mary wollstonecraft a vindication of the rights of woman sparknotes

This has the most pernicious effect upon women because they are already expected to comply with the rules and demands of men. In Chapters 9, 10, and 11, Wollstonecraft explores how parents perpetuate the debasement of women by demanding “unconditional obedience” (159) in much the same way as a tyrannical ruler. Similarly, she suggests that as a woman’s only means to elevate her standing is via marriage, women become principally concerned with acquiring only pleasing and vain attributes-those which can attract a man-rather than more substantive qualities. She argues that women are only expected to appear modest and chaste, in order to preserve their “good reputation” (137), and that true modesty can only be attained by acquiring an intelligent mind.

In Chapters, 6, 7, and 8, Wollstonecraft examines the feminine ideals of modesty, chastity and virtue. She also criticizes the concept of women having rules of “decorum” (86) to follow, which wouldn’t teach them to intelligently decide between right and wrong, but simply to blindly obey. She illustrates how thinkers such as Rousseau impose a debasing stereotype upon women by suggesting that their sole purpose is “to please the man” (51). In Chapter 5, Wollstonecraft examines the writings and viewpoints of her contemporaries. She does so in Chapter 4 by suggesting the physical inferiority of women is exacerbated by the sedentary lifestyle imposed upon women, just as their weakness and frailty of mind is enforced by social expectations. In the third chapter, she begins to mount her argument against the misconception that women are inherently “weaker” (8) than men. In Chapter 2, she applies this argument specifically to women, stating that women are raised to practice “blind obedience” (24) and so often perpetuate their own oppression. She argues that the inequalities that derive from the wielding of power will always degrade man by demanding “blind submission” (16) from many towards a few. In Chapter 1, Wollstonecraft moves back from her principal argument to examine the wider issue of hierarchies and tyrannical power.

She concludes that it is because men-and most women-believe that women are different beings entirely, and that they are inherently “the weaker vessel” (8). In the Introduction, Wollstonecraft examines why it is that society doesn’t treat women as man’s equal. Wollstonecraft suggests that to deny women what is being given to everyone else renders men nothing more than “tyrants” (4).

Wollstonecraft opens by addressing a pamphlet recently published in France, in which French politician Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord argues for equal education for all, and yet omits women.

Mary wollstonecraft a vindication of the rights of woman sparknotes