An Analysis Of Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman

Amy Smith Elizabeth in “Roles for Readers in Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” writes that Mary Wollstonecraft wanted to” help stimulate conditions what would improve mankind”, and to help bring more equal treatment of men and women. (556). Mary Wollstonecraft, a writer during the Age of Reason, wrote “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” to argue that women were and should be equal , rather than idolized trophies. In Wollstonecraft’s time, women were seen as fragile unintellectual beings, who were inferior man. Such thinking was exemplified in the works of other contemporary writers, like Rousseau and Milton, who wrote of women as “ innocent, delicate, feminine, beautiful” (304,longman) While such language regarding women might seem so terrible to our current society, in Wollstonecraft’s time, it was patronizing. She felt that women were being flattered into subjection, to make them more reliant on men. She argues that the opportunity to learn and work freely that men had should also be extended to women as well. Wollstonecraft writes about how men and women ought to use Reason to determine their actions, how women should be
By being rational, man would stop seeing woman as a lesser being, and instead as a companion and equal. Education, should it be available to all, would benefit all of society. Wollstonecraft ends with a reassurance that when society had accepted that rights of woman, and that if woman is allowed to share the rights of man, then “she will emulate the virtues of man...” (326).She hopes than men and women will take heed of her writings and make changes that will benefit all of