Capabilities of Women, Or, the Dual Aspasia
As literacy and questions of equality rose, many began to question the values they held, and to varying degrees argue for the discrepancies between race, class and very importantly, sex. Both Mary Wollstonecraft and Hannah More can, and should, be seen as the dialectical evolution of femininity in literature, and more importantly, in the social consciousness. Their efforts despite opposing views helped to steer the conversation on “where” all women belong into a more reasonable state, irreversibly throwing into question ancient and resilient notions as to the strengths and weaknesses of sexes. However, despite both furthering the cause of recognizing the equality between sexes, both displayed femininity in a different light. Wollstonecraft presented femininity as equal to the masculine, having the same capabilities, though lamentably susceptible to the social institutions and literature which, while without bad intentions, was meant to keep them in place on the social structure. Alternatively, Hannah More holds many of the same views as Wollstonecraft in that; women also may learn and discuss philosophy and the sciences, though she is …show more content…
[guilt] of inferiority in those talents which do not belong to her” which unsurprisingly does not make her endearing to many who wish to study early feminist literature. The idea of one sex being simply superior being put forth by a woman of such blatant learning of said areas of knowledge which demand “higher reach” and a “wider range of powers” is confusing at the very least. However, attention should now be brought to a poem entitled THE BAS BLEU: or, Conversation which was written by More in 1787 prior to Strictures which was published in 1799. In this poem, More remarks quite differently about the capabilities of women, though indirectly as shown by Morya Haslett who
As literacy and questions of equality rose, many began to question the values they held, and to varying degrees argue for the discrepancies between race, class and very importantly, sex. Both Mary Wollstonecraft and Hannah More can, and should, be seen as the dialectical evolution of femininity in literature, and more importantly, in the social consciousness. Their efforts despite opposing views helped to steer the conversation on “where” all women belong into a more reasonable state, irreversibly throwing into question ancient and resilient notions as to the strengths and weaknesses of sexes. However, despite both furthering the cause of recognizing the equality between sexes, both displayed femininity in a different light. Wollstonecraft presented femininity as equal to the masculine, having the same capabilities, though lamentably susceptible to the social institutions and literature which, while without bad intentions, was meant to keep them in place on the social structure. Alternatively, Hannah More holds many of the same views as Wollstonecraft in that; women also may learn and discuss philosophy and the sciences, though she is …show more content…
[guilt] of inferiority in those talents which do not belong to her” which unsurprisingly does not make her endearing to many who wish to study early feminist literature. The idea of one sex being simply superior being put forth by a woman of such blatant learning of said areas of knowledge which demand “higher reach” and a “wider range of powers” is confusing at the very least. However, attention should now be brought to a poem entitled THE BAS BLEU: or, Conversation which was written by More in 1787 prior to Strictures which was published in 1799. In this poem, More remarks quite differently about the capabilities of women, though indirectly as shown by Morya Haslett who