–26 REFER TO THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE, WRITTEN IN EIGH-TEENTH...
Questions 17–26
refer to the following passage, written in eigh-
teenth-century England. Read the passage carefully and then choose
the answers to the questions.
From
A Vindication of the Rights of Women
Line
It is difficult for us purblind* mortals to say to what height human
discoveries and improvements may arrive when the gloom of despo-
tism subsides, which makes us stumble at every step; but, when
mortality shall be settled on a more solid basis, then, without being
5
gifted with a prophetic spirit, I will venture to predict that woman
will be either the friend or slave of man. We shall not, as at present,
doubt whether she is a moral agent, or the link which unites man
with brutes. But, should it then appear, that like the brutes they were
principally created for the use of man, he will let them patiently bite
10
the bridle, and not mock them with empty praise; or, should their
rationality be proved, he will not impede their improvement merely
to gratify his sensual appetites. He will not, with all the graces of
rhetoric, advise them to submit implicitly their understanding to the
guidance of man. He will not, when he treats of the education of
15
women, assert that they ought never to have the free use of reason,
nor would he recommend cunning and dissimulation to beings who
are acquiring, in like manner as himself, the virtues of humanity.
Surely there can be but one rule of right, if morality has an
eternal foundation, and whoever sacrifices virtue, strictly so called, to
20
present convenience, or whose
duty
it is to act in such a manner,
lives only for the passing day, and cannot be an accountable creature.
The poet then should have dropped his sneer when he says
If weak women go astray,
The stars are more in fault than they.
25
For that they are bound by the adamantine chain of destiny is
most certain, if it be proved that they are never to exercise their own
reason, never to be independent, never to rise above opinion, or to
feel the dignity of a rational will that only bows to God, and often
forgets that the universe contains any being but itself and the model
30
of perfection to which its ardent gaze is turned, to adore attributes
that, softened into virtues, may be imitated in kind, though the
degree overwhelms the enraptured mind.
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
35
➡creatures, let them not be treated like slaves; or, like brutes who are
PRACTICE TEST 5—
Continued
dependent on the reason of man, when they associate with him; but
cultivate their minds, give them the salutary, sublime curb of prin-
ciple, and let them attain conscious dignity by feeling themselves only
dependent on God. Teach them, in common with man, to submit to
40
necessity, instead of giving, to render them more pleasing, a sex to
morals.
Further, should experience prove that they cannot attain the
same degree of strength of mind, perseverance, and fortitude, let
their virtues be the same in kind; though they may vainly struggle for
45
the same degree; and the superiority of man will be equally clear, if
not clearer; and truth, as it is a simple principle, which admits of no
modification, would be common to both. Nay. The order of society as
it is at present regulated would not be inverted, for woman would
then only have the rank that reason assigned her, and arts could not
50
be practised to bring the balance even. Much less to turn it.
These may be termed Utopian dreams. Thanks to that Being who
impressed them on my soul, and gave me sufficient strength of mind
to dare to exert my own reason, till, becoming dependent only on
him for support of my virtue, I view, with indignation, the mistaken
55
notions that enslave my sex.
I love man as my fellow; but his sceptre, real, or usurped,
extends not to me, unless the reason of an individual demands my
homage; and even then the submission is to reason, and not to man.
In fact, the conduct of an accountable being must be regulated by the
60
operations of its own reason; or on what foundations rests the throne
of God?
It appears to me necessary to dwell on these obvious truths,
because females have been insulated, as it were; and, while they have
been stripped of the virtues that should clothe humanity, they have
65
been decked with artificial graces that enable them to exercise a
short-lived tyranny. Love, in their bosoms, taking place of every
nobler passion, their sole ambition is to be fair, to raise emotion
instead of inspiring respect; and this ignoble desire, like the servility
in absolute monarchies, destroys all strength of character. Liberty is
70
the mother of virtue, and if women be, by their very constitution,
slaves, and not allowed to breathe the sharp invigorating air of
freedom, they must ever languish like exotics, and be reckoned
beautiful flaws in nature.
—Mary Wollstonecraft