Mary Wollstonecraft was born on April 27, 1759 in Spitalfields, London. Mary grew up with her seven siblings and was the second oldest child. Growing up in her years, Mary was close to her oldest brother Edward and her youngest sister Elizabeth. Mary was brought up in a home where she witnessed her mother being physically abused by her father Edward John Wollstonecraft. She witnessed her mother Elizabeth Dickson Wollstonecraft being brutality hurt as her father took out his financial frustrations on her.
Growing up Mary Wollstonecraft had two love affairs. Her first affair was with Gilbert Imlay who was an officer in the American Revolutionary War and was a writer. Gilbert and Mary conceived one daughter by the name of Fanny Imlay. Her second affair was with Henry Fuseli who was a British painter and writer on art. However she married to William Godwin, a philosopher in 1797. Mary gave birth to their daughter by the name of Mary Shelley who became a writer and most known for her novel Frankenstein. Mary died at the age of thirty eight due to complications at childbirth leaving behind her two daughters with her husband William Godwin.
Mary in the 18th century was known to be a writer, philosopher and a feminist. During her life, she wrote many novels and books. However “A Vindication of Rights of Woman” written in 1792, was the most famous piece of her works. In this piece of work, she argues that women are not treated equally in society and that woman should have the privilege to receive education. The themes of this work included education, gender roles, feminism, and sensibility to the role of institutions.
The Term Paper on Mary Wollstonecraft and the Women’s Movement
The importance of woman from almost zero was increasing through the time, but my aim is to present how was it in the this particular century. As the following women started fighting about their rights and more and more people started care about that. Plenty of writers were defending the rights of woman and it was also their purpose to make their lives better and easier. Women did not want to have ...
In this famous work, it also discusses how Rousseau stated women to be weak and artificial and not capable of reasoning successfully. She argued these points that Rousseau made in his work called Emile (1762). Mary argued by saying that women were simply slaves to what they did. She said women should not have to play this role of looking beautiful and unintelligent to their husbands. She stated that women should have education to fit their position in society rather then being told at a young age to look beautiful and be soft tempered for their husbands.
Lastly, she argues that institutions made by men have corrupted the society they lived in at this time period. She states how the military men have also corrupted us and created the society to be something else. Mary also disagrees and states that the absolutism government has tainted the society. She believed that the French Revolution was not a fight for equality because women were still treated unequally. She fought for many women’s right. However, once Mary died in 1797 many of her scripts and works were unfinished.