Mary Wollstonecraft

MaryWollstonecraft

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Mary Wollstonecraft Original Stories from Real Life copy 1 object 1 - Look what a fine morning it is

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Jacques Bertaux - Prise du palais des Tuileries - 1793

WilliamGodwin

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GodwinMemoirs

Newington Green plaque

Mary Wollstonecraft (27 April 1759 – 10 September 1797) was an English writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. Despite her brief career, she wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a children's book. Wollstonecraft is best known for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), in which she argues that women are not naturally inferior to men, but appear to be only because they lack education. She suggests that both men and women should be treated as rational beings and imagines a social order founded on reason.

Early Life

Born in Spitalfields, London, Wollstonecraft was the second of seven children. Her father, Edward John Wollstonecraft, was a handkerchief weaver, and her mother, Elizabeth Dixon, hailed from Ireland. The family moved frequently due to her father's unsuccessful ventures, which led to a challenging and often impoverished upbringing for Wollstonecraft and her siblings.

Career

Wollstonecraft's career began in earnest in 1787, when she decided to earn a living by writing, a rare profession for women at the time. Her early works included Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787), which laid the groundwork for her later feminist writings. In 1788, she started working as a translator for the London publisher Joseph Johnson, where she became part of a radical intellectual circle that included Thomas Paine and William Godwin, the latter of whom she would eventually marry.

Her experiences in France during the French Revolution influenced her second book, A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790), a passionate response to Edmund Burke's critique of the revolution. However, it was A Vindication of the Rights of Woman that cemented her place in history. In this work, Wollstonecraft argued for women's education and the right to participate in political life as equals to men.

Personal Life

Wollstonecraft's personal life was marked by hardships and unconventional relationships. In 1792, she met and fell in love with American adventurer Gilbert Imlay, with whom she had a daughter, Fanny. After their relationship ended, she returned to London and attempted suicide twice. In 1797, she married William Godwin, one of the forefathers of the anarchist movement. Their marriage was happy but short-lived; Wollstonecraft died of puerperal fever shortly after giving birth to her second daughter, Mary Shelley, who would go on to write Frankenstein.

Legacy

Wollstonecraft's work was largely forgotten after her death, overshadowed by her daughter's fame and the scandalous aspects of her own life. However, with the rise of the feminist movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, her writings were rediscovered, and she emerged as a foundational figure in feminist philosophy. Wollstonecraft's advocacy for equality and education for women has cemented her legacy as a pioneering feminist thinker.