MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT
1759–1797
Mary Wollstonecraft’s life is the fascinating story of a nonconformist seeking
her way in an English society that had no place for her. She was born in London,
the second of seven children, to an abusive, alcoholic father and a submissive,
victimized mother. While still a child, Wollstonecraft had to take a great deal of
responsibility for her family. She frequently intervened—even taking blows in the
protection of her mother.
As a young woman, Wollstonecraft showed remarkable intellectual ability, despite
the fact that she was largely self-taught. Following a period as a grade-school teacher,
and at the urging of close friends, she took up writing. She published her first work,
Thoughts on the Education of Daughters,in 1786. Over the next six years,
Wollstonecraft worked extensively as a writer, book reviewer, and translator for the
London publishing house of Joseph Johnson. Among the works published in this
period were herOriginal Stories(1788), her autobiographical novelMary(1788), and
her response to Edmund Burke’sReflections on the Revolution in France, A Vindication
of the Rights of Man(1790; revised 1791). The work for which Wollstonecraft is
best known isA Vindication of the Rights of Woman,published in 1792.
Beginning in 1793, Wollstonecraft was involved in a series of scandals. She con-
ceived a child out of wedlock, was mentioned in a treason trial, married twice, and
twice attempted suicide. In this tumultuous period, she also managed to publish her
Historical and Moral View of the Origin and Progress of the French Revolution
(1794). In 1797, she died from complications following the birth of her second daugh-
ter. This second child, also named Mary, went on to fame as the author of the classic
horror novel Frankenstein(1818), and as the wife of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.898