Mary Wollstonecraft (1750-1797): the founder of feminism

1. Context

2. Her life

3. Vindication of the Rights of Women

4. A Statue for Mary

Read about the sculpture and reactions to it

03 A sculpture to honor Mary Wollstonecraft?

• Before reading: what is your first reaction to the statue?
  

• Read an article here
  

• Read different reactions here
  

• Post your own reaction here
  

HELP:

In my opinion...

According to me...

I feel that....

To be honest I think that....

I think the statue represents...

What strikes me most is the fact that...

I'm struck by.....

I can't help wondering...

My first reaction is....

HELP: information you can look for in the article

Mary Wollstonecraft statue:

'Mother of feminism' sculpture provokes backlash

A memorial to the "mother of feminism" has provoked an online backlash after being unveiled in north London.

The sculpture for Mary Wollstonecraft, by artist Maggi Hambling, went on display on Newington Green, Islington, on Tuesday.Born in London in 1759, Wollstonecraft was an 18th Century author and radical who promoted the rights of women. The silvered-bronze sculpture has drawn criticism from some who have queried the inclusion of a naked female figure.

Bee Rowlatt, chairwoman of the Mary on the Green campaign for a statue, said: "Her ideas changed the world. It took courage to fight for human rights and education for all. "But following her early death in childbirth, her legacy was buried, in a sustained misogynistic attack. Today we are finally putting this injustice to rights” "Mary Wollstonecraft was a rebel and a pioneer, and she deserves a pioneering work of art. "This work is an attempt to celebrate her contribution to society with something that goes beyond the Victorian traditions of putting people on pedestals."

The unveiling is the culmination of a decade of campaigning to raise the £143,000 required to create the statue.

The statue is already on display, and an unveiling ceremony was live-streamed. It portrays a silver female figure emerging from a swirling mingle of female forms. More than 90% of London's monuments celebrate men, despite the population being 51% women, according to the campaign.

'Disrespectful'

However, it has been met with criticism for its symbolic depiction of a female figure, rather than being a lifelike representation of Wollstonecraft. Some have also queried the decision to make the figure naked.

Writer Caitlin Moran claimed a better representation of a naked "everywoman" would be of "Wollstonecraft dying, at 38, in childbirth, as so many women did back then - ending her revolutionary work." "That would make me think, and cry," she tweeted.

Writer Tracy King tweeted: "There is no reason to depict Mary naked unless you are trying to be edgy to provoke debate.

"Statues of named men get to be clothed because the focus is on their work and achievements.

"Meanwhile, women walking or jogging through parks experience high rates of sexual harassment because our bodies are considered public property."

Caroline Criado Perez, who campaigned for Jane Austen to appear on the £10 note, said the statue "feels disrespectful to Wollstonecraft herself".

Historian Simon Schama wrote that he "always wanted a fine monument to Wollstonecraft - this isn't it".

Who was Mary Wollstonecraft?

Wollstonecraft was born into prosperity in 1759, but her father, a drunk, squandered the family money. Like her mother, she often suffered abuse at his hands. As a woman, Wollstonecraft received little formal education but she set out to educate herself and at 25 opened a girls' boarding school on Newington Green, near the site of the statue. Wollstonecraft was 33 when she wrote her most famous work "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman" which imagined a social order where women were the equals of men.She mixed with the intellectual radicals of the day - debating with Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine and Joseph Priestley. She died aged 38 following the birth of her daughter, the author Mary Shelley.

Ms Hambling has hit back at those who criticise her art work. She said: "This sculpture encourages a visual conversation with the obstacles Ms Wollstonecraft overcame, the ideals she strived for, and what she made happen."

The Suffolk-based artist said her critics "are not reading the word, the important word, which is on the plinth, quite clearly 'for' Mary Wollstonecraft, it's not 'of' Mary Wollstonecraft. "Clothes define people and restrict people, they restrict people's reaction. She's naked and she's every woman. "Most male historic statues are way over life-size. My point was that the female figure doesn't need to dominate to be powerful. "It's been compared to a rocket of hope going up to the sky, tracking the fight for female empowerment Wollstonecraft started."

