Read about A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Class Discussion Questions:
- Why does Wollstonecraft concede that women are inferior to men? Who is her audience? What distinction does she make between "masculine" and "feminine"?
- "My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures"--what do you make of Wollstonecraft's attitude toward her audience? Is her tone sarcastic or condescending?
- I am curious about Wollstonecraft's goal: "to show that elegance is inferior to virtue." Can she do so without merely asserting her preference that women care about the same values that she cares about?
- Why is Wollstonecraft up front about her use of language in this work: "I shall be employed about things, not words!"?
- Where do you see Enlightenment ideals in Wollstonecraft's argument?
- What is, according to Wollstonecraft, "the test of judgment"? What is the problem with acquiring "manners before morals"?
