Taught from infancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.
Mary WollstonecraftRead
It would be an endless task to trace the variety of meannesses, cares, and sorrows into which women are plunged by the prevailing opinion that they were created rather to feel than reason, and that all the power they obtain must be obtained by their charms and weaknesses.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote critiques the societal view that women's value lies primarily in their emotions and beauty rather than their intellect and reasoning.
Mary Wollstonecraft's quote emphasizes the detrimental impact of societal opinions that diminish women's roles to mere emotional beings, suggesting they should rely on charm and weakness to gain power. She argues that this belief perpetuates a cycle of suffering and limits women's potential by undermining their capacity for rational thought and reason.
Themes
WomenReasonPowerSocietyIntellect
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about gender equality, this quote can highlight the historical context of women's roles.
More from Mary Wollstonecraft
All quotes →Make women rational creatures, and free citizens, and they will quickly become good wives; - that is, if men do not neglect the duties of husbands and fathers.
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But what a weak barrier is truth when it stands in the way of an hypothesis!
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The divine right of husbands, like the divine right of kings, may, it is hoped, in this enlightened age, be contested without danger.
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Women are degraded by the propensity to enjoy the present moment, and, at last, despise the freedom which they have not sufficient virtue to struggle to attain.
Mary WollstonecraftRead
Perhaps the seeds of false-refinement, immorality, and vanity, have ever been shed by the great. Weak, artificial beings, raised above the common wants and defections of their race, in a premature and unnatural manner, undermine the very foundation of virtue, and spread corruption through the whole mass of society!
Mary WollstonecraftRead
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