Others have praised the statue. On Twitter historian Dr Fern Riddle said she "loved" the design."It reminds me of Metropolis crossed with the birth of Venus," she said. "I don't see 'me' in that figure, but I wouldn't see 'me' in a figurine of a fully dressed Mary either. I just like that it's here, and that anyone can interpret it how they want."

Historian Dr Sophie Coulombeau said she hopes those "with a very strong opinion" on the statue would also read Wollstonecraft's work. "She's a lot weirder and ickier and more surreal than most [people] realise," Dr Coulombeau said. "I think Hambling gets that."

REACTIONS

Do you agree? Disagree? Why?

Which reaction is your favourite? Why?

How would YOU reply to these tweets?

How do you think Mary Wollstonecraft would have reacted herself?

OPTIONAL WORK (B1-B2)

THE ARTIST'S REACTION TO THE CRITICISM (A2+)

Statue of Mary Wollstonecraft

Statues of other political thinkers in London

Newington Green, London, since 2020

LEGISLATION PROTECTING WOMEN'S RIGHTS

Watch and find out what these dates correspond to

(from 6:12 to 7:20)

The Act Room, in the Parliamentary Archives: place where written laws and documents are kept

to be entitled to something : to have a right to something

to strip something away: to take something away, remove something

a scroll : ancient document (parchemin)

Act Room of the House of Parliament

written documents of the laws

scrolls of the archive

the legislation that protects women's rights

the married women's property act

entitled to vote.

equal pay act,

rape

imagine

LA VOIX PASSIVE au prétérit

A society in which male mastery and female inferiority were taken for granted.

Traditionally, the unwanted woman was led to market in her Sunday best dress with a rope around her neck or her waist. She was exhibited like any beast, haggled over and auctioned off.

• La voix passive nous permet de mettre en avant le sujet de la phrase, mentionné en premier Avec cette structure, nous pouvons dire que le sujet de la phrase subit l'action décrite par le verbe.
• La voix passive est aussi souvent utilisée soit parce que nous ne savons pas exactement qui est l'agent du verbe, soit parce qu'il est évident.

Voix passive: She was sold at the market for one pound (by her husband).

SUJET (she)- BE (prétérit) - VERBE PARTICIPE PASSE (sold)

Voix active : A man sold his wife at the market for one pound:

SUJET (a man) - VERBE (prétérit) - COMPLEMENT (his wife)

Background

Education

Early professional life

Private life / love life

Ideas, publications

Death

3. THE EXTRAORDINARY MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT

MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT

Find information about

• Background / childhood

• Eduation

• Early professional life

• Private life / love life

• Writings and ideas

• Death

Key dates

• 1759

• 1784

• 1786

• 1787

• 1790

• 1792

• 1793

• 1794

• 1795

• 1797

RESSOURCES AND STUDENT WORK

Do you agree? Disagree? Why?

Which reaction is your favourite? Why?

How would YOU reply to these tweets?

How do you think Mary Wollstonecraft would have reacted herself?

1759

01 Background and Education

A woman's place

Conjunction: although, even if

(même si)

1786

02 Early professional life

1784

a struggle (n): a battle, a fight

expand (v): become bigger, larger,

committed (adj): dedicated

advocate (n): defender

enlightened (adj): not ignorant or narrow in thinking

despise (v): hate

yearn for (V): long for, desire

quarrel (n): fights, disputes

1797

03 Private life and love life

1793, 1794

outside of marriage

1795

Wollstonecraft emerged from the depths of her despair and found personal happiness with an unlikely partner. William Godwin was a famous radical philosopher. Wollstonecraft first met him at a dinner held by her publisher, Joseph Johnson, in 1791. Godwin had attended excited to meet Thomas Paine. Instead, Mary and Godwin argued all evening and he left, irritated. In 1796, with typical disregard for convention, Wollstonecraft took the lead and renewed his acquaintance. They fell in love. Although Godwin was opposed to the principle of marriage, when Wollstonecraft fell pregnant they wed in March 1797.

