Literary Analysis 1 Essay example

Submitted By kdavis0608
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Literary Analysis: Mary Wollstonecraft, From A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Mary Wollstonecraft was a woman who believed in equal rights for women. She expressed these thoughts thoroughly in her writing, From A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. She spoke about men, women, and how education is looked upon differently between the two. Throughout her writing she mentions her disagreements about the thoughts of earlier philosophers such as Rousseau. Her opinions are very intense and can easily be misunderstood. This work is focused on how women are viewed by society and how they should gain the strength to leave their so called weaknesses behind.
Mary Wollstonecraft seemed to be most concerned with the education of women. According to Wollstonecraft, “Men and women must be educated, in a great degree, by the opinions and manners of the society they live in” (Wollstonecraft 134). It seems as if she believes that society has the biggest impact on how a man or woman is educated. It’s like she is saying that what they think of themselves doesn’t matter. She could also be saying that in order to be educated they must know a great deal about their environment in which they live. Mary was very outspoken and did a very good job of getting her point across.
Mary was very opinionated towards Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Gregory. Rousseau was a philosopher who wrote about human equality, freedom, and education. Gregory was a Scottish physician and writer (134). She talked about how she did not agree with their ideas. Mary felt that Rousseau and Dr. John Gregory “have contributed to render women more artificial, weak characters, than they would otherwise have been; and, consequently, more useless members of society” (Wollstonecraft 134). This implies that she felt like they viewed women as not having much worth other than what men made of them. She seems to believe that they think women are not needed unless a man makes them needed. Wollstonecraft’s words and opinions have a lot of anger behind them and are very powerful.
Mary Wollstonecraft shows that there is a need for women’s rights. She does not try to hide any of her feelings. According to Mary, “They were taught to please, and they only live to please. Yet they do not lose their rank in the distinction of sexes, for they are still reckoned superior to women, though in what their superiority consists, beyond what I have just mentioned, it is difficult to discover” (Wollstonecraft 136). This statement implies that men go about their lives