06 January 2010

the female narrative

from Vindication A Life of Mary Wollstonecraft Lyndall Gordon



Misogynist Writers

A telling exchange between Dr. Johnson and Boswell in 1779

Johnson: 'A husband's infidelity is nothing.' [A couple is connected by children and fortune.] 'Wise married women don't trouble themselves about infidelity.'

Boswell: 'To be sure there is a great difference between the offence of infidelity in a man and that of his wife.'

Johnson: 'The difference is boundless. The man imposes no bastards upon his wife.'
246

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"sex-starved dupe"

[my words] One need only understand Wollstonecraft's voyage up to this point by pointing out the three stages through which most women travel:

"First scene: ambitious female shows true colours as sex-starved dupe. Second scene: fallen woman gives birth. Third scene: abandoned mother becomes clinging bore, to be shaken off with repeated excuses."
243

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