make something go away or end

outside marriage

(une liaison)

(à travers)

deep anguish, pain, unhappiness

(mépris)

married

1792

04 Ideas and writings

1787

1790

Wollstonecraft had written passionately in defence of the revolution's ideals. Now she went further and claimed equality for her sex. How could true liberty and equality be achieved if restricted to men alone? In her best-selling book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft took the principles of the revolution to their logical conclusion. Wollstonecraft outlined a vision of equality between the sexes. If women were afforded the same opportunities and education, she wrote, they could contribute as much to society as men. The book made Wollstonecraft’s name.

thrive (adj): develop, blossom, bloom

possible to achieve, not far away, not impossible

group

desired

(bouleversements sociaux)

very inspired by

wrote

(plus loin)

traced

given

1798

05 Death

1797

Godwin, still grieving, wrote her first biography. And in doing so, he unwittingly brought about Wollstonecraft’s second death:

without knowing it

her reputation was killed in the scandal following the revelation of her unconventional life and loves. Overnight she became toxic. The shockwaves were massive, and lasting. Wollstonecraft’s enemies couldn’t contain their glee: here was proof irrefutable that she was a whore, a “hyena in petticoats” as Horace Walpole described her.Scurrilous poems did the rounds, including an exceptionally unpleasant piece of work called The Un-sex’d Females. This was poetry functioning as an 18th-century Twitter: mocking Wollstonecraft as a “poor maniac” a “voluptuous” victim of “licentious love.” The author also wrote that “she died a death that strongly marked the distinction of the sexes, by pointing out the destiny of women, and the diseases to which they are liable.” In that oldest of misogynistic chestnuts: she was asking for it. She was a trouble-maker, and she died a woman’s death. Take note, ladies!

disagreable, not nice

(en deuil)

without knowing

joy, delight, pleasure

(jupons)

completely ruined

Questions you naturally ask yourself when you see this image:

What is this object?

Why was it used?

Where was it used?

When was it used?

How did it work?

Questions you naturally ask yourself when you see this image:

Did men really sell their wives?

What it legal?

When did this take place?

How long did it happen?

Find information about the scold's bridle

1 THE SCOLD'S BRIDLE

a scold (n) : dated: a woman who disturbs the public peace by noisy and quarrelsome or abusive behaviour

scold (v) : dated: to quarrel (dispute) noisily, loudly

bridle (n) =bride

gruesome (adj) = horrible

transgress (v)

a transgressor (n)

malicious (adj) = not kind, not nice, comes from malice

gossip (n) = rumor, intimate information

challenge (v) = question, dispute

tongue (n) = langue

spike (n) = pic

bottom (n) = en dessous / dessous / bas

pierce (v) = percer

a criminal offense (n) = infraction pénale

mouthy (adj) = rude, talkative, loud, excessively chatty

to deal with something / somebody = s'occuper de

a way of dealing with somebody

GRAMMAR HELP

1. HAVE SOMEONE DO SOMETHING (faire faire quelque chose à quelqu'un)

• have someone do something: (faire faire queue chose à quelqu'un)

e.g) the husband had his wife make all his food

• have + something (objet) + done (participe passé) by somebody

e.g) the men had their wives put in this instrument (by the authorities)

QUESTIONS WE ASK OURSELVES WHEN WE SEE THIS IMAGE

What is this? Is it a torture instrument?

Who used this object, why was it used?

How was it used?

What was its purpose?

EXTRA HELP, BEGINNER LEVEL A2

13:56-15:46

The rule of ….........................................was enforced at all levels of the legal system.

In the Lancaster Castle museum, curator (Colin Penny) showed me a gruesome instrument of punishment specifically …..................................................

