Mary Wollstonecraft

Background of the author
Read about A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Class Discussion Questions:
  1. Why does Wollstonecraft concede that women are inferior to men? Who is her audience? What distinction does she make between "masculine" and "feminine"?
  2. "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?
  3. 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?
  4. Why is Wollstonecraft up front about her use of language in this work: "I shall be employed about things, not words!"?
  5. Where do you see Enlightenment ideals in Wollstonecraft's argument?
  6. What is, according to Wollstonecraft, "the test of judgment"? What is the problem with acquiring "manners before morals"?