Reson and Woman

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But why would these two outcomes lead to a vicious circle? The answer was straightforward and Wollstonecraft explained in the the following paragraphs. First, Women did not receive any systematic learning, so that they did not have any passion for study. ‘…receive only a disorderly kind of education, seldom attend to with that degree of exactness that men, who from their infancy are broken into method, observe (25).’ Relying on ‘guess-work (25)’ only lead to random action in daily life. Additionally, since women were young, they were taught to use cunning skills or to pretend to be delicate to catch men’s attention. ‘Women are told from their infancy, and taught by the example of their mothers, that a little knowledge of human weakness, justly termed cunning, softness of temper, outward obedience, and a scrupulous attention to a puerile kind of propriety, will obtain for them the protection of man, and should they be beautiful (22) …’ It seemed that education was only a decoration for their beauty. Due to the homeschooling education and prejudice, women were deprived of the approaching of the light of Reason. So the only way for them to deal with the difficulties was to depend on intuition which did not have any rationally. In this case, due to a lack of Reason, women could only rely on sense. Then, people would like to believe that women were born without Reason. However, women still suffered the oppression of their education and prejudice. In this case, the circle was repeating and repeating again.

As Wollstonecraft considered, the most direct performance of that vicious circle when women fall in love with men. because sensibility that caused by weakness in body would affect human experience. So Wollstonecraft began her particular understanding towards human experience in the following analysis. One interesting point in Wollstonecraft’s work was her understanding towards love. She said that love need limitation, and it could not reach beyond the reason. ‘This passion, naturally increased by suspense and difficulties, draws the mind out of its accustomed state, and exalts the affections (33)’ It was because women had the weak will and easily became the servants in the relation with men. She spurned love because love made people lose their rationality. Additionally, the passion of love was easily ebbing away. Once a man turned to chase other women in good shape and young age, his wife remained in her sadness and became more sensitive and emotional. ‘’The love and the passion were the outcomes of the weak will. If women were full of reason, they would have a good command of their emotion instead of losing their thoughts.

But why Reason was so important for a woman? The answer was not that hard to reply. Becoming rational people was not the only advantage for women; as Wollstonecraft mentioned, there several other benefits for women if they strengthen their body. First, exercising body would enhance the harmony of the family. ‘…the woman who strengthens her body and exercises her mind will, managing her family and practicing various virtues, become the friend and not the humble dependent of her husband; and if she, by possessing such substantial qualities, merit his regard, she will not find it necessary to conceal her affection, nor to pretend to unnatural coldness of constitution to excite her husband’s passions (33).’ The role woman played in the family changed due to the reason that she became a helper and listener instead of a accessory. Improvements in Reason would also, for woman, made them become better parents.

To sum up, women’s body and the reason coexist and became inseparable entities. The weakness in the body would reduce rationality and irrational would lead to the change in human experiences. So women should exercise their body to strengthen their reason in order not to become the dependents of men. Although man and woman have differences in nature, yet this society should provide equal chance for them. It was hard to deny that ‘the rights of woman’ that Wollstonecraft advocated still have limitations. She focused basically on the women in the middle-class family instead of the women in working class. She also believed that women’s duty was to stay home to raise kids and serve the husband. Even women received the butter education and gained the virtues; they were still the domestic employments instead of social members. But in fact, nowadays women could do various jobs in this society and play the important role in building the community. So using Wollstonecraft’s quotation to finishing this essay: ‘Rousseau exerts himself to prove that all was right originally: a crowd of authors that all is now right: and I, that all will be right (17).’ Of course, the time is progressing, and everything will become better in the future.

Work cited

Wollstonecraft, Mary, and Carol Poston. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds, the Wollstonecraft Debate, Criticism. New York: Norton, 1988. Print.