One interesting question is why all of Maria's strategies fail. Like why does she not realize what Venables is like? Why is she unable to extricate herself from him or reform him?
@Callie39146669 @wmst287 Both M and J were taken advantage by men based on the social institutions put into place. (Maria put into the mental facility w/ no illness by husband, J neglected by father & fam, put into neg. situation, raped and blamed for it by master's wife (M no blame), left to deal on own
If that makes sense-I personally think the last sentence is a good place to end and wonder if that is where Wollstonecraft wanted it to stop (this is much debated). The fragmentary endings are interesting, though.
@Callie39146669 @wmst287 I also noted a lot of instances of abandonment and death especially of children/family members. I feel like this was emphasized more in Maria's story.
โThere may be advocates for matrimonial obedience, who, making a distinction between the duty of a wife and of a human being, may blame my conduct.โTo them I write notโmy feelings are not for them to analyze;" (121) Why are her feelings not for them to analyze?
So, one thing she says is that women are criticized because they are only in the position to advance themselves through encouraging the libertinism of men (if you are a servant who has an affair with your employer)...I wonder if gendered behavior is understood as "structural"...
@HannahWMST287 @jadeelit27 One thing that is interesting is that Maria keeps making the argument for divorce, which was mostly almost impossible to obtain.
@meaghan7891 Yeah, one thing is that the setting and structure is completely gothic, with the characters telling or writing their stories from a gloomy asylum.