Other editions of book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects

Table of contentsA Brief Sketch Of The Life Of Mary WollstonecraftLetter To M. Talleyrand Perigord, Late Bishop Of AutunIntroductionChapter 1. The Rights And Involved Duties Of Mankind ConsideredChapter 2. The Prevailing Opinion Of A Sexual Character DiscussedChapter 3. The Same Subject ContinuedChapter 4. Observations On The State Of Degradation To Which Woman Is Reduced By Various CausesChapter 5. Animadversions On Some Of The Writers Who Have Rendered Women Objects Of Pity, Bordering On ContemptChapter 6. The Effect Which An Early Association Of Ideas Has Upon The CharacterChapter 7. Modesty Comprehensively Considered And Not As A Sexual VirtueChapter 8. Morality Undermined By Sexual Notions Of The Importance Of A Good ReputationChapter 9. Of The Pernicious Effects Which Arise From The Unnatural Distinctions Established In SocietyChapter 10. Parental AffectionChapter 11. Duty To ParentsChapter 12. On National EducationChapter 13. Some Instances Of The Folly Which The Ignorance Of Women Generates; With Concluding Reflections On The Moral Improvement That A Revolution In Female Manners Might Naturally Be Expected To Produce

First published in 1792, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman tackles many of the punitive patriarchal attitudes that dominated eighteenth-century society. With warmth and passion, Mary Wollstonecraft urges women to prioritize reason over emotion—a necessary step in building the strength of character required to break free from male notions of female fragility and foolishness. Wollstonecraft bases much of her argument in the case for women’s education. Without it, women are merely men’s “slaves” and “playthings”—not the intelligent, rational companions of a just and equal society.As stirring as when it debuted, Wollstonecraft’s signature work remains an essential text in the feminist literary canon.AmazonClassics brings you timeless works from iconic authors. Ideal for anyone who wants to read a great work for the first time or revisit an old favorite, these new editions open the door to the stories and ideas that have shaped our world.Revised edition: Previously published as A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, this edition of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (AmazonClassics Edition) includes editorial revisions.

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects (1792), written by the 18th-century British proto-feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, is one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy. In it, Wollstonecraft responds to those educational and political theorists of the 18th century who did not believe women should receive a rational education.

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects (1792), written by the 18th-century British proto-feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, is one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy. In it, Wollstonecraft responds to those educational and political theorists of the 18th century who did not believe women should receive a rational education.

Mary Shelley (née Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, often known as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley) was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, travel writer, and editor of the works of her husband, Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. She was the daughter of the political philosopher William Godwin and the writer, philosopher, and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. Mary Shelley was taken seriously as a writer in her own lifetime, though reviewers often missed the political edge to her novels. After her death, however, she was chiefly remembered only as the wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley and as the author of Frankenstein. It was not until 1989, when Emily Sunstein published her prizewinning biography Mary Shelley: Romance and Reality, that a full-length scholarly biography analyzing all of Shelley's letters, journals, and works within their historical context was published. The well-meaning attempts of Mary Shelley's son and daughter-in-law to "Victorianise" her memory through the censoring of letters and biographical material contributed to a perception of Mary Shelley as a more conventional, less reformist figure than her works suggest. Her own timid omissions from Percy Shelley's works and her quiet avoidance of public controversy in the later years of her life added to this impression. The eclipse of Mary Shelley's reputation as a novelist and biographer meant that, until the last thirty years, most of her works remained out of print, obstructing a larger view of her achievement. She was seen as a one-novel author, if that. In recent decades, however, the republication of almost all her writings has stimulated a new recognition of its value. Her voracious reading habits and intensive study, revealed in her journals and letters and reflected in her works, is now better appreciated. Shelley's recognition of herself as an author has also been recognized; after Percy's death, she wrote about her authorial ambitions: "I think that I can maintain myself, and there is something inspiriting in the idea". Scholars now consider Mary Shelley to be a major Romantic figure, significant for her literary achievement and her political voice as a woman and a liberal.

"A Vindication of the Rights of Women" is a book-length feminist essay by British writer Mary Wollstonecraft, published in 1792. The essay called for female equality, particularly in the area of education. Wollstonecraft dismissed the cultivation of traditional female virtues of submission and service and argued that women could not be good mothers, good wives and good household managers if they were not well-educated. She claimed that women were expected to spend too much time on maintaining their delicate appearance and gentle demeanor, sacrificing intelligence for beauty and becoming flower-like playthings for men.The book is divided into thirteen chapters, in which Wollstonecraft addressed topics such as the importance of educating women equally, treating women with dignity and providing women with the proper training to be good wives and mothers and intelligent companions for their husbands: