The Prologue Prejudice (Discrimination) Quotes

We think this is a line that a lot of women writers in the past (and maybe even today, sadly) would relate to. By sticking her head up and speaking her mind (at least in print), she makes herself vulnerable or "obnoxious" to gossipy, complaining men. This is really the moment in the poem where we start to see the ugliness of prejudice, and the pain it causes our speaker.

Now she really calls out her critics for being the complaining, whiny haters they are. We think she actually does a really good job of making them look petty and silly. And, like they say, success is the best revenge. With every line she writes, the witty Mrs. Bradstreet proves that her critics can't be right about female wits.

Again, we get a peek at the ugliness of prejudice. It puts our speaker in a situation where she just can't win. If she does a bad job, they'll say they told her so. If she does a good job, they'll accuse her of plagiarism, or just plain getting lucky. It hardly seems fair—and that's just the point. Our speaker is deftly, systematically pointing out just how unfair and warped this view of the world is.