A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects

Weakness and frailty are the two primary attributes Wollstonecraft uses to describe the stereotyped woman in society. For example, Wollstonecraft quotes Fordyce as saying that women “are timid and want to be defended. They are frail” (98). Society—and men in particular—believe that women are inherently weak and frail, hence their need to be “defended” by men. Wollstonecraft argues against this depiction of women, seeing the attributes of weakness and frailty as a type of prison men have caged women in precisely so that women might remain dependent upon and subordinate to men. Society sees weakness and frailty as specifically “feminine” attributes, an idea that Wollstonecraft hopes to dismantle with her work. 

Marriage serves as an important motif in this text, primarily because it is the sole task women are expected and raised to perform. Firstly, while it is possible for men to rise in station through their profession, “the only way women can rise in the world [is] by marriage” (9). Wollstonecraft does not critique or disagree with the concept of marriage—she believes in it as a cornerstone of Christianity and modesty—but does critique and disagree with the power it has over women and female behavior. As it is the only method by which women can rise in station, marriage—or achieving a successful marriage—is the sole pursuit of women. This means that their lives are centered upon acquiring pleasing attributes and on perfecting their aesthetic appearance. Such obsessions Wollstonecraft finds degrading for women. She argues that the only reason women behave like this is because they have so little power and independence, perverting marriage from a form of friendship or companionship into a relationship based on flirtation, passion, and manipulation.