This is a skull's bridal, also known as a brank and it was used almost exclusively on ….................who had transgressed, essentially malicious gossip, insulting someone in the public, what we would call liable fighting in the street, but most important our purposes, challenging …..........................................., those men invariably being their own husbands, so in , so in many cases it was their husbands who had them put in this.

The whole thing opened out, it was put around their heads and the metal bar over the tongue, now some examples had a metal spike at the bottom, the idea being that it would pierce the tongue and prevented them even from trying because because the last thing that they wanted would be a woman arguing back while still trying to wear it, so the spike pierced the tongue and ….....................................................................

So how long did you wear it for?

Usually for ….........................., for a market day...

Ugh, the thought of a confederacy of husbands thinking “you shut that one up” is just really awful to me...[...] But..it's not actually a technical criminal offense is it? A crime to be mouthy?

No, it was always only a semi official way of dealing with ….............................................

VOCABULARY

a scold (n) : dated: a woman who disturbs the public peace by noisy and quarrelsome or abusive behaviour

scold (v) : dated: to quarrel (dispute) noisily, loudly

bridle (n) =bride

gruesome (adj) = horrible

transgress (v)

a transgressor (n)

malicious (adj) = not kind, not nice, comes from malice

gossip (n) = rumor, intimate information

challenge (v) = question, dispute

tongue (n) = langue

spike (n) = pic

bottom (n) = en dessous / dessous / bas

pierce (v) = percer

a criminal offense (n) = infraction pénale

mouthy (adj) = rude, talkative, loud, excessively chatty

to deal with something / somebody = s'occuper de

a way of dealing with somebody

EXTRA HELP B1-B2

SOME KEYWORDS.

13:56-15:46

rule of....

gruesome instrument...

exclusively designed for...

malicious...

liable...

challenging...

husbands

metal bar...

metal spike...

tongue...

prevented..

criminal...

transgressors

Information you can look for:

Alternative name

Who used this object?

Who was this object used on?

Why was it used?

How was it used?

What was its purpose?

selling a wife.

2

1. Find information: 03'30-:06'16: could men

BEGINNERLEVEL A2:

Listen and fill in the blanks

03:30- 06:16

SELLING A WIFE

• This is the ___________ market in Hailsham, East Sussex, ____________ they're selling ________, sheep and ___________But if you came here in ___________, you could have __________ yourself another man's ________, in October that year, the local paper reported that a __________ lead his __________ to Hailsham market and ___________ her to the highest ___________, a lucky tradesman _______ her for the lucky sum of ____________ shillings, bore her off to the triumph and congratulation of the crowd.

  
  

• Traditionally the unwanted ___________ was lead to __________ in her sunday _________ dress with a ___________ around her ___________ or around her __________

  
  

• She was _____________ like any __________, haggled over and ___________ off

There were at least __________ wife sales all at fairs and markets all aroud Britain, in the______ and _______ centuries,in fact as late as ______, women were sold in Blackwood south wales For __________.

• Wife sales were, technically, _________ the law, but they embodied a _________ ________ that lasted until the late __________century. A woman was the ___________ of her ___________ so why should he not ____________ her, like a piece of __________.

• The ___________ tradition of wife sales ____________ an ____________ truth upon which British society was built, __________ mastery and _____________ inferiority were ________ for granted

BEGINNERLEVEL A2: Listen and fill in the blanks

03:30- 06:16

SELLING A WIFE

• This is the ___________ market in Hailsham, East Sussex, ____________ they're selling ________, sheep and ___________But if you came here in ___________, you could have __________ yourself another man's ________, in October that year, the local paper reported that a __________ lead his __________ to Hailsham market and ___________ her to the highest ___________, a lucky tradesman _______ her for the lucky sum of ____________ shillings, bore her off to the triumph and congratulation of the crowd.

