Mary Wollstonecraft's "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman" is a powerful player on feminism. She uses a strong voice to address the education and ideals given to women which I found wonderfully engaging to read. There were points in "A Vindication..." that we seem to have touched on in other works, for example how the women in Smith's "Desmond" were portrayed to have less liberties then men. A moment in "A Vindication..." that I found worth mention was how she states women were brought up to "acquire manners before morals" (pg.108) which allows them to be subjected to ridicule and prejudice from men for being told not to have such strong passions for anything relating to human nature.
"Maria" works well with this issue as we see Jemima cast out and struggling to survive. She is seen as a "wretch" who destroyed an honest family (pg.123) after the master of the house pursues her, but because she is a woman of low standing, she is seen to have no moral grounding to be innocent of such an act to the wife even though readers understand that she is the victim. It ties into how in "A Vindication..." women "were made to be loved, and must not aim at respect..."(pg. 115).
The way Wollstonecraft argues for women to be equal to men in her work is inspiring and works well in showing how far women have come in how we are seen alongside men and no longer raised to just be a wife and lover.
I agree with your comment on "manners before morals," this is something that my small group discussed quite a bit. Women during the time period were taught trivial aspects of "education" such as needlework rather than important sciences. When a woman was "well-educated" it meant that she was well equipped to be a wife, not well equipped to be an upstanding member of society.
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