Analysis Of Mary Wollstronecraft's Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman

Register to read the introduction… It comprised 97% of the population. The people from the Third Estate were the industrial toilers, merchants, peasants, and the specialized workers. Thus, they were the ones who sustained the French economy. However, Sieyes compares them with a “strong and robust man with one arm still in chains” (101). Their rights had been denied by a system with officers that were more concerned about satisfying their own needs, thus leaving the rest of the population to its own luck. The privileged order, according to Sieyes, was a burden for the nation. They did not do any good for the people, nor did they let them be a free nation. Instead, “the people” were an “all” that was “fettered and oppressed” (101). They were a “nothing” with all the qualities of an …show more content…
In the “Vindication of the Rights of Woman”, Mary Wollstronecraft writes about the unequal system of women and men roles in society. She wants to “point out in what true dignity and human happiness consists…to show that elegance is inferior to virtue, that the first object of laudable ambition is to obtain a character as a human being, regardless of the distinction of sex…” (107). Wollstonecraft criticizes the idea that women should be more concerned on enhancing her beauty, rather than on building her intellectual in order to establish themselves in society and finally get married. She also condemns men who self-impose the right to decide for women, subjugating, undermining and excluding them from society. She compares them with tyrants: “Do you not act a similar part when you force all women, by denying them civil and political rights, to remain immured [imprisoned] in their families groping in the dark?” (107). She also asks men to show in their “NEW CONSTITUTION” where it says “that man must, in some shape, act like a tyrant…” (108). Wollstonecraft raises her voice for equal rights and the rejection of traditional expectations. She insists that woman should pay more attention on their intellectual formation: they should be allowed to study health, politics, and business, so that they can become better daughters, wives, mothers, and citizens. She believes in the complementation of women and men, rather than submission of women to men: “Let woman share the rights, and she would emulate the virtues of man, for she must grow most perfect when emancipated…”(109). Another group that arise with the intention of demanding a change in the way they were being treated was the black slaves from the French colonies. The Society of the Friends of Blacks was representing this highly segregated group in the National