Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft (April 27, 1759 – September 10, 1797) was a British writer, philosopher, and early feminist. She is the author of several novels, essays, and children's books, but is best known for her A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790), a criticism of Edmund Burke's pamphlet on the French Revolution, and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), regarded as her most important work.

Related Topics:
April 27 - 1759 - September 10 - 1797 - British - Feminist - A Vindication of the Rights of Men - 1790 - Edmund Burke - French Revolution - A Vindication of the Rights of Woman - 1792

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In it, Wollstonecraft argued that what appeared to be the nature of women was actually a consequence of the education, or lack of it, imposed on them by men, and that marriage was legalized prostitution. She argued in favour of a social order based on reason and free of superstition and prejudice.

Related Topics:
Women - Education - Men - Marriage - Prostitution - Social order - Reason - Superstition - Prejudice

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As a child, she moved frequently; when she met a man named Richard Price, she attended his chapel despite the fact that she was brought up Anglican. Price, who had radical ideas on revolution, urged her to publish her ideas. Soon afterwards, she published her first work, Thoughts on the Education of Girls, published in 1786.

Related Topics:
Richard Price - Chapel - Anglican - Thoughts on the Education of Girls - 1786

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Wollstonecraft was married to the philosopher William Godwin, a prominent atheist and the forefather of the anarchist movement, and was the mother of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (Mary Shelley), the author of Frankenstein. She died of puerperal fever shortly after the birth of her daughter.

Related Topics:
Philosopher - William Godwin - Atheist - Anarchist - Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (Mary Shelley) - Frankenstein - Puerperal fever

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