Discuss and critically appraise how personal experience informed the political thought of Mary Wollstonecraft

bloody shame Wollstonecraft has been seen to be the founder of feminism, with radical ideas in terms of grooming, wedding party and fe male emancipation. except it is necessary to consider what cause those ideas, which lead to the emergence of feminism. It is necessary to consider what circumstances events and ideas circulating at the quantify influenced the politic conceptions of bloody shame Wollstonecraft. In order to understand what create the basis of bloody shames impressions we will admit to identify their aspects in the context of a number of incidentors.bloody shames ideas could be regarded as liberal feminism. Her ideas focused mainly rough the individual woman and her rights. Her proposals were mainly for womens equality with men. bloody shame believed women should be treated like men and put a lot of focus some womens facts of life as existence inferior to mens when in detail women were as intellectual as men and thitherfore should bring in a to a grea ter extent equal education. Her reasoning for this was based most the idea that women need to be well educated to be successful mothers.bloody shame besides emphasized in her writing the need for sexual freedom and considerd how marriage could be dangerous to women as it leads to further oppression. Equality was needed in domestic relationships. However all though initially her focus was on equality for women it eventually shifted to equality of benevolentity. It needs to be contemp after-hoursd that there be a number of influences in the ideas outlined above these include bloody shames protest in-personized fork over gots, social miscellany and other events occurring at that time. some(prenominal) quite a little suggest that bloody shames semipolitical views are grounded in experience her personal life explains a lot more or less her proposals for womens equality, education, marriage and piece. 1 bloody shame had a very alter background, she moved house six times i n total with to each one time representing a d bearward social and economic mobility. This gave her insight into in to regional, class and gender divisions of eighteenth century Britain, enabling Mary to compass class inequalities in familiarity, and campaign for equality of every class alternatively than just women.In addition to this it could also be argued that another management in which her personal experience shaped her views on class inequalities was work for the kingsboroughs, which allowed her to observe the lives of an affluent aristocratic family compared to the lower classes. This shaped her political thought in terms of her resentment of the power and emptiness of privileged lives2 and the injustice faced by the working classes.However It could be argued that Mary Wollstonecraft ideas were centred round achieving equality for middleclass women as much of her work is focused on how disadvantaged so called ladies of leisure are in having mere existences instead th an equality faced by working class men and women. Mary still regarded womens domestic role as acceptable she believed women should still arrest the role of caring for children, family and other domestic duties mothers should stay at pedestal and care for their children. 3 It could be argued that this was because of the role she had to play in regards to her personate in the family.For example, Mary had to leave her job as a ladys familiar spirit in 1781 to go back home to nurse her mother, which was considered as a effeminates role in her family. It is evident that her ideas of equal education were actually to enable women to become better mothers (she still saw women in a domesticated role), which could have stemmed from experience in her family of having such(prenominal) roles. Conversely it could be considered that her ideas for women still looking after children could be due to the values of society at the present time.A great deal of Marys political thought was based or so the education of girls. In her book entitled Thoughts on the education of daughters she reflects concern on adequacy of female education. She believed that women were constrained in their education compared with boys and it should therefore be more rational. It could be said that these ideas about the inadequacy of girls education were based around her experiences of education. Mary attend a local day school for girls. Her school discouraged to high notions and attended to housewifery and morals to make girls such as Mary marriageable.It could be fake Mary was an intelligent girl and she found her education short and light3 this whitethorn have influenced her view about how inadequate womens education was and pushed her to campaign for reforming womens education. Mary gained knowledge in male dominated areas such as arithmetic, which showed to her that women could be just as capable as having the comparable knowledge as men. However it could be contended that rather than pers onal experience influencing her ideas on education her class ideology directed her ideas on reforming education.This could be shown in Marys belief of selected education where the mechanically minded children should be placed in separate schools to those of superior abilities5, which was a typical attitude of the middle/upper classes. In her book A defense mechanism of the rights of women Mary highlights her views on the subordination of women in society. Mary argues against the social forces that keep women ignorant and the shallowness they are encouraged to engage in6this enables men to remain dominant oer women as women become physically and economically dependant on men.Mary believed that women needed freedom as they were being dominated by male patriarchy and in this sense were open to abuse by males. It seems bare that the above ideas and assertions on male abuse and dominance of women stemmed from her own life experiences and those of her female relations as she witnessed m ale abuse to family around her As a young girl Mary used to be subjected to witnessing her fathers drunken violence against her mother. By viewing her mothers abuse and servelessness Mary came to realise the lack of protection available to women.Her past experiences of her and her family