A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

by Wollstonecraft, Mary (Author); Brody, Miriam (Editor/introduction); Brody, Miriam (Notes by)

• ISBN13: 9780141441252
• ISBN10: 0141441259
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-09-28
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

Writing in an age when the call for the rights of man had brought revolution to America and France, Mary Wollstonecraft produced her own declaration of female independence in 1792. Passionate and forthright, A Vindication of the Rights of Womanattacked the prevailing view of docile, decorative femininity and instead laid out the principles of emancipation: an equal education for girls and boys, an end to prejudice, and the call for women to become defined by their profession, not their partner. Mary Wollstonecraft’s work was received with a mixture of admiration and outrage—Walpole called her a hyena in petticoats”—yet it established her as the mother of modern feminism.

Author Biography

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-û1797) wrote on political and social topics, polemics as well as fiction.

Miriam Brody is a professor in the Writing Program at Ithaca College who has written extensively on Mary Wollstonecraft.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Further Reading	p. 71
A Note on the Text	p. 75
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Author's Introduction	p. 79
Dedication	p. 85
The Rights and Involved Duties of Mankind Considered	p. 91
The Prevailing Opinion of a Sexual Character Discussed	p. 100
The Same Subject Continued	p. 123
Observations on the State of Degradation to which Woman is Reduced by Various Causes	p. 141
Animadversions on Some of the Writers Who Have Rendered Women Objects of Pity, Bordering on Contempt	p. 173
The Effect which an Early Association of Ideas Has upon the Character	p. 219
Modesty - Comprehensively Considered, and Not as a Sexual Virtue	p. 227
Morality Undermined by Sexual Notions of the Importance of a Good Reputation	p. 240
Of the Pernicious Effects which Arise from the Unnatural Distinctions Established in Society	p. 252
Parental Affection	p. 264
Duty to Parents	p. 267
On National Education	p. 273
Some Instances of the Folly which the Ignorance of Women Generates, with Concluding Reflections on the Moral Improvement that a Revolution in Female Manners Might Naturally Be Expected to Produce	p. 300
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

The Rights and Involved Duties of Mankind Considered

In the present state of society it appears necessary to go back to first principles in search of the most simple truths, and to dispute with some prevailing prejudice every inch of ground. To clear my way, I must be allowed to ask some plain questions, and the answers will probably appear as unequivocal as the axioms on which reasoning is built; though, when entangled with various motives of action, they are formally contradicted, either by the words or conduct of men.

In what does man’s pre-eminence over the brute creation consist? The answer is as clear as that a half is less than the whole, in Reason.

What acquirement exalts one being above another? Virtue, we spontaneously reply.

For what purpose were the passions implanted? That man by struggling with them might attain a degree of knowledge denied to the brutes, whispers Experience.

Consequently the perfection of our nature and capability of happiness must be estimated by the degree of reason, virtue, and knowledge, that distinguish the individual, and direct the laws which bind society: and that from the exercise of reason, knowledge and virtue naturally flow, is equally undeniable, if mankind be viewed collectively.

The rights and duties of man thus simplified, it seems almost impertinent to attempt to illustrate truths that appear so incontrovertible; yet such deeply rooted prejudices have clouded reason, and such spurious qualities have assumed the name of virtues, that it is necessary to pursue the course of reason as it has been perplexed and involved in error, by various adventitious circumstances, comparingthe simple axiom with casual deviations.

Men, in general, seem to employ their reason to justify prejudices, which they have imbibed, they can scarcely trace how, rather than to root them out. The mind must be strong that resolutely forms its own principles; for a kind of intellectual cowardice prevails which makes many men shrink from the task, or only do it by halves. Yet the imperfect conclusions thus drawn, are frequently very plausible, because they are built on partial experience, on just, though narrow, views.

Going back to first principles, vice skulks, with all its native deformity, from close investigation; but a set of shallow reasoners are always exclaiming that these arguments prove too much, and that a measure rotten at the core may be expedient. Thus expediency is continually contrasted with simple principles, till truth is lost in a mist of words, virtue, in forms, and knowledge rendered a sounding nothing, by the specious prejudices that assume its name.

That the society is formed in the wisest manner, whose constitution is founded on the nature of man, strikes, in the abstract, every thinking being so forcibly, that it looks like presumption to endeavour to bring forward proofs; though proof must be brought, or the strong hold of prescription will never be forced by reason; yet to urge prescription as an argument to justify the depriving men (or women) of their natural rights, is one of the absurd sophisms which daily insult common sense.

The civilization of the bulk of the people of Europe is very partial; nay, it may be made a question, whether they have acquired any virtues in exchange for innocence, equivalent to the misery produced by the vices that have been plastered over unsightly ignorance, and the freedom which has been bartered for splendid slavery. The desire of dazzling by riches, the most certain pre-eminence that man can obtain, the pleasure of commanding flattering sycophants, and many other complicated low calculations of doting self-love, have all contributed to overwhelm the mass of mankind, and make liberty a convenient handle for mock patriotism. For whilst rank and titles are held of the utmost importance, before which Genius “must hide its diminished head,” it is, with a few exceptions, very unfortunate for a nation when a man of abilities, without rank or property, pushes himself forward to notice. Alas! what unheard-of misery have thousands suffered to purchase a cardinal’s hat for an intriguing obscure adventurer, who longed to be ranked with princes, or lord it over them by seizing the triple crown!