mary wollstonecraft

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Definition of mary wollstonecraft in English English dictionary

a British writer who was one of the first feminists. In her book A Vindication of the Rights of Women, she wrote that women should have the same education and opportunities as men. She was the mother of Mary Shelley (1759-97). born April 27, 1759, London, Eng. died Sept. 10, 1797, London English writer. She taught school and worked as a governess and as a translator for a London publisher. Her early Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787) foreshadowed her mature work on the place of women in society, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), whose core is a plea for equality in the education of men and women. The Vindication is widely regarded as the founding document of modern feminism. In 1797 she married the philosopher William Godwin; she died days after the birth of their daughter, Mary (see Mary Shelley), that same year

Related Terms

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

a British writer, whose best-known novel is Frankenstein. She was married to Percy Bysshe Shelley, and was the daughter of the feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft (1797-1851). orig. Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin born Aug. 30, 1797, London, Eng. died Feb. 1, 1851, London English Romantic novelist. The only daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, she met and eloped with Percy B. Shelley in 1814. They married in 1816 after his first wife committed suicide. Mary Shelley's best-known work is Frankenstein (1818), a narrative of the dreadful consequences of a scientist's artificially creating a human being. After her husband's death in 1822, she devoted herself to publicizing his writings and educating their son. Of her several other novels, the best, The Last Man (1826), is an account of the future destruction of the human race by a plague

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

{i} (1797-1851) English writer, author of the classic gothic tale "Frankenstein" and wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley

Hyphenation

Ma·ry wollstonecraft