  
  

• Traditionally the unwanted ___________ was lead to __________ in her sunday _________ dress with a ___________ around her ___________ or around her __________

  
  

• She was _____________ like any __________, haggled over and ___________ off

'There were at least __________ wife sales all at fairs and markets all aroud Britain, in the______ and _______ centuries,in fact as late as ______, women were sold in Blackwood south wales For __________.

• Wife sales were, technically, _________ the law, but they embodied a _________ ________ that lasted until the late __________century. A woman was the ___________ of her ___________ so why should he not ____________ her, like a piece of __________.

• The ___________ tradition of wife sales ____________ an ____________ truth upon which British society was built, __________ mastery and _____________ inferiority were ________ for granted

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

03:30 -06:16, At Hailsham livestock market

Find more information about wife selling.

Use the keywords for help.

1814....

tradition....

300 wives....

legal principle....

ugly truth about British society....

livestock (n)= cows, pigs, sheep

market, fair

cattle - betail

buy – bought

can – could

unwanted ≠ wanted

to auction something off (active voice) = sell something at an auction

to be auctioned off (passive voice)= be sold at an auction

embody + noun = incarner

to be the property OF someone = legally belong to someone

thuth ≠ lie

ugly ≠ beautiful

"to take something for granted" (selon contexte quelque chose qui est considéré comme une évidence)

to be entitled to something – quand quelque chose t'est dû

LA VOIX PASSIVE

A society in which male mastery and female inferiority were taken for granted.

Traditionally, the unwanted woman was led to market in her Sunday best dress with a rope around her neck or her waist. She was exhibited like any beast, haggled over and auctioned off.

• La voix passive nous permet de mettre en avant le sujet de la phrase, mentionné en premier Avec cette structure, nous pouvons dire que le sujet de la phrase subit l'action décrit par le verbe.
• La voix passive est aussi souvent utilisé soit parce que nous ne savons pas exactement qui est l'agent du verbe, soit parce qu'il est évident.

Voix passive: She was sold at the market for one pound (by her husband).

SUJET (she)- BE (was) - VERBE PARTICIPE PASSE (sold)

Voix active : A man sold his wife at the market for one pound:

SUJET (a man) - VERBE (sold) - COMPLEMENT (his wife)

EXTRA HELP BEGINNERLEVEL A2:

SCRIPT

03:30- 06:16

SELLING A WIFE

This is the livestock market in Hilsham, East Sussex, today they're selling pigs, sheep and cattle

But if you came here in 1814, you could have bought yourself another man's wife, in October that year, the local paper that a man lead his wife to H market and offered her to the highest bidder, a lucky tradesman bought her for the lucky sum of three shillings, bore her off to the triumph and congratulation of the crowd

Traditionally the unwanted woman was lead to market in her sunday best dress with a rope around her neck or around her waist

She was exhibited like any beast, haggled over and auctioned off

there were atleast 300 wife sales all at fairs and markets all aroud Britain, in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, in fact as late as 1928, women were sold in Blackwood South Wales or a pound

Wife sales were, technically, against the law, but they embodied a legal principle that lasted until the late 19^th century.A woman was the property of her husband, so why should he not sell her, like a piece of meat.

The primitive tradition of wife sales exposes an ugly truth upon which british society was built, male mastery and female inferiority were taken for granted

livestock (n)= cows, pigs, sheep

market, fair

cattle - betail

buy – bought

can – could

unwanted ≠ wanted

to auction something off (active voice) = sell something at an auction

to be auctioned off (passive voice)= be sold at an auction

embody + noun = incarner

to be the property OF someone = legally belong to someone

thuth ≠ lie

ugly ≠ beautiful

to take something for granted = think that something is completely normal

4 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

2. Share your first impression or your reaction

If it is too difficult you can activate the subtitles.

4. Work on the meaning

3. Read and listen

Help B1-B2

5. Summarize. How would YOU explain Mary Wollstonecraft's ideas to someone who has never heard of her work? Use your own words.

