Womanly Advice Essay, Research Paper

Womanly Advice The writers Mary Wollstonecraft, Harriet Martineau, and Florence Nightingale all lived during the late 1700 & # 8217 ; s and early 1800 & # 8217 ; s, the same clip period in which Jane Austen & # 8217 ; s novel, Northanger Abbey, takes topographic point. Therefore, these three adult females and Catherine Morland, the heroine of Austen & # 8217 ; s novel, would all have been faced with the same societal state of affairss affecting niceness, manner, and the relationships between adult females and work forces. Catherine is portrayed at the beginning of the novel as an guiltless and socially naif immature adult female. The penetrations on life that she acquires come chiefly from the way of the people she spends her clip with, instead than from looking inside herself. Possibly if Wollstonecraft, Martineau and Nightingale had educated her, Catherine & # 8217 ; s attack would hold been different. Mary Wollstonecraft, born in England in 1759, is frequently credited with establishing the adult females & # 8217 ; s rights motion. As a immature miss, she witnessed her father routinely bully her female parent, and, as a consequence, became really cognizant of the submissive function adult females had in society at that clip ( Watts 1 ) . This fueled an involvement in making what she could to assist other immature adult females, and she left place every bit shortly as possible to run a miss & # 8217 ; school with her sisters. The school was rather successful, but its largest benefit was the image it gave to Wollstonecraft of the period & # 8217 ; s irregular thoughts. This made the menace of her actions on adult females & # 8217 ; s rights seem less scaring in comparing to some of the Wilder thoughts of the clip, and hence more of a possibility ( Encarta 1 ) . In 1786 Wollstonecraft used her teaching experience to compose Ideas on the Education of Daughters. She believed that unless they received the same instruction, there was no manner adult females could lend to society like work forces did, and therefore be their peers ( Watts 1 ) . In angered reaction to the Gallic Revolution & # 8217 ; s failure to achieve better rights for adult females, Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792. In this book she argued that adult females must be work forces & # 8217 ; s peers, and if society did non alter to reflect that, rational and moral advancement would halt ( Watts 2 ) . & # 8220 ; There must be more equality established in society, or morality will ne’er derive land, and this virtuous equality will non rest steadfastly even when founded on a stone, if one half of world are chained to its underside by destiny, for they will be continually sabotaging it through ignorance or pride. & # 8221 ; ( Wollstonecraft. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Chap. IX. ) Wollstonecraft besides had strong positions comparing adult females & # 8217 ; s actions and values harmonizing to society and to themselves: & # 8221 ; adult females live, as it were, by their personal appeals & # 8221 ; ( A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Chap. IX. ) . She suggested that when merely beauty, failing and ignorance were built upon in a adult female & # 8217 ; s character, that her character itself would be missed or destroyed. & # 8220 ; When a adult female is admired for her beauty, and suffers herself to be so far intoxicated by the esteem she receives, as to pretermit to dispatch the indispensable responsibility. she sins against herself by pretermiting to cultivate an fondness that would every bit be given to do her utile and happy. & # 8221 ; ( A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Chap. IX. ) Harriet Martineau, born in Norwich in 1802, was besides a womb-to-tomb women’s rightist, and became one early and on her ain. She participated in many groups in both England and the United States that concentrated on adult females & # 8217 ; s concerns. She was a devout Unitarian, and the Unitarian and Utilitarian faiths were really of import in her work and personal life. The doctrines of these faiths were really favourable to adult females holding a larger topographic point in rational and public chases. Martineau wrote many pieces for local newspapers, in which she covered subjects such as the advisability against matrimony, the maltreatment of adult females, and the necessity of equal intervention, including instruction chances, of all worlds ( Webb 50-51 ) . Martineau & # 8217 ; s father tried to set up a matrimony for her, which she foremost accepted with some vacillation, and subsequently changed her head and declined. John Hugh Worthington, the prospective hubby, was troubled with insanity and died a few old ages subsequently from an evident self-destruction. This is thought to be one major component in the defining of Martineau & # 8217 ; s life ( Webb 51 ) . Martineau claimed that & # 8220 ; Worthington & # 8217 ; s decease liberated [ her ] to be entirely and like it & # 8221 ; ( Pichanick. Harriet Martineau. Pp. 109-110 ) . In this lone state of affairs, Martineau had plentifulness of clip to give to her work. She wrote extensively about what she believed to be an appropriate set of rules for society, which differed from the manner society really performed. These rules dealt with ethical motives, or deep values held and acted upon, and manners & # 8212 ; premises and patterns of courtesy, kindness, niceness, or the absence thereof & # 8212 ; the & # 8220 ; surface manifestations of moral deepness & # 8221 ; ( Harriet Martineau. 