The life and books of Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) was an 18th-century British author, thinker, and early feminist, as well as the mother of the famous Mary Shelley, her second daughter and the grandmother of horror. Wollstonecraft died young at merely 38 years old, but she left behind an extensive oeuvre on motherhood, women’s rights, and love.

Who is Mary Wollstonecraft, and what is the significance and lasting impact of her work?

Wollstonecraft’s work, most notably A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, a pamphlet published in 1792, has earned her the title of the first English feminist. The title is not strictly accurate, but she was indeed among those pioneering the idea of equal rights and education for both men and women.

Wollstonecraft led a revolutionary life, wielding both a pen and a sword. She challenged the dominant patriarchal ideas of her era, paving the way for future generations of feminists in Europe and America, and she traveled to France to join the French Revolution to turn words into action and fight for a republicanist cause.

Wollstonecraft’s work is on every eighteenth-century curriculum, as her ideas influenced countless feminist thinkers and suffrage movements that challenged the prevailing views of the time and fought for women’s equality.

Mary Wollstonecraft’s writing career and what she’s best known for

Wollstonecraft argued for the necessity of education and equality for women in Britain, but her style was as innovative as her politics and philosophical views. She was a prolific writer of fiction, too, and a woman of letters who championed some of the tenets of the Romantic movement.

Mary was also a translator; her most known translation was that of Maria van de Werken’s Young Grandison.

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is a ground-breaking political pamphlet and a seminal work of feminist philosophy. The work essentially argues for dignity, independence, and equal rights for women. In her work, Wollstonecraft argues that women are human beings of equal status as men, being held back not by their nature but by a lack of education, social opportunities, and respect.

You can listen to A Vindication of the Rights of Woman narrated by Pat Childs on Speechify.

Mary: A Fiction (1788)

Mary: A Fiction is Wollstonecraft’s only complete novel. It is one of the first works of English literature that touches on the themes of gender, social roles, and the role of education for women.

A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790)

Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Men is her response to Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France more so than a counterpart to her 1792 work of a similar name. The work advocates for republicanism and challenges Burke’s views on the aristocracy.

The Female Reader (1789)

The Female Reader is a collection of literary extracts meant to educate young women on various subjects of importance, including, first and foremost, literature, history, and philosophy. The work gained traction during the Enlightenment, becoming one of the most favored publications of the time.

An Historical and Moral View of the Origin and Progress of the French Revolution (1794)

An Historical and Moral View of the Origin and Progress of the French Revolution marks Wollstonecraft’s venture into the realm of historiography. It was a daring work for the time, and it touches on many topics addressed in A Vindication of the Rights of Men. It is a cornerstone of female historiography.

Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787)

Thoughts on the Education of Daughters: With Reflections on Female Conduct, in the More Important Duties of Life is Wollstonecraft’s first published work and an accessible entry to her oeuvre. It is a conduct book full of insight into female education, morality, etiquette, and child-rearing.

Original Stories from Real Life (1788)

Original Stories from Real Life is a work of children’s literature in the didactic genre. It is to meant to instruct young children on moral philosophy, virtue, and etiquette. The 1791 edition of the work was famously engraved by William Blake.

Letters Written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (1796)

Letters Written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark is a travel narrative documenting Wollstonecraft’s stay in Scandinavia and delineating her thoughts and observations on the region. Wollstonecraft reflects on Scandinavian politics, society, and landscape and offers invaluable first-hand insight into 18th-centuy life in Northern Europe.

Maria, or The Wrongs of Woman (1798)

Maria, or The Wrongs of Woman is an unfinished novel and a sequel to her A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Although unfinished, it was published posthumously by Wollstonecraft’s husband, William Godwin—who also published her biography, Memoirs of the Author of a Vindication of the Rights of Woman—and it merits a reading, being one of Wollstonecraft’s more radical works.

Mary’s early life and education and the influence her family life had on her books

Mary Wollstonecraft was born in 1759 in London, the second of seven children in a well-off family. However, her father, Edward John Wollstonecraft, dissipated his wealth on unfruitful and miscalculated projects, leaving Mary without any inheritance.

Wollstonecraft’s childhood was made more difficult by her father’s subsequent violent outbursts. Together with her sisters, Eliza and Everina, as well as her mother, Mary would suffer at her father’s hand, and her sister Eliza’s divorce, social stigma, and postpartum depression would later shape her philosophy.

As a young woman, Wollstonecraft met Jane Arden, with whom she attended lectures given by Arden’s father. This experience would plant in Wollstonecraft the seeds of her future intellectual zeal and desire to educate women across England, and it would even inspire her to put up a school in Newington Green together with her sisters and her good friend Fanny Blood.

Mary spent a lot of time abroad, that is, in Scandinavia and in Ireland, being a governess to the well-known Kingsborough family, and she was friends with Thomas Paine and Joseph Johnson.

Later in life, she would have a grief affair with American businessman, author, and diplomat Gilbert Imlay, with whom she had a daughter, Fanny Imlay. The birth of her second daughter Mary Shelley involved to health complications which led to Mary’s death on September 10, 1797.

How Mary’s written work influences our current society

Wollstonecraft’s work continues to stay relevant to this day. Her views and ideas have been central to the growth of various feminist and dissenter schools of thought and have played a crucial role in bringing equal rights into not only British but European and American discourse.

Wollstonecraft put an emphasis on education and academic progress necessary to remove strictures imposed on women, an idea that was in full force in the 20th century during the suffrage era. Her involvement in the political rights and personal freedom debate thus helped lay the groundwork for our current understanding of and struggle toward egalitarian social structures.

You can find books such as The Collected Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft, Ed. Janet Todd, and The Complete Works of Mary Wollstonecraft, Ed. Janet Todd and Marilyn Butler, to get a full understanding of her works.

Listen to Mary Wollstonecraft’s most popular books with Speechify audiobooks

Mary Wollstonecraft was a British novelist, philosopher, and one of the earliest feminists. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is the work for which she is best known. In this book, she argues that women are not inherently inferior to men and only appear to be so because they do not have access to education. Overall, she envisions a world that’s based on reason and believes that both men and women ought to be treated as rational individuals. In addition, Wollstonecraft emphasizes the importance of education and the academic development that frees women from the restrictions imposed on them.

Listen to Mary Wollstonecraft’s books with Speechify audiobooks.

FAQs

What is the full name of Mary Wollstonecraft?

Her full name is Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. She is the daughter of Elizabeth Dixon and Edward John Wollstonecraft and the mother of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, a 19th-century writer most famous as the author of Frankenstein and the wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley.