Mary Wollstonecraft: biography of this precursor of feminism.

A summary of Mary Wollstonecraft's life and career as an activist and writer.

There are women who, throughout history, have championed equal rights and opportunities without distinction of sex.

This is the case of the English writer Mary Wollstonecraft. In this article we will review her life to learn more about the aspects that marked her life and what were her contributions to what today is known as feminism; we will do this through an abridged biography of Mary Wollstonecraft..

Short biography of Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft was born in the year 1759 in the city of London, England.. Although in his early years, this family had a reasonably good economic level, a series of bad decisions of his father led them to ruin, which cut off Mary Wollstonecraft's chances of receiving a large inheritance in the future. In addition, her father was a habitual drinker and when he did, he physically abused his wife.

Childhood and youth

From her youth, Mary Wollstonecraft was already involved in the quest for women's freedom and equal rights.. In fact, she managed to get Eliza, her sister, to leave behind a life that did not satisfy her, starting a new one far from her husband and child, which earned her the rejection of society and forced her into a series of precarious jobs for the rest of her life.

There were two friendships that marked Mary Wollstonecraft's life. The first was Jane Arden, whose father introduced both of them to a scientific and intellectual environment that further awakened Mary's interests.. The friendship was so intense that Mary Wollstonecraft even came to consider that what she felt was romantic love for Jane Arden, even showing possessive and jealous behavior with her.

The other person who left an imprint on Mary Wollstonecraft was Fanny Blood, with whom she even even developed a life plan together, not as a couple, but with a mutual economic and emotional support, something really transgressive for Mary Wollstonecraft.something really transgressive for the time in which they lived. However, this plan was truncated because finally for Fanny Blood the traditions and social norms of their times weighed more heavily.

However, this was not an obstacle to continue a strong friendship that would last a lifetime, and in which they even collaborated to build a school. Fanny's health was always quite delicate, so she traveled with her husband to different parts of Europe in search of the best doctors. Finally they settled in Lisbon, where Mary Wollstonecraft moved to be with her friend and give her the care she needed. Sadly, Fanny could not overcome her illness and died.

Early works

Fanny Blood's death would be an event that would mark Mary Wollstonecraft for the rest of her life. In fact, the sadness in which she was plunged is clearly reflected in the plot of the first of the novels she wrote in the years to come. After Fanny's death, Mary would return to her native country and begin a new profession as a governess for the distinguished Kings' family. for the distinguished Kingsborough family.

This work allowed her to develop one of her most important works, Reflections on the Education of Daughtersas well as another, Original stories. In both volumes, Mary Wollstonecraft deals in detail with questions concerning etiquette and morals, so they quickly became popular, since middle-class families were very interested in learning as much as possible about this subject.

Mary Wollstonecraft decided to abandon her profession as a governess and devote herself entirely to writing, doing translation work and literary reviews, which allowed her to be enriched by her work. which allowed her an intellectual enrichment that would later be reflected in future works. At that time she began an affair with Henry Fuseli, an artist who was already married.

Wollstonecraft proposed a sentimental relationship of what today we would call polyamory, between the three parties.but Henry's wife refused outright, which also meant the end of the relationship as lovers between Mary and him. After this disappointment, Mary Wollstonecraft moved to France and published another of her most notable works: Vindication of the Rights of Manwhich was soon followed by what is possibly her greatest work: Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

Period in France and first couple

Once this book was published, Mary Wollstonecraft was already a figure of activism for equality, impregnated with the atmosphere of social change that prevailed in the times of the French Revolution. Then she met the American Gilbert Imlay, with whom she would have her first daughter, Fanny Imlaynamed after her late friend. Shortly thereafter she would publish another great work about the time she was living: A Historical and Moral Vision of the Origin of the French Revolution..

At the outbreak of the war between France and England, and she being a British citizen, they settled down as a married couple, despite not being legally married, in order to avoid any possible reprisals for her citizenship. With the situation becoming increasingly tense, they moved to London. However, this family was to be short-lived, as Gilbert abandoned them for another woman. Gilbert left them for another woman, which led Mary Wollstonecraft to commit a suicide attempt by poisoning, from which she was saved in the end.from which she was barely saved.

In later works, Mary spoke of this event as something absolutely rational and premeditated, a logical consequence of the events experienced, and not as a visceral act, the result of despair and spite. After a brief period in which she tried to re-establish her relationship with Gilbert Imlay, traveling with him in Scandinavian countries, the relationship dissolved definitively.

Second marriage and death

Following the end of her turbulent marriage, Mary Wollstonecraft focused again on her facet as a literary author, relating with other British authors, among whom she met William Godwinwho would later become her great love. Godwin claimed to have fallen completely in love with Mary while reading her work, Letters Written in Sweden, Norway and Denmarkwhere she recounted the pain of the end of her relationship with Imlay.

This new love led to Mary Wollstonecraft's second pregnancy, which led them to legally formalize their marriage, a fact that revealed that Mary and Gilbert Gilbert were in fact married. that in reality Mary and Gilbert had never really married, which was truly scandalous for a society as puritanical as 18th century England. as was eighteenth-century England. Some friends even refused to speak to them after this, something unthinkable in our days.

Their death

Months later came the sad death of Mary Wollstonecraft, which occurred due to an infection she infection suffered while she was giving birth to her second daughter, Mary Shelley (who in her adult life would become a celebrated writer (who in her adult life would become a celebrated writer, author of many works including her best known novel, Frankenstein). They were eleven days of agony, suffering the consequences of septicemia caused by childbirth, until finally, Mary Wollstonecraft died.

This dramatic death left William Godwin devastated, who affirmed that he could never again be happy after the loss of his beloved. Months later he published the work Memoirs of the Author of Vindication of the Rights of Woman. It was a sincere work written from the heart, but that did not make it free of controversy, as it brought to light different events that until then were only known by herself and the people directly involved.

For example, it was as a result of this biography when society discovered that Mary Wollstonecraft's first daughter was the result of an illegitimate marriage, or even that she had tried to take her own life. Controversies aside, these writings made clear the strong personality and values of Wollstonecraft, which would remain for posterity, being today considered a pioneer of the feminist movement.

Although the memoirs published by her husband caused Mary Wollstonecraft's reputation to be called into question at first, the truth is that they were the trigger for Mary Wollstonecraft to be considered a pioneer of the feminist movement. that her figure was later popularized for her proposals on women's rights and the rights of women. in a society as conservative as that of Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, being a pioneer in most of these approaches.

Therefore, we could not understand today many of the advances achieved in the total equality of all citizens if we did not take into account the influence of such important characters as Mary Wollstonecraft, who suffered the rejection of society to achieve progress for future generations. Serve as a tribute to her figure, therefore, these lines.

Bibliographical references:

• Kelly, G. (1992). Revolutionary feminism: The mind and career of Mary Wollstonecraft. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Poovey. M. (1985). The proper lady and the woman writer: Ideology as style in the works of Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley, and Jane Austen. The University of Chicago Press.
• Taylor, B. (2003). Mary Wollstonecraft and the feminist imagination. Cambridge University Press.
• Todd, J. (2014). Mary Wollstonecraft: a revolutionary life. Bloomsbury Reader.