110 ) . Florence Nightingale, a British nurse, hospital reformist, and human-centered, devoted most of her clip to set uping nursing as a medical profession. She was born in Florence, Italy in 1820 and raised in Derbyshire, England, where she received a thorough classical instruction from her male parent. In 1850 she began developing for nursing in Alexandria, Egypt, and by 1853 became overseer of the Hospital for Invalid Gentlewomen in London. After the Crimean War broke out in 1854, the curate of war proposed that Nightingale assume way of all nursing operations at the war forepart. Through her attempts the mortality rates among the ill and wounded was greatly reduced. At the stopping point of the war in 1860, Nightingale founded the Nightingale School and Home for Nurses at Saint Thomas & # 8217 ; Hospital in London. The gap of this school marked the beginning of professional instruction in nursing. In 1907 she became the first adult female to have the British Order of Merit. In 1915, following her decease in 1910, the Crimean Monument in Waterloo Place, London, was erected in her award. Nightingale & # 8217 ; s Hagiographas include Notes on Nursing, written in 1860, Notes on Hospitals, written in 1859, and Notes on Nursing for the Labouring Classes, written in 1861. ( Microsoft Encarta 1 ) . Nightingale was non respected by everyone for her work. Her male coevalss frequently referred her to with disapproval. & # 8221 ; .I have heard sufficiency of my & # 8216 ; pretentious & A ; unneeded benevolence & # 8217 ; to be cognizant that, even were I non a adult female, it is of the highest importance for me that all things should be done softly.. I hope you do non believe me a & # 8216 ; disruptive character & # 8217 ; as I have been called. & # 8221 ; ( Letter to Dr. Taylor from Florence Nightingale. 1857. ) In malice of the unfavorable judgment she received, nevertheless, Nightingale persevered. She did all she could to go on her nursing work, even if it meant be aftering and puting up a clinic in secret, as this extract from one of her letters refers to. She was a adult female of dedication and assurance. She did non allow society order her actions. Catherine Morland, the fictional heroine in Jane Austen & # 8217 ; s Northanger Abbey, was rather different from these three historical heroines. Catherine was a charitable, diffident, naif immature lady. She wore certain apparels because everyone else did. She spent her clip socialising or reading novels because that & # 8217 ; s what immature ladies were expected to make. She associated with people who were considered high society because it would hold been considered improper to hold friends from a lower societal category. Catherine based her determinations on other people & # 8217 ; s advice, and molded her actions to copy theirs. & # 8220 ; What gown and what head-dress she should have on became her head concern. She can non be justified in it. Dress is at all times a frivolous differentiation, and inordinate solicitousness about it frequently destroys its ain purpose. Cathe

rine knew all this really good ; her great aunt had read her a talk on the topic merely the Christmas before ; and yet she lay awake 10 proceedingss on Wednesday dark debating between her patched and her tamboured muslin, and nil but the shortness of the clip prevented her purchasing a new one for the eventide.” ( Jane Austen. Northanger Abbey. Chap.10. Pp. 77. )

Toward the terminal of the novel, she comes to recognize that individualism is a rewarding and virtuous character, far more of import than the endowment of cognizing what to have on, and she eventually begins to do her ain determinations. However, she had a tough clip making this realisation. Possibly if she had had Wollstonecraft, Martineau, and Nightingale to steer her, Catherine would hold been more confident in developing her ain single individuality. Mary Wollstonecraft likely would hold been enraged by the idling of adult females in Catherine & # 8217 ; s clip. Weakness was an admirable quality in the female sex, so the adult females of the upper categories spent their clip making such useless undertakings as crocheting, reading novels, shopping for new manners, and entertaining invitees. Wollstonecraft was a strong truster in shared responsibilities and equal instruction. & # 8220 ; Women are, in common with work forces, rendered weak and epicurean by the relaxing pleasances which wealth procures ; but added to this they are made slaves to their individuals, and must render them tempting that adult male may impart them his ground to steer their tottery stairss aright. & # 8221 ; ( A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Chap. IX. ) She likely would hold encouraged Catherine to acquire an instruction, because ignorance in a adult female was non genuinely attractive, as it was believed to be. She would besides hold suggested that Catherine take a avocation so that her free clip could be used sagely. Avocations such as picture or playing a musical instrument were admired in Catherine & # 8217 ; s clip ; Catherine did non happen herself successful at any of these, nevertheless. Since that was the instance, Wollstonecraft may hold encouraged her to prosecute something else that she did hold endowment in, such as contending for adult females & # 8217 ; s rights, like herself. The advice she would hold given would hold stressed that Catherine should utilize her clip to do a difference, in some manner or another. Wollstonecraft would hold had something to state to Catherine refering societal categories. She believed they were a hinderance to human cooperation, and particularly harmful to the advancement of women. & # 8221 ; The absurd differentiations of rank, which render civilisation a expletive, by spliting the universe between juicy autocrats, and