Throughout Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, readers see a detailed argument focused on the educational rights of women. Not only does Wollstonecraft target individual audiences, but also she portrays her argument for both men and women. This tactic, along with her structure and use of elaborate, feminist language, makes Wollstonecraft’s claim concrete.
Initially, Wollstonecraft’s writing appears to be directed at women, and why not? She is an early feminist fighting for the right to educate women; therefore, women should be the target audience. Women during this period did not know they were being oppressed, they simply thought they were submitting to their husbands and fathers, just as they were taught. However, …show more content…
Early in her life, “saw that her problem was not her family history, nor a God-given sense of dissatisfaction, but a response to a general social situation in which some improperly privileged and educated men systematically denied education and autonomy to women” (Todd). Therefore, she wrote with disgust towards those that treat women as “feeble hand[ed]” or some “kind of subordinate beings, and not…human species” (103). To her, “married women were her ‘inferiors’” as she believed they were stifling themselves, body and spirit (Todd). These same married women were being lowered and demeaned by their male counterparts, who turned them into “alluring mistresses [rather] than affectionate wives and rational mothers” (102). She knew about this subject all too well, as she had been the mistress of many who would not marry her, but irrationally and illegitimately made her a mother (Todd). In an effort to drive her stance, she points out how greatly men take advantage of women. She says, “Men endeavor to sink us still lower…and women, intoxicated by the adoration which men, under the influence of their senses, pay them, do not seek to obtain a durable interest in their hearts, or to become the friends of the fellow creatures who find amusement in their society” (103). With this statement, she insists that men do not want
Initially, Wollstonecraft’s writing appears to be directed at women, and why not? She is an early feminist fighting for the right to educate women; therefore, women should be the target audience. Women during this period did not know they were being oppressed, they simply thought they were submitting to their husbands and fathers, just as they were taught. However, …show more content…
Early in her life, “saw that her problem was not her family history, nor a God-given sense of dissatisfaction, but a response to a general social situation in which some improperly privileged and educated men systematically denied education and autonomy to women” (Todd). Therefore, she wrote with disgust towards those that treat women as “feeble hand[ed]” or some “kind of subordinate beings, and not…human species” (103). To her, “married women were her ‘inferiors’” as she believed they were stifling themselves, body and spirit (Todd). These same married women were being lowered and demeaned by their male counterparts, who turned them into “alluring mistresses [rather] than affectionate wives and rational mothers” (102). She knew about this subject all too well, as she had been the mistress of many who would not marry her, but irrationally and illegitimately made her a mother (Todd). In an effort to drive her stance, she points out how greatly men take advantage of women. She says, “Men endeavor to sink us still lower…and women, intoxicated by the adoration which men, under the influence of their senses, pay them, do not seek to obtain a durable interest in their hearts, or to become the friends of the fellow creatures who find amusement in their society” (103). With this statement, she insists that men do not want