Mary Wollstonecraft Practice Questions

Correct answer: A neglected and superficial education

Wollstonecraft contends that women are kept in a state of 'perpetual childhood' because their education focuses on beauty and manners rather than reason. She argues that if given the same intellectual opportunities as men, women would prove to be equally rational.

Correct answer: Talleyrand-Périgord

The treatise was dedicated to Talleyrand after he recommended to the French National Assembly that girls' education should be limited to domestic skills. Wollstonecraft used the dedication to argue that a national education system must include women to ensure a virtuous society.

Correct answer: Flowers planted in too rich a soil

She uses the 'flower' metaphor to describe how women are raised to bloom and fade quickly, gaining beauty but lacking the strength of character to survive. This 'unnatural' cultivation makes them pleasing to men but useless to society.

Correct answer: Sophie

Rousseau argued that Sophie, the ideal woman, should be educated solely to please Emile and be his companion. Wollstonecraft vehemently rejected this, stating that women should be educated for themselves rather than for the convenience of men.

Correct answer: Edmund Burke

She wrote this pamphlet in 1790 to refute Burke's 'Reflections on the Revolution in France'. She attacked his defense of hereditary privilege and his 'sentimental' grief for the monarchy over the suffering of the poor.

Correct answer: Friendship and mutual respect between equals

Wollstonecraft argues that 'love' is a fleeting emotion that cannot sustain a lifelong union. She advocates for marriage based on 'friendship' and 'rational fellowship,' where both partners are equals in intellect and virtue.

Correct answer: Soldiers

She compares women to soldiers who are taught to obey without reflecting and are valued only for their superficial appearance and gallantry. Both groups, she argues, are 'moulded into a body' by a system that discourages independent thought.

Correct answer: The Wrongs of Woman: or, Maria

This unfinished novel portrays the legal and social 'wrongs' done to women, including the protagonist Maria's imprisonment in an asylum by her husband. It critiques the lack of legal rights for married women and the double standards of Victorian morality.

Correct answer: Knowledge and Virtue

She asserts that because women are the primary educators of children, their ignorance halts the moral and intellectual growth of the entire human race. Virtue, she claims, cannot be divided by sex; it must be universal.

Correct answer: Sensibility

In the 18th century, 'sensibility' was considered a feminine virtue, but Wollstonecraft saw it as a weakness that made women slaves to their senses. She advocated for 'sense' (reason) to replace 'sensibility' (excessive emotion).

Correct answer: National, co-educational day schools

She proposed a revolutionary system of state-funded day schools where boys and girls would be educated together. She believed this would foster mutual respect and break down the artificial social barriers between the sexes.

Correct answer: Jemima, her working-class attendant

The bond between Maria and Jemima is a key proto-feminist element of the novel. It bridges the gap between the middle-class heroine and the working-class servant, showing that all women suffer under patriarchal laws regardless of class.

Correct answer: Themselves alone

This is one of her most famous quotes, emphasizing that the goal of feminism is autonomy and self-governance. She sought for women to be independent moral agents who could direct their own lives through the use of reason.

Correct answer: Philosophical and sociological reflections

This work was highly influential, blending personal emotion with acute observations on the social and political conditions of the Nordic countries. It was a bridge between the Enlightenment and the upcoming Romantic movement.

Correct answer: The belief that exercise harmed women's reproductive health

Wollstonecraft encouraged women to engage in physical exercise and develop their strength. She argued that the 'delicacy' of women was a social construct intended to make them appear attractive and weak, rather than a biological necessity.

Correct answer: William Godwin

Wollstonecraft married the radical philosopher William Godwin in 1797. Although both had previously criticized the institution of marriage, they wed to protect the legal status of their unborn child, Mary.

Correct answer: The middle class

Wollstonecraft explicitly stated that she addressed the 'middle class' because she believed they were in the best position to gain knowledge and improve their characters. She viewed the aristocracy as too corrupted by idleness and the poor as too burdened by toil.

Correct answer: Outrage and scandal over her unconventional personal life

Godwin’s honest account of her suicide attempts, her affair with Gilbert Imlay, and her out-of-wedlock child shocked the public. This led to a backlash that damaged her reputation for decades, making her a 'hyena in petticoats' to conservative critics.

Correct answer: Both are based on arbitrary power rather than reason

She argued that all forms of tyranny, whether political or domestic, were irrational. Just as the Enlightenment challenged the absolute power of monarchs, she believed it must also challenge the absolute power men held over women in the home.

Correct answer: The Kingsboroughs of Ireland

Her time with the Kingsboroughs gave her first-hand insight into the vanity and intellectual emptiness of aristocratic women. This experience directly influenced her arguments about the detrimental effects of a purely 'ornamental' upbringing.