cunning covetous dependants, corrupt, about every bit, every category of people, because reputability is non attached to the discharge of the comparative responsibilities of life, but to the station, and when the responsibilities are non fulfilled the fondnesss can non derive sufficient strength to strengthen the virtuousness of which they are the natural wages. Still there are some loop-holes out of which a adult male may crawl, and daring to believe and move for himself, but for a adult female it is an powerful undertaking, because she has troubles peculiar to her sex to get the better of, which require about super-human powers. & # 8221 ; ( A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Chap. IX. ) Catherine became really caught up in the ways of the upper societal category during a stay with affluent friends. She enjoyed their sole societal maps and besides got some pleasance out of the pampered, idle life style that the adult females led. She made some determinations based on societal credence which she subsequently regretted, wishing she had been brave plenty to move on her inherent aptitude. Possibly if Mary Wollstonecraft had been Catherine & # 8217 ; s teacher, Catherine would hold been able to see through the masks of the upper category and detect their sadness. She could hold prevented herself many minutes of guilt and sorrow over non swearing herself above anyone else. Harriet Martineau & # 8217 ; s most of import advice to immature Catherine would likely hold been to hold the bravery to ever be herself. Martineau submitted many articles to the local newspapers about adult females & # 8217 ; s motions. She was met with a batch of rejection from both the editors and the readers, most of them declining to publish her work and many knocking it. & # 8221 ; .and most of all it is rather impossible non to be shocked, nay, disgusted, with many of the unfeminine and arch philosophies on the rules of societal public assistance.A adult female who thinks child-bearing a offense against society! An single adult female who declaims against matrimony! ! A immature adult female who deprecates charity and proviso for the hapless! ! ! & # 8221 ; ( Schoolnet. Pp. 2 ) . Her thoughts were excessively farfetched for popular society to accept. Still, she kept seeking until she found an editor who liked her work and supported her. She did non interrupt down and alter her authorship to do herself agreeable to society. Martineau stood by her ain thoughts. Martineau would hold besides have questioned Catherine & # 8217 ; s purposes to get married. In many of her pieces she questioned the advisability of matrimony for everyone, a place that required considerable courage in 1838. She raised the inquiry as a agency of doing opinions about the character of a society, emphasizing the sentiment that the married woman & # 8217 ; s function in matrimony was excessively stereotypically dependent and shallow. However, Martineau would most probably have approved of Catherine & # 8217 ; s battle to Henry Tilney because it was based on echt fondness alternatively of visual aspects and belongings. Dedication and assurance are two values Catherine could hold learned from Florence Nightingale. Catherine was already a really dedicated friend, girl, sister, and supporter, but she was non really dedicated to herself. She tended to overlook her first inherent aptitudes with the expectancy of waiting to hear what others had to state about things. Catherine besides lacked assurance in these state of affairss, intending that she frequently sacrificed the right determinations for credence into society. Nightingale would hold recognized that Catherine & # 8217 ; s ain thoughts of right and incorrectly did non ever match with what she did. Nightingale would hold prompted Catherine to move on her ain beliefs and to stand by them, even if it meant doing a forfeit socially. This was a really of import feature to Nightingale, because she believed that if adult females let others take what they were to make and believe, that they would ne’er acquire anyplace ( Microsoft Encarta. Pp. 1. ) . These three historical adult females contributed significantly to their several societies and clip periods. They would hold had a batch to offer Catherine Morland in the manner of advice and direction, particularly since they faced many of the same societal state of affairss. One quality that Wollstonecraft, Martineau, and Nightingale all had in common was the capacity to stand by what they believed in. This would likely hold been the most valuable piece of advice they could hold offered Catherine, for one time Catherine embraced her individualism, she found herself much happier. If these adult females could hold been at that place to steer Catherine in her enterprises, possibly this felicity could hold been achieved much earlier. Catherine finally reached a degree of assurance and independency that Wollstonecraft, Martineau, and Nightingale would hold been proud of, but the four adult females likely would hold enjoyed prosecuting Catherine & # 8217 ; s societal instruction together.

1. Watts, Tommy. & # 8220 ; Mary Wollstonecraft. & # 8221 ; 1-2.2. & # 8220 ; Mary Wollstonecraft. & # 8221 ; Encarta Concise Encyclopedia. 1998. 1-1.3. Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Boston: Peter Edes, 1792. Chap. IX.4. Webb. Harriet Martineau. 50-51.5. Pichanick. Harriet Martineau. 109-110.6. & # 8220 ; Florence Nightingale. & # 8221 ; Microsoft Encarta. 1995. 1-1.7. Nightingale, Florence. Letter to Dr. Taylor. 1857.8. Austen, Jane. Northanger Abbey. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1980.9. & # 8220 ; Harriet Martineau. & # 8221 ; Schoolnet, 1997. 1-4.