Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Mary Wollstonecraft

Description

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Hundred years ago, women had not begun to make the vindication Of their rights the prominent political and social problem it has become to-day.

Sujets

• Assertiveness

Informations

• Publié par: Forgotten Books
• Date de parution: 27 novembre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780243654949
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 6 Mo

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A T T years women had begu to make the vindication Of their ri hts the prominent political and social problem it has become to day eople were still horrified by the all mendoctrine that had claims as human beings erely to write even if necessity forced a woman to a literary lif was to defy pub lic opinion to step of the bo nds fegoodmale reserve feared boldly and Openly to question her social and oral position was to commit the npardon able sin and to be damned indelicacy both minor O fence and deadly crime ary ollstonecraft was guilty hen she came to ondon and ade literature her sion she was really thefias she wrote inrst a new genus a letter to her sister fter the publication Of her ights oman she was denounced as a social o tcast a hyena in petticoats a philosophising serpent orace alpole politely called her she worked had her most famous book appeared to day her reputation mi ht not have o tlived her eneration literary merits are small her teachin s conservative compared to the more advanced principles advocated by women But beca se she saw the evils in conception Of wom n s sphere and d ty then accepted even by her own beause she had the co ra e to say what she tho ht and knew at a time when women were not expected to think or to kno anything she m st al ays be remembered and honoured need not a ree with her to appreciate her stren th and independence

viii the gospel she preached the was intellect ally if not socially prepared hat woman as a human being has ri hts was the inevitable conclusion the then new philosophical theory that man is born free which as inevitably had been developed from premises estab by the eformation if for her theory she was indebted to the infl ence the age her immediate cal application it was in a reat measure due to the her life she not seen herself the unspeakable misery caused by the intellect al and degradation of woman she wo ld have been so quick to discern the law in the reasoning o ssea and his rench and nglish disciples book gains in force when it is realised how entirely her arg ments and doctrines are based upon experience Indeed witho t thi tion without a knowledge her yo ng life s sorrows and responsibilitie it loses half its interest ary ollstonecraft was born the pril either in oxton or pping orest father was the son Of a successf l man facturer in her rand father her mother s side was a ixon Bally shannon whose social position was as ass red as the wealth Of the Older ollstonecraft latter left to his son a fortune Of ten thousand po nds no small for those days ary had sisters and liza who never ceased to be heavy drains upon herfilnancial and emotion reso rces who were as ready to criticise her actions as to receive her favo rs and whose good q ality was the care with which they preserved her letters her three brothers the eldest dward alone was fairly s ccessf l from thefirst though by his s ccess she never profited the others James and harles and more particularly third and youngest often relied upon her the help which

they as men should have a forded a sister an age when it was no light matter for a woman more a gentlewoman to gain her own livelihood hat ollstonecraft notwithstanding his ten tho sand pounds did nothing for his children is easily explained was a spendthrift thro h whosefingers money slipped ea ily was a drunkard with all the dr nkard s worst faultsshift less and restless it was impossible him to stay long in any place ary s early years were pent in wandering m pping orest to Barking from Beverley to oxton froumbspicking up whatever c to alworth m embroke ed cation she mi ht by the way and ever where learning those cruel lessons Of life pon which she was later to found her moral creed ollstonecraft s temper ungovern able the best times was aggravated a hundredfold by drink terror and tyrant Of his ho sehold he did not spare even his wife and many a time while she was still a child ary had thrown herself between the two that she might receive the blows meant for the mother s e loved any a night she had passed crouched at the threshold her bed oom the alert to play if needed her part as protectorin the next scene the family tragedy here was little in this household to impress her with the sanctity the marriage tie the blessings result ing from the subjection women it seemed as if each new development in her intellectual and social career was destined to confirm her early impressions fievent her youth was her meetingrst important with anny Blood the friend she loved with perhaps the strongest passion Of her life and fter whom years later when the latter had long since been dead she named her eldest dau hter the nfort nate anny Imlay or anny Godwin as she is better known ary was about sixteen