The chapter that will be focused on will be chapter two “The prevailing opinion of a sexual character discussed.” That raises many questions about the educational rights of women and the lack that women offer within marriages. In Wollstonecraft’s perspective marriage is used to articulate the political arena, where women if given the chance can offer so much more than what is exceptive of them. There were wild though in her time “Wollstonecraft’s vision of equality was eclipsed by a celebration of exemplary womanhood in collective biographies of women, or “women worthies”. Wollstonecraft looks beyond her time, she wants to give women an identity more than just wives, daughters and far more than just objects. She wants them to be educated so that they can be true partners to their husbands rather than just an object of amusement. Her main argument is that this is taught to women at a young age and when they become mothers they go on to teach their daughter. While their sons learn of watching their fathers treat their mothers. Wollstonecraft helps her readers understand that at the time of writing when there was talk about human rights there was no talk about women rights they were still being considered inferior. The readers are meant to understand the benefits women can have on society when they are lifted from their standard gender role.
Mary Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman during the 18th century, while the French revolution was going on. In her manuscript, she uses the language of philosophy, however she also adds a personal tone, employing “I” and “you”. There is an autobiographical reference to create a feminine voice. “Mary Wollstonecraft's… 'the founding text of Anglo-American feminism” Wollstonecraft does not write in a manner common to the 18th century philosophy. Her objective in this long form essay is that women should be educated in rational manner so that they could contribute to society. During this time, there was a notion that women were not capable of rational thought but Wollstonecraft along with other women writers argued that women were more than capable of rational thought. This was all happening with the French revolution going where ideas of representative government as well as human rights were being discussed, Wollstonecraft write to addresses the rights of women. Wollstonecraft was speaking to the women in the audience but rather the men, that felt that women did not belong in the political arena and she did this as to change their perspective on women. All she is saying is that there should be no double standard when it comes to virtue moral and intellectual virtue there should not differ in kind for women and men. She criticizes Dr. Gregory because according to Wollstonecraft the ideas amount to nothing more than a system of slavery. “Dr. Gregory's advice respiting delicacy of sentiment, which he advices a woman not to acquire, if she has determined to marry.”
The main focus of this essay will be in regard to chapter two where Wollstonecraft argues for the rights of women. The fundamental importance of women having rights because they are mothers and wives. They should be educated so that they are helpful partners to their husbands as well they are the teachers to their children therefore they need to be educated. In chapter two Wollstonecraft makes the point that women from childhood are taught to be weak and appealing to the male gaze. “Women are told from their infancy, and taught by the example of their mothers, that a little knowledge of human weakness, justly termed cunning, softness of temper, outward obedience, and a crapulous attention to a puerile kind of propriety, will obtain for them the protection of man”. Wollstonecraft also introduced Rousseau as well as Dr. Gregory as contributors to this image of women being weak and reliant on men. “Rousseau to Dr. Gregory, have contributed to render women more artificial, weak characters, than they would otherwise have been; and, consequently, more useless members of society” in her opinion she claims that it degrades one half of the human population. She takes the argument made by Rousseau that if men reached perfection of mind when they arrived at maturity, then it is acceptable that when a man and women become one, that the women can just lean on the man. According to Wollstonecraft men are just as debauched and childlike as women are assumed to be. Wollstonecraft really pushes the issue of women education because according to her women’s education is disorganized, fragmented and random. It is the main cause for why women are treated the way they are and she uses military men as a comparison. She also addresses the institution of marriage according to her women should be a friend of their husbands rather than merely a servile dependent. She also says that marriage should not base on love because that can die out making the marriage problematic. She says that women have been told to only to plan for the present in their marriage and to only develop virtues of gentleness and docility. Which only makes women toys of their husbands, which are meant to amuse them rather help them. The argument Wollstonecraft has to this is that “passive indolence” could possible not make good wives, as well men have sink women below the standard of rational creatures.
In chapter two of her novel it discusses the important roles that women play as wives and that if women are continually oppressed by society and deprived by education, they cannot be good wives. “in order to make a man and his wife one, that he should rely entirely on his underhanging; and the graceful ivy, clamping the oak that supported it, would form a whole in which strength and beauty would be equally conspicuous” for there to be understanding between the two of them there should be mutual intellect. This is important because if women do not connect with their husbands they will look for illicit love affairs elsewhere in order to continue to stimulate their sensibility. Another outcome is that unconsciously they will tyrannize over their husbands for power. In Wollstonecraft’s perspective, an ideal marriage is one that resembles friendship in its emphasis on freedom and this mirrors political liberalism “The most holy band of society is friendship. It has been well fade, by a shrewd satirist, ' that rare as true love is, true friendship is fill rarer.'8It can be noted that Wollstonecraft depicts marriage along the same lines as political manner, but the question arises where sexuality falls but Wollstonecraft argues against letting sex and passion be the central role in a relationship. She does this because sexual desire can fade but a connection that beyond looks will not. Women need to be educated because they can offer so much more to the political arena, in the same way a wife can.
In conclusion, it is important to understand that Wollstonecraft to introducing ideas that were far beyond her time. She introduced ideas of liberty and equality, that women are more than just objects that are meant to amuse their husbands. When she was done her manuscript, she was not sure that she did the subject matter justice “'I am dissatisfied, with myself,' she told him, 'for not having done justice to the subject'. She was right; she hadn't; nor in fact has anyone since.”9 But even with her concern she has been a critical piece in the rights of women. Even with all the recognition not everyone agreed with Wollstonecraft’s ideas like Julie Murray who addressed concerns in Mary Wollstonecraft and Modernity where she says that Wollstonecraft attacked chivalry. “Arguing that Mary Wollstonecraft grasped in profound ways that rights are not only or even necessarily modern, the author suggests that Wollstonecraft’s attack on chivalry…”which in some senses she does, she steps away from the gender roles where men are the protectors and women are meant to be protected. She wants women to move in a direction where they no longer rely on the men in their lives. This is a notion that is important even in today’s society, women must move away from damsel in distress notion because we do not need recusing but rather we can do the rescuing.
