Mary Wollstonecraft

1759-1797

Mary Wollstonecraft, born April 27, 1759 in Spitalfields, London, was an early feminist, author and moral philosopher. She is widely recognized for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), in which she argued against common beliefs that only men should have an education by asserting that women are deserving of equal treatment. Wollstonecraft’s arguments differed from other feminist authors at the time, as she called for political change and the reformation of education systems to allow woman to show themselves as capable as their male counterparts. 

Mary’s father, Edward John Wollstonecraft, was a violent drunk, whose financial recklessness would cause the family to move many times in her early years. Mary would sleep in front of her mother’s, Elizabeth Dixon Wollstonecraft, door to protect her from Edward, who would often physically abuse her. In 1785, Mary worked as a governess in Ireland where she taught the children of the Kingsborough family. These experiences are what inspired her views in Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787). In 1788, she moved to London and taught herself German and French. She worked as a translator and a review-writer for the popular London publisher Joseph Johnson (1738 – 1809). With his help, Wollstonecraft was able to support herself and live independently. Johnson, in return, published many of Mary’s works, including Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787) and Mary: A Fiction (1788). It is through Johnson that Mary met William Godwin, who would later marry Wollstonecraft and write a controversial memoir about her following her death. 

Mary was one of the few and perhaps the first to write a review of Vassa's The Interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself. Critiquing Vassa’s work through the lens of gender relations and feminism, Wollstonecraft’s review is mixed. She posits that the “activity and ingenuity… in Vassa’s character place him on par with the general mass of men, who fill the subordinate stations” She praised “the whole account of his unwearied endeavors to obtain his freedom [as] very interesting” but suggested that “the narrative should have closed when he became his own master.”  

Wollstonecraft published her first novel in the 1788, Mary, A Fiction, and then an anthology, The Female Reader; Miscellaneous Pieces in Prose and Verse; Selected from the Best Writers and Disposed under Proper Heads; for the Improvement of Young Women (1789), which she compiled under the name of "Mr. Cresswick, teacher of Elocution.” In 1790, she published A Vindication of the Rights of Men in defense of Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event 

In 1792, after writing A Vindication of Rights of Women, Wollstonecraft left England for Paris to educate herself on the French Revolution. Here, she wrote a historical account of the French Revolution: An Historical and Moral View of the French Revolution, to be published in December 1794, and fell madly in love with Gilbert Imlay (1754-1828), an American businessman. While in Paris, Mary was associated with the Girondins, a political faction that worked to dismantle the French Monarchy. Originally part of the Jacobin movement, the Girondins, or Girondists, dominated from May to June 1793. Their reign ended in a mass execution of Girondins leaders and is said to mark the beginning of the Reign of Terror. It is to be noted that Mary staunchly disagreed with the beliefs of the Jacobins, who refused equal rights to women. After Wollstonecraft came under suspicion by the Jacobins, and Imlay heard of what was happening to the Girondins, Imlay lied to officials that they were married to protect her from imprisonment and possible execution. 

In May 1794, Mary gave birth to Fanny Imlay, the first of two daughters she would have. Gilbert left Paris shortly thereafter with promises of returning for his child and Mary. However, Imlay did not keep his word and failed to send letters to Mary during this time. In 1795, Wollstonecraft returned to London to reconnect with Imlay, leading her to discover he was living with another woman.  Distraught, she attempted suicide. Her attempt was unsuccessful, and she made a full recovery. Soon after, she embarked on a business trip to Scandinavia for Imlay, still under the impression that she could win him back. When she returned, Imlay rejected Wollstonecraft again, and she attempted suicide for a second time by jumping into the River Thames. She was rescued by a passerby and made a full recovery.

Wollstonecraft reunited with Joseph Johnson and began working for him again. Johnson’s social circle was soon introduced to her, and here she met William Godwin, a political philosopher. Wollstonecraft and Godwin fell in love, and she quickly became pregnant, and on 29 March 1797, they were married. Godwin published Memoirs of the Author of a Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1798. This memoir revealed shameful secrets about Mary’s life to the public, such as her suicide attempts and her illegitimate child. Despite having Wollstonecraft’s best interests at heart, Godwin smeared her reputation for years to come. Wollstonecraft is, however, posited to be the inspiration behind many famous authors and their works. She gave birth to her second daughter on 30 August 1797 but died on 10 September of septicemia, a clinical term for blood poisoning, which she contracted when the placenta broke and became infected. Her child, Mary, would subsequently marry the British poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and in 1818 publish the Gothic novel Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, an early example of science fiction.