A Vindication of the Rights of Woman Slavery Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

The answer will decide the propriety of Dr. Gregory's advice, and shew how absurd and tyrannic it is thus to lay down a system of slavery; or to attempt to educate moral beings by any other rules than those deduced from pure reason, which apply to the whole species. (2.54)

For Wollstonecraft, there's no such thing as a fair societal inequality that isn't supported by rational argument. Anything else is just tyranny that props itself up with bogus claims to authority.

Quote #5

If, I say, for I would not impress by declamation when Reason offers her sober light, if they be really capable of acting like rational creatures, let them not be treated like slaves; or, like the brutes who are dependent on the reason of man. (2.64)

Either women are rational and capable of thinking for themselves or they are nothing more than animals who are dependent on men for everything. Wollstonecraft is convinced that women are just as rational as men, so men's domination over women can only be described as enslavement.

Quote #6

Educated in slavish dependence, and enervated by luxury and sloth, where shall we find men who will stand forth to assert the rights of man. (3.22)

Wollstonecraft doesn't think that only women should stand up and fight for women's rights. She also believes that men should stand up for reason and make sure that they live in a fair society by giving women equal education and equal rights.