Didactic Criticism. Didactic criticism evaluates works of art in terms of the moral, ethical, or political message that they convey. Note the use of didactic criticism in this selection as Mary Wollstonecraft refers to Milton’s work.
Metaphor. A metaphor is a figure of speech in which one thing is spoken or written about as if it were another. This figure of speech invites the reader to make a comparison between the two things. The tenor of the metaphor is the actual subject, and the vehicle is the thing to which the subject is being compared.
|
Mary Wollstonecraft lived in a time when women had few rights under the law. They could neither vote nor sue in court. They had limited educational opportunities and were not allowed to attend universities. When they married, their husbands inherited all of their property. They had very few opportunities for work except as servants, nurses, or governesses (who performed tutoring and child-care duties). In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft argued that such inequities reduced women to the dependent state of children; robbed them of self-sufficiency; made them weak, docile, and overly emotional; and kept them from becoming fully human. In contemporary terms, one might put Wollstonecraft’s argument as follows: lack of opportunity and education made it impossible for women in Wollstonecraft’s day to achieve their full potential.
As you read, make a chart listing the tenor and vehicle of the metaphors Wollstonecraft uses to make her point in this except from “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.”
What do you think happens to people when they are denied the right to education, ownership of property, or participation in government or the work force?
|
