The Vindication of Madame Duval? Mary Wollstonecraft, who authored A Vindication for the Rights of Woman and fought for the rights of women during the eighteenth century, probably had strong opinions about the women portrayed in literature. Wollstonecraft would probably have both been irritated with Fanny Burney’s Madame Duval from Evelina, yet find her to be a compelling example of the repercussions of society’s pressure on women. Wollstonecraft’s determination to convince not only the men, but many women as well, that we are all equal human beings would have formed a delicate line revolving around Madame Duval’s character. Wollstonecraft argues in the Vindication that women have reason, intelligence, and deserve the same opportunities as
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Though she spent much of her time in France, she was still born and understood the English culture. A society, where Duval would have understood the expectations Wollstonecraft explains within Vindication: “It is acknowledged that [women] spend many of the first years of their lives in acquiring a smattering of accomplishments; meanwhile strength of body and mind are sacrificed to libertine notions of beauty, to the desire of establishing themselves, − the only way women can rise in the world, − by marriage,” (Wollstonecraft 115). The goal of the Restoration society was to maintain one’s reputation, and Duval was expected to do this as a young women. However, it is not until she is older does she achieve a reputable name through marriage to Monsieur Duval. The marriage was an attempt to better her own life, her daughter’s and eventually Evelina’s by doing the one thing that would guarantee her a comfortable life. Madame Duval’s insistence that Evelina marry her cousin Mr. Branghton, is a ploy to not only ensure Evelina’s reputation, but to ensure the succession of Duval’s own wealth and reputation: her money would go directly to her own …show more content…
Beauty is equated to youth, and Madame Duval is attempting to remain in that category, though she has long since passed the proper time for her to participate in such activities. Wollstonecraft would claim that the importance placed on youth and beauty is held is high regard that women don’t know how to function once it starts to fade. Rather than being revered by society, older women are made into jokes, as we see with the race between the two older women held by Lord Merton and Mr. Coverely. Their blatant disregard for women would have appalled Wollstonecraft: “Women are, therefore, to be considered either as moral beings, or so weak that they must be entirely subjected to the superior faculties of men,” (Wollstonecraft 122). Madame Duval is subjected to the whims of the Captain, with little in the way of authority over him. Though she can be unpleasant, she is merely conforming the expectations of her society and is cast aside for this attempt. She is made in the joke and the comic relief, but lucky for Wollstonecraft, Burney turns that comedy into a serious discussion on the treatment of older women in the Restoration
Though she spent much of her time in France, she was still born and understood the English culture. A society, where Duval would have understood the expectations Wollstonecraft explains within Vindication: “It is acknowledged that [women] spend many of the first years of their lives in acquiring a smattering of accomplishments; meanwhile strength of body and mind are sacrificed to libertine notions of beauty, to the desire of establishing themselves, − the only way women can rise in the world, − by marriage,” (Wollstonecraft 115). The goal of the Restoration society was to maintain one’s reputation, and Duval was expected to do this as a young women. However, it is not until she is older does she achieve a reputable name through marriage to Monsieur Duval. The marriage was an attempt to better her own life, her daughter’s and eventually Evelina’s by doing the one thing that would guarantee her a comfortable life. Madame Duval’s insistence that Evelina marry her cousin Mr. Branghton, is a ploy to not only ensure Evelina’s reputation, but to ensure the succession of Duval’s own wealth and reputation: her money would go directly to her own …show more content…
Beauty is equated to youth, and Madame Duval is attempting to remain in that category, though she has long since passed the proper time for her to participate in such activities. Wollstonecraft would claim that the importance placed on youth and beauty is held is high regard that women don’t know how to function once it starts to fade. Rather than being revered by society, older women are made into jokes, as we see with the race between the two older women held by Lord Merton and Mr. Coverely. Their blatant disregard for women would have appalled Wollstonecraft: “Women are, therefore, to be considered either as moral beings, or so weak that they must be entirely subjected to the superior faculties of men,” (Wollstonecraft 122). Madame Duval is subjected to the whims of the Captain, with little in the way of authority over him. Though she can be unpleasant, she is merely conforming the expectations of her society and is cast aside for this attempt. She is made in the joke and the comic relief, but lucky for Wollstonecraft, Burney turns that comedy into a serious discussion on the treatment of older women in the Restoration