A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN
Mary Wollstonecraft
Keep these questions in mind as you read:
What argument is brought forward to explain why women cannot achieve true virtue? (What is true virtue anyway? What does Wollstonecraft mean when she uses the term virtue?)
Could virtue mean having a moral code? Being able to think for oneself? Being able to determine one’s own moral codes?
Vocabulary:
Ephemeron: short-lived; from the word ephemeral which means short-lived; not long lasting; mortal; lasting but for a short while only;
Trifler: a person who does little or engages in stupid, pointless, silly things or activities.
Specious: seemingly correct and logical but upon closer examination to be revealed as false, misleading and illogical.
Innocence: honest; without sin; without guilt
Keenly: sharply
Satirizes: to criticize or to poke fun at
Caprices: whims, arbitrary decisions based on whim, on one’s fleeting desires of the moment.
Groveling: to roll on the ground in servile submission to another, on the ground begging.
What will make the mind unstable?
What five things are women taught from infancy?
Scrupulous: paying close attention to; strict;
Puerile: juvenile; immature; childish; jejune
Propriety: proper behavior as determined by society; mannerly, under control of society’s rules determining behavior and comportment.
If they follow these five examples of behavior what will women get in return?
If the women are beautiful, then why won’t they need to follow the above rules? And why for only the first twenty years? What do you think will happen after those twenty years?
What does Wollstonecraft think is the best education?
What is an important thing that men are taught to do, but women are not?
Vocabulary:
Farce: joke
What is a farce?
What was Rousseau’s opinion regarding men? How did it differ from his opinion regarding women? He believed in freedom for men; he did not necessarily believe it for women. He maintained that he arrived at his arguments through observation of the natural world.
Rousseau was an important Swiss philosopher of the 1700’s “Age of Reason”. The writings of Rousseau and Locke were influential during the French Revolution.
What sphere do you think Wollstonecraft is referring to?
What do you think she means when she says “false refinement”?
Vocabulary:
Endeavor: to attempt; to try
What do you think she means by “masculine qualities”?
Vocabulary:
Regal: royalty
Homage: honor; paying tribute to
Intoxicating: to cause one to become almost drunk
Sentence:
The prospect of winning vast sums of money was intoxicating.
"That till the manners of the time are changed" - until society changes
Who will be impossible to convince and of what?
Illegitimate: false; not right; not based on legitimate rights or natural rights to something of importance
"Which they obtain by degrading themselves": who are “they”; what are they obtaining (getting, receiving) and what are they doing to obtain this?
Placid: calm, tranquil
Unsophisticated: real, natural, unaffected
Impart: to give
What must women wait for?
What must men do? What do you think Wollstonecraft means when she writes that men must throw off their “hereditary trappings?”
Hereditary: inherited;
Trappings: accessories; things (clothes, symbols, etc.) associated with something
else.
What will be proved if women do not throw off the arbitrary power of beauty?
What is the one corrupting cause in society that enslaves women?
Negligent: not paying proper attention to; neglectful of; allowing something bad to happen through carelessness or lack of attention or care.
Epithet: a term or a name for something; example: Elizabeth, the Queen of England. The underlined part is the epithet which names her.
Random: without a discernible pattern; a reaction without a clear cause
Exertions: efforts
Why are women so unorganized in their work and in their thinking?
Women must be considered as________________(what?) or they must be____________(what?)
Subjected: to be in submission to; to be under the complete control of someone; to be dominated by another; or to be the victim where someone or something inflicts something disagreeable on them.
Faculties: intellect
What does Rousseau say about women?
Coquettish: flirtatious; to behave and dress in a manner that is flirtatious (batting of one’s eyes; giggling, etc.) that is meant to make a man want or desire a woman.
Where does Rousseau derive his ideas (his argument) about the proper role of women?
Insinuates: implies rather than directly states
What are the two cornerstones of human virtue?
What does Rousseau say about the cultivation of these two cornerstones as they relate to women?
Rigor: strictness
What is the one quality that must be enforced on women according to Rousseau? Does Wollstonecraft agree with Rousseau?
What clouds men’s judgment as it pertains to women?
If…….or………In the second paragraph on page 446 what argument is Wollstonecraft offering? What statement is she making about the quality of virtue? Do you think she feels that virtue is a relative idea? If virtue is the same for both men and women then all people’s conduct should be founded on the same principles of truth and fortitude (strength).
What is the grand end of their exertions (endeavors, efforts, activities)?
What is conscious virtue?
Felicity: happiness, satisfaction
What must women, along with men, never forget? What should never be forgotten but at the same time its relative importance to the grand scheme of things should be properly understood?
However, both men and women should not neglect what?
Abstract reflections: lost in thought; preoccupied with philosophy
Distant views: unrealistic or far off plans
Subordinate: inferior; less important
Loiter: to hang about; to linger;
“Suckle fools and chronicle small beer” – quote from Othello; to put up with trivial, unimportant things.
What does Wollstonecraft propose as ideal employment for women?
Which is the greater beauty – physical or moral and intellectual beauty?
What should beautiful women not expect when their beauty fades?
Which writers are useful?
What would men find if they “generously snapped” women’s chains?
What would women be able then to do?
Partners:
Roxana, Kathian and Sharon
Araceli, Albert and Ryan
Eina and Moises
Mary and Lillian
Veronica and Sebastian
Laura and Hector
Daniel and Jordan
Ellada
Daion
Kacey
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