5. See how The Wollstonecraft Society reacted to

6. What is YOUR favourite part of the text? Choose your favourite lines from the extract.

'conduct (n)– behaviour

'manners (n)– way of being / acting

'soil (n) – earth

strength (n) – force

'flaunt (v) - to parade or display ostentatiously.

fastidious (adj) - very meticulous or having high and often capricious standards; difficult to please

Stalk (n)- the long, green part of the flower (la tige)

ought to - should

barren (adj) - sterile, without life

'blooming (adv / adj) used as a noun here. Synonym: flowering (la fleuraison)

hobble (v) inhibit, encumber, handicap

'virtue (n) conformity to a standard of right, morality, a particular moral excellence, a benificial quality or thing

'exact (v) to call forcibly and urgently for

HELP:

I feel that....

To be honest I think that.....

What strikes me most is the fact that...

I'm struck by.....

I'm surprised by...

I (quite) liked...

1. In the first paragraph Wollstonecraft compares women to... Choose the correct answer.

• trees

• flowers

• birds

2. What is important, according to Wollstonecraft? Choose the correct answer.

• Strength and beauty

• Usefulness and strength

• beauty

4. What is important according to women at the time? Choose the correct answer.

• strength

• beauty

• usefulness

5. What is the reason for this, according to Mary? Choose the correct answer.

• Women's inferior physical strength

• The system of education at the time

• Their fragile state of mind

6. Who is responsible for this false system of education? Choose the correct answer.

• The men who wrote the books

• Only women can be held accountable

7. Organise these statements under the correct heading:

• women should demand respect through their beauty and delicacy

• women should be alluring mistresses

• women should be delicate

• women should exact respect through their talents and merits

• women should inspire love

Mary Wollstonecraft's vision	Perception and vision of women at the time

8. According to Mary W, the law of nature is that ... Choose the correct answer.

• men are generally superior to women

• men are generally physically stronger than women

• women are physically superior to men

9. She wants to convince women to... Choose the correct answer.

• try to make themselves physically, mentally and spiritually strong

• try to become eloquent, delicate and sensitive

• try to inspire pity and love

  
  

10. To Mary W, it is more important for women to be... Choose the correct answer.

• elegant and respectable virgins

• respectable females

• human beings

1. Use your correction from class and sum up with your own words the the ideas expressed in MW's famous essay.

   ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

   
   

'conduct (n)– behaviour

'manners (n)– way of being / acting

'soil (n) – earth

strength (n) – force

'flaunt (v) - to parade or display ostentatiously.

fastidious (adj) - very meticulous or having high and often capricious standards; difficult to please

Stalk (n)- the long, green part of the flower (la tige)

ought to - should

barren (adj) - sterile, without life

'blooming (adv / adj) used as a noun here. Synonym: flowering (la fleuraison)

hobble (v) inhibit, encumber, handicap

'virtue (n) conformity to a standard of right, morality, a particular moral excellence, a benificial quality or thing

'exact (v) to call forcibly and urgently for

1. In the first paragraph Wollstonecraft compares women to....

2. According to Mary, strength ...

4. According to women at the time beauty...

5. The reason for this problem

6.In the 18th century, books or essays about education was written by...

7. Find examples in the text of how women were seen at the time versus the ideas developed by Mary

8. Mary admits that...

9. She wants to convince women to...

10. Women should aspire to...

11. Use the correction from class and sum up with your own words the the ideas expressed in the famous essay.

According to (Mary Wollstonecraft)...

In her famous essay Mary Wollstonecraft argued that...

She compared ....... to .......

She felt that....

She accused.....

Read and listen (from 0:30 - 3:55)

(n) – behaviour

(n)– way of being / acting

(n) – earth

(n) – force

(v) - to parade or display ostentatiously.

(adj) - very meticulous, difficult to please

should

blossoming (en fleauraison)

(v) inhibit, encumber, handicap

having deceptive attraction or allure

moral excellence