“I do not wish them to have power over men, but over themselves.”
Mary Wollstonecraft · Enlightenment feminism
freedompowervirtue
Well attested
Philosopher
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Mary Wollstonecraft
1759–1797 · Enlightenment feminism · Enlightenment
Mary Wollstonecraft, born in 1759, died in 1797, wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Men and then, in 1792, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. The argument is that women are made weak and cunning by an education in dependence, and that reason is a human capacity rather than a male one. Taught from infancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body and, roaming a gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.
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The cage is usually placed in chapter 2, and the chapter should be confirmed in any citation. She does not wish women power over men, but over themselves. Strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and blind obedience ends. She is arguing with Rousseau's education of Sophie as much as with priests and conduct books.
The English is hers and is secure. She is an Enlightenment writer who shows where the Enlightenment stopped. Later feminism, including Mill and writers far from her theology, still has to pass through this book. A pep talk is not the enlargement she demanded.
Start here
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, the introduction and chapter 2
The programme is stated at the start, and the cage passage shows the education she thinks produces blind obedience.
Quotations
“Strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obedience.”
Mary Wollstonecraft · Enlightenment feminism
knowledgefreedomsociety
Well attested
“Taught from their 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 Wollstonecraft · Enlightenment feminism
freedomselfsociety
Well attested
“My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood, unable to stand alone.”
Mary Wollstonecraft · Enlightenment feminism
freedomknowledgesociety
Well attested
“Contending for the rights of woman, my main argument is built on this simple principle, that if she be not prepared by education to become the companion of man, she will stop the progress of knowledge and virtue.”
Mary Wollstonecraft · Enlightenment feminism
knowledgevirtuesociety
Well attested
Key ideas
The gilt cage
An education that makes beauty the only sceptre shapes the mind to the body and calls the prison a power.
Power over themselves
The freedom she wants is self-government, not a reversal in which women dominate men.
Enlargement
Blind obedience ends when the mind is enlarged by a serious education, not by an order to think for oneself.
Major works
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)
The main book. Introduction and early chapters carry the mind, the cage, and power over themselves.
A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790)
Her answer to Burke, earlier and useful for the political setting.
Letters Written in Sweden, Norway and Denmark (1796)
Travel writing that shows a voice beyond the Vindication's argument.
Influences
- John Locke
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- Richard Price
- Catharine Macaulay
Influenced
Common misreadings
- She wants women to rule men, which is the fear the book explicitly refuses.
- The gilt cage is a personal attack on women who care about dress, rather than a diagnosis of teaching.
Famous lines Mary Wollstonecraft never said
None of the lines this library files for Mary Wollstonecraft is marked Questionable or Misattributed. That is only a fact about these cards. It is not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
FAQ
What is the best book to start with?
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, the introduction and chapter 2 The programme is stated at the start, and the cage passage shows the education she thinks produces blind obedience.
What is the most famous quote?
This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for Mary Wollstonecraft that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “I do not wish them to have power over men, but over themselves.” (A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, chapter 4, Well attested).
What is the most misquoted line?
None of the lines this library files for Mary Wollstonecraft is marked Misattributed or Questionable. That is a fact about these cards, not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
What is one key idea, in a sentence?
The gilt cage: An education that makes beauty the only sceptre shapes the mind to the body and calls the prison a power.