WMST287

From Romance to Gothic, SUNY Oneonta

[WMST287 @wmst287]

@HannahWMST287 @jadeelit27 Oh, good point.

[WMST287 @wmst287]

WMST/ELIT 287 Class December 4, 2020: Group 6 can start us out by responding to this Tweet.

[WMST287 @wmst287]

@BrightGreen359 I think that is true.

[WMST287 @wmst287]

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?

[Sara @BrightGreen359]

@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

[WMST287 @wmst287]

Have a good weekend, everyone!

[WMST287 @wmst287]

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.

[WMST287 @wmst287]

@meaghan7891 @cma2418 Do you think the novel presents a convincing portrayal of the double standard and does it suggest any solutions?

[WMST287 @wmst287]

Yes...why is that so important in this novel that is directly about the oppression of women? Maybe that is too obvious a question...

[Hannah @HannahWMST287]

@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.

[WMST287 @wmst287]

Yes, it is important that the stories in the novel are told by and to women, I think...

[WMST287 @wmst287]

@meaghan7891 @cma2418 That is, is contempt for women in the novel meant to be related to a general lack of social solidarity?

[WMST287 @wmst287]

@meaghan7891 @cma2418 So, is "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" connected to misogyny?

[WMST287 @wmst287]

@BrightGreen359 Oops, wrong diacritical mark.

[WMST287 @wmst287]

@BrightGreen359 I was wondering if Wollstonecraft thinks that love (or at least the love described in novels) is fundamentally naîve.

[WMST287 @wmst287]

“There 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.—To them I write not—my feelings are not for them to analyze;" (121) Why are her feelings not for them to analyze?

[WMST287 @wmst287]

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"...

[WMST287 @wmst287]

@HannahWMST287 @jadeelit27 One thing that is interesting is that Maria keeps making the argument for divorce, which was mostly almost impossible to obtain.

[WMST287 @wmst287]

I think so, but on the other hand she says that "the marriage state is certainly that in which women, generally speaking, can be most useful" (p 116)

[Elijah Pacheco @ElijahPacheco19]

@wmst287 I believe that it serves to point out how flawed marriage laws and the system in itself is. It vocalizes her disdain for the marriage system.

[WMST287 @wmst287]

...so, Maria writes that "marriage had bastilled [imprisoned] me for life"...

[WMST287 @wmst287]

Good question, and also: What does this section suggest about marriage as an institution, laws around marriage, etc.?

[WMST287 @wmst287]

@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.

[WMST287 @wmst287]

Great question!

[WMST287 @wmst287]

Good question, and also: What does this section suggest about marriage as an institution, laws around marriage, etc.?