A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, summary of the text(1- 13 page)

 

In the first chapter, Mary Wollstonecraft, discusses about the prevailing opinion of woman as a sexual character. The concept of virtue has been discussed in the beginning of the chapter. The author argues that woman’s character is often judged in terms of virtue, but it requires sufficient strength of mind to acquire true virtue. The women are not a swarm of ephemeron triflers and one should not disguise ignorance under the name of innocence. From their childhood, women are told to follow the example of their mother, in short, to adapt their weakness, softness of temper, outward obedience and childish behavior. If a woman is pretty, then she can do without all these, for at least twenty years of her life. According to Wollstonecraft, Milton was the first poet to offer a deprecatory description of ‘our first frail mother, as in his description it was implied that women are soulless creatures, designed by ‘sweet, attractive grace and docile blind obedience’ to gratify man’s senses. She accuses all the writers who wrote on female education and manners of being prejudiced and they portrayed women as ‘artificial, weak characters. ’As a result, they degraded women, ‘one half of the human species and evaluated their characters based on their virtues.