Tuesday, September 27, 2016
A Vindication of the Rights of Women
Mary Wollstonecraft's "A Vindication of The Rights of Woman" is a very cunning argument. I use that word for a reason. Wollstonecraft very plainly sees sensibility in a negative light by ascribing the ability to be cunning to sensibilities' skill set. She calls out that this skill set, and its reinforcement, reduces women to something other than human, "she should be governed by fear to exercise her natural cunning, and made a coquettish slave in order to render her a more alluring object of desire"(109). However, Wollstonecraft herself is very cunning in a major point in her argument. That point is whether or not women can be good wives if they are uneducated and only left to their sensibilities. Similar to Smith's Desmond, a major point or factor is articulated around men and their needs, etc. "...men who, considering females rather as women than human creatures, have been more anxious to make them alluring mistresses than affectionate wives and rational mothers" (102). She even plays on a more masculine threat when making her argument, "Or, is it more rational to expect that she will try to please other men; and, in the emotions raised by the expectation of new conquests, endeavor to forget the mortification her love or pride has received?" (111) I think this point of the argument was extremely interesting because of an earlier point she made, "Indeed the word masculine is only a bugbear", an imaginary creature invoked to cause fear (105). I think that Wollstonecraft has a cunning understanding of what men fear: a masculine presence or being that is directly opposed to their own. I thought it very funny that both these 'other men' and the 'bugbear', which is really women acquiring 'masculinity' were imaginary creatures that had the same goal, to inspire fear and, presumably, action. Even though she dismissed the skill set attributed with sensibilities, it is clear that even she understands its value when attempting to align others to your own argument.
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I think it is interesting that you lined up the other men and the bug bear. It's a good comparison. I also agree that what she seems to be challenging is the idea of masculinity being something that is equal to education. They've warped it into this idea of masculinity being better than femininity when neither of them are real definable traits.
ReplyDeleteI think your observations on Wollstonecraft's use of sensibility are interesting. I was so focused on other arguments and how her own life is infused into the text, that I completely skimmed over her use of sensibility. It's interesting that while Wollstonecraft's argument is about women's education and the need to change it, she uses women's role as a wife and mother to help make these points. It's almost like the only way she thought she could get agreement is by insisting on the importance these changes will have for men in the form of better wives and mothers. It's definitely an interesting tactic that she is using.
ReplyDeleteI like how you aligned Wollstonecraft and Desmond with the connection of making women more entertaining. It is very interesting how Wollstonecraft uses the argument that women should be educated so they can be more entertaining wives. It emphasizes the notion that a marriage based on friendship, debate, and conversation is likely to be the happier marriage. Though it is irritating that the argument against this is that the woman can leave her husband and be the entertainment for another man. It is at the same time slightly heartbreaking that the argument to educate women still had to be based on the benefit it would have on their husbands happiness and delight. Not on the fact that they are human beings with the right to the same education as a man.
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