Mary Wollstonecraft

1
Mary Wollstonecraft
2
Biography

• Born April 27th, 1759, London England.
• Mother Elizabeth Dickson Wollstonecraft
• Father John Edward

KP
3
Family

• Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the seven children
  born in her family.
• Siblings
• Edward Wollstonecraft
• Henry Woodstock Wollstonecraft
• Everina Wollstonecraft
• James Wollstonecraft
• Charles Wollstonecraft

• Elizabeth Wollstonecraft
• KP

4
Family Tree
KP
5
Her Childhood

• Was born Spitalfields London
• Father squandered their money, and beat his wife
  in drunken rage
• Was a motherly figure to her younger sisters and
  even to her own mother
• AH

6
Childhood Friendships

• Jane Arden
• -Listened to lectures at schools
• -Father was a philosopher
• Fanny Blood
• -wanted to be independent together
• -Started a school together
• -Inspiration for a novel AH

7
Loves and Losses

• Mary left home and decided to enroll in a life of
  literature.
• Created several pieces of literature
• Thoughts on Education of Daughters
• She also created a revolutionary piece of work
  called
• A Vindication of the Rights of Women

KP
8
Loves and Losses

• Romances with the married painter Fuseli
• She fled to France after he did not reciprocate
  her love
• When she was 35 she married Gilbert Imlay
• In the same year they gave birth to Franny Imlay
• A year later Gilbert deserted her

NK
9

• Failing to cope with her heartbreak, she
  attempted suicide twice and failed both times
• She got married again 2 years later to William
  Godwin
• 5 months later they had a little girl named Mary
• A month later she died due to complications to
  childbirth

NK
10
Ideas on Marriage

• Wollstonecraft believed in
• Social contract between man and woman.
• Educating women will strengthen marriages.
• A woman must have an equal amount of knowledge
  as her partner.
• Both man and woman require an equal amount of
  sexual pleasure to maintain a stable marriage.

KP
11
Concept of Equality

• Definition The state of being equal, especially
  in status, rights, and opportunities.
• In your own opinion, what does the ideal equal
  society look like?

KP
12
Womens Education in Late 1700s

• Most women in the late 1700s were denied their
  education
• Mary felt women were
• denied their potential
• read quote 1
• SR
• SR

13
Womens Voting Rights

• Excerpt from secondary doc read quote 2
• women were disallowed
• to vote
• not really any challenge
• on the topic
• SR

14
Wollstonecraft - Womens Rights

• Wollstonecraft believe men had no right or
  reason
• ultimately destroy
• their potential
• to oppress women
• deny their education
• SR
• SR

15
Concepts Feminism

• Definition The advocacy of womens rights on the
  ground of the equality of the sexes.

M.H
16
Wollstonecraft and Feminism

• Wollstonecraft was seen as
• one of the founders of feminism
• Wrote Thoughts on the
• Education of Daughters in 1787
• Believed men and women
• were intellectually and morally
• equal to men

M.H
17

• Wrote A Vindication of the
• Rights of Woman in 1791
• Believed women should get the
• same educational opportunities as
• men
• Wanted women to be represented
• by who they are, not marriage

M.H
18
Feminism then

• Because of the increasing of
• power in the middle class and
• expansion of consumerism, the
• role of a woman grew
• In france, Olympe de Gouges
• fought for the rights of women during the french
  revolution

M.H
19

• Due to the increase of literacy in lower class,
  writing became popular in sharing views
  (popularizing feminism)

M.H
20
Feminism today and Wollstonecraft

• Inspired many with the idea of equality
• Disputed the idea that women should not receive
  same education as men
• Urged idea that women should be able to pursue
  professional employment
• Insisted that women should
• vote

M.H
21
Concept - Reason

• the power of the mind to think, understand, and
  form judgements using logic
• harmony between feeling and thought
• Rousseau believe women incapable of reason

JW
22
Concept - State of Nature

• moral / political philosophy used in religious
  and social contract theories to denote the
  hypothetical conditions of what the lives of
  people may have been like before societies came
  into existence

• used by Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau

JW
23
Questions Feminism

• Do you think Wollstonecraft's ideas on feminism
  have been fulfilled in todays society? If so why?

M.H
24

• Do you think feminism would the same today
  without the contributions of Wollstonecraft? why?

M.H
25

• As a proof that education gives this appearance
  of weakness to females, we may instance the
  example of military men, who are, like them, sent
  into the world before their minds have been
  stored with knowledge, or fortified by
  principles. Where is the sexual difference,
  when the education has been the same? All the
  differences that I can discern arises from the
  superior advantage of liberty which enables the
  former to see more of life.
• What do you think this means in a feminist view?

M.H
26

• In what ways do you think feminism has changed
  from the 18th century? And why do you think it
  has changed?

M.H
27

• As we have learned, Marys early life wasnt
  exactly a fairy tale, how do you think it
  affected her views in the future?

28

• Do you think Mary Wollstonecraft would think
  about the feminism in todays society?

M.H
29
Questions

• Wollstonecraft states
• Society, therefore, as it becomes more
  enlightened, should be very careful not to
  establish bodies of men who must necessarily be
  made foolish or vicious by the very constitution
  of their profession (pg 3).
• As we become more enlightened do we lose
  ourselves?
• Does the idea of the state of nature go against
  God?

JW
30

1. Does modern day society reflect on Mary
   Wollstonecrafts concepts of feminism, reason, or
   state of nature?

KP
31
Bibliography

• Johnson Lewis, Jones. "What Rights Did Mary
  Wollstonecraft Advocate for Women?" Mary
  Wollstonecraft - What Rights? Accessed November
  14, 2014. http//womenshistory.about.com/od/wollst
  onecraft/a/wollstonecraft-rights.htm.
• Shmoop Editorial Team. "Mary Wollstonecraft
  Timeline of Important Dates." Shmoop.com.
  November 11, 2008. Accessed November 16, 2014.
  http//www.shmoop.com/mary-wollstonecraft/timeline
  .html.
• "What Rights Did Mary Wollstonecraft Advocate for
  Women?" About. Accessed November 16, 2014.
  http//womenshistory.about.com/od/wollstonecraft/a
  /wollstonecraft-rights.htm.
• https//lfb.org/mary-wollstonecraft-founder-of-cla
  ssical-liberal-feminism/
• http//www.enotes.com/topics/feminism/critical-ess
  ays/women-16th-17th-18th-centuries