whitethorn have also influenced her views on relations with males including marriage. In a letter to George linage in 1789 Mary describes marriage as legal prostitution6. Mary had witnessed cruelty of men to her mother, babe and friend fanny in their marriages. She believed that her sister condition of ill health was due to the mistreatment of her husband she took steps to help Eliza arrange legal separation. On three different occasions Mary did see the lives of women ruined by cruel dissipated, husbands (Bouten 1922131).Witnessing the abuse faced by three people close to her in their marriages whitethorn have guide her ideas on marriage which she regarded as slavery and influenced her decision not to bind through most of her life. Alternatively it could be said that her ideas arose from the laws of society at the time, as there was little recourse from the victims of abuse. The laws also gave rights to the husband and took them aside from women at the same time in the procedure of marriage. The norms of society may have therefore informed Marys political thought as it do obvious inequalities in marriage and the dominance of women.There were some aspects of feminism that Wollstonecraft didnt consider such as legal property rights of women and voting rights. This may be due to her not experiencing these issues in her life, which further confirms her ideas were based around her personal experiences. However it has to be considered that her personal experience was not the moreover factor contributing to her political thought. In the 18th Century Mary was subjected to experiencing and participating in a series of social revolutions both in Britain and in France.One was en lightenment, which put reason as the focus of adult male identity and as the main justification of rights. 7 This may have influenced Marys political ideas as she based her line of reasoning for equal rights on the fact that both men and women had the same human identity, which echoes the ideas of enlightenment. Britain was also experiencing rapid change with the industrial revolution. These rapid periods of change may have influenced Mary to challenge the existing social order regarding the position of women as traditional institutions and conceptions were being outgrown The time was ripe for an intellectual questioning of society8.Although Wollstonecrafts feminist thought went against the traditional ideas of sexual opinion reflected in 18th century Britain, it could be argued that her political ideas actually reflected the spirit of innovation around at the time the century prior to the rights of women had seen a steady flow of writings by enlightened literati of both sexes ar guing for higher valuation of womans characters and an enhancement of female intellect and status.In which case it could be said that Marys political thought was informed by changes in society. It also has to be considered that the late eighteenth century there was an expansion in literature as a profession for women. 9 This may have encouraged the thoughts of Marys, which may have developed due to her writing. It is possible that the French revolution that begun in 1789 with its struggle for social justice also influenced her political ideas especially in terms of her ideas on the rights of humanity.Prior to the French revolution Mary grueling on the rights and freedom of women, but later on changed her focus towards the rights of humanity as a whole including men, This lead to her considering the rights of women in terms of the rights of men. Her vindication was that of men but in relation to men, the human race, and the entire human experience 10. Therefore it could be argued t hat the revolution influenced the change of Marys political ideals from concentrating on women to human kind.On the other hand it could be argued that the French Revolution did not influence Marys ideas, which were primarily based on equality for women, as the new constitution of France did nothing to remove the inequalities between men and women. Many supporters of social justice in the French revolution were the most restless opponents of womens rights. 11 Religion is another possible factor outside Wollstonecrafts personal experience that may have influenced her political thought. Wollstonecraft believed that education would make women more virtuous.This could be regarded as one of the reasons for her views on education of girls. Mary believed education would give women the chance to prove in the reality of good and slimy and she put her faith in to the goodness of god. 12 Alternatively there is also reason to suggest that Mary Wollstonecraft wasnt religious as she jilted man y another(prenominal) religious doctrines such as pacifism of Christ. An alternative argument regarding the reasons behind Wollstonecrafts feminist thought is put forward by Freudian Psychiatrists.They argue the basis of her political thought was due to her villainy of men. Hers was hatred of creatures that seemed capable of doing everything while women seemed to her capable to her of doing nothing13 They therefore argue her feminist thoughts arose out of her illness of being neurotic and compulsive. 7 However it could be argued that Freudian analysis is subjective and therefore has no mark basis for explaining reasoning for Wollstonecrafts political ideas.Overall it is clear Mary had many painful experiences and experiences of social changes in her life, which helped shape her political views. Therefore it preserve be attained that personal factors influenced political thought, although it also has to be taken into account that her political thought was also influenced by outsi de factors such as social change and institutions such as religion. This coincides with concept of the personal is political where the experience of our personal lives are defined by broader political settings.To feminism personal experience such as that encountered by Mary can be seen as a valid way of knowing the social world and deriving political thought. However it could be argued that the experiences of Mary didnt provide a sufficient claim of truth, as it doesnt necessarily blotto that Mary has political insight. Therefore it could be said that this isnt the most impersonal way to gain an insight into the political sphere of society.