Mary Wollstonecraft

(Left excerpt is from a panel from Wollstonecraft's Original stories painted by William Blake. Right image is a portrait of Wollstonecraft by John Opie.)

Alert attentive eyes and a sanguine expression. The eyes of an optimistic observer.

John Opie painted a very comely portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft, acknowledging her elevated social status by having her engaged in the act of reading, her right hand turning the page of some unknown book. A scene typically reserved for men of intellect since it was popularly assumed that intellect was a thing reserved for men.¹

Perhaps more powerful though, is the gaze, which is not averted to the side but rather fixed towards the viewer, suggesting the power to counter-gaze. Hers were eyes that defied.

Wary eyes that have gazed into the dark night as she lay in front of her mother's door, ready for her father's alcohol soaked rage. Worried eyes that witnessed her sister Eliza driven mad by that cold Mr. Bishop.²  Drowned eyes that saw the tumultuous sea thrash on her voyage to Portugal while she was en route to take care of her terminally ill friend. Sad eyes that looked upon her daughter, Fanny, as the pair travelled across the country alone to find the man who abandoned them.³ Opie paints a very agreeable portrait of Mary, and one that conveys her beauty, but it is a description of her life that will convey the sublime, what life had carved into her mind and her observations. 

Perhaps Opie’s painting was a retrospective of a younger Mary. One spared of some of life’s deeper blows. When her expression would have been much more relaxed. A time when she would look forward to the places her wanderlust father would take them. Hoxton as it turned out this time, where she would meet Fanny Blood.⁴

Her future husband William Godwin described the event,

“The situation in which Mary was introduced to her, bore a resemblance to the first interview of Werter with Charlotte. She was conducted to the door of a small house, but furnished with peculiar neatness and propriety. The first object that caught her sight, was a young woman of a slender and elegant form, and eighteen years of age, busily employed in feeding and managing some children, born of the same parents, but considerably inferior to her in age. The impression Mary received from this spectacle was indelible; and, before the interview was concluded, she had taken, in her heart, the vows of an eternal friendship."⁵

Their friendship nourished Mary’s life and inspired her to learn and grow, recognizing the shortcomings of her own education. Godwin says,

“Mary found Fanny's letters better spelt and better indited than her own, and felt herself abashed. She had hitherto paid but a superficial attention to literature. She had read, to gratify the ardour of an inextinguishable thirst of knowledge; but she had not thought of writing as an art. Her ambition to excel was now awakened, and she applied herself with passion and earnestness. Fanny undertook to be her instructor; and, so far as related to accuracy and method, her lessons were given with considerable skill.”⁶

They were separated though for some time after Mary’s wanderlust father dragged them across England once again, seeing another home shrink into the distance, her eyes adjusting to the sight of new surroundings.

To earn a living, she would live with and attend to the needs of the thorny Mrs. Dawson from age nineteen to twenty, before having to come home to be close to her dying mother.⁷

Elizabeth Dixon Wollstonecraft took a tyrannical approach to her mothering in fear of what the world had in store. She thought educating her daughters using methods of fear would cow them into their roles as women. Mary got the worst of it, though after subsequent children, Elizabeth softened her approach.⁸

But it must be admitted that despite her style, she did raise many children from infancy into adulthood, in a time when many complications could arise in between pregnancy and those crucial infant years. Now though, she had served her role as mother and endured her role as victim so here was her time to pass. Before her final breath she spoke to her family, “A little Patience, and all will be Over.’ and these words are repeatedly referred to by Mary in the course of her writings."⁹

Shortly after her mother passed, her father would worsen until the whole household dissolved scattering the children to the wind, leaving Mary afloat and unbound till she drifted toward the door of dear Fanny Blood. There, Fanny would draw and Mary would sew, and together with their hard earnest work, they would provide for the people around them.¹⁰

The most sensitive of the Wollstonecraft sisters Eliza, who inherited her mother’s name, would like her mother marry a quick-tempered hypocrite, Mr. Bishop. After Eliza’s health started deteriorating Mary employed herself as her sister’s nurse only to learn of the extent of Mr. Bishop’s cruelty. She would cast him in her book The Wrongs of Woman addressing him in the preface to her book, “I should despise, or rather call her an ordinary woman, who could endure such a husband as I have sketched.” ¹¹ 

And almost as if fated, her third deprivation of a friend was of Fanny, when her husband found opportunity in Lisbon, Portugal. Fanny was ill at the time but was assured that the southern climate would help her condition, though she got worse and sent word to Mary of her dire straits. She had asked if Mary might visit her in her hour of need. A call Mary would always heed. And though it would mean dooming the school she had labored so long to establish, she spent coin to trek alone across the sea to see what her friend had become,

From Wollstonecraft's Original Stories. A panel painted by the
poet William Blake.

“Before I say more, let me tell you that, when I arrived here, Fanny was in labor, and that four hours after- delivered of a boy. The child is alive and well, and considering the very very low state to which Fanny was reduced she is better than could be expected. I am now watching her and the child. My active spirits have not been much at rest ever since I left England. I could not write to you on shipboard, the sea was so rough; and we had such hard gales of wind, the captain was afraid we should be dismasted. I cannot write to-night or collect my scattered thoughts, my mind is so unsettled. Fanny is so worn out, her recovery would be almost a resurrection, and my reason will scarce allow me to think it possible. I labor to be resigned, and by the time I am a little so, some faint hope sets my thoughts again afloat, and for a moment, I look forward to days that will, Alas! never come.”¹²                             

Ten years later she would reflect on the death of Fanny in her Letters from Sweden, Norway and Denmark,
“The grave has closed over a dear friend, the friend of my youth.  Still she is present with me, and I hear her soft voice warbling as I stray over the heath.   Fate has separated me from another, the fire of whose eyes, tempered by infantine tenderness, still warms my breast; even when gazing on these tremendous cliffs sublime emotions absorb my soul.”¹³

She came back to England from Portugal after Fanny's death to find the school financially unwieldy, so she dropped it to pick up a lighter pen. Equipped with experience, she sought to teach young women to Reason for themselves,. She wrote her Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787) and continued to write as much as she read: letters, memorandums, educational treatises, the news, novels and her seminal work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792.) 

Below are a couple excerpts selected and performed from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, and more may be posted. The song's descriptions have the script if you would like to read along. And I'll leave this link right here [o=o].

Throughout her life, Mary had been subject to impatient patriarchs and seen her mother, sister and closest friend all withered from maladies of the body and mind. As an outsider, she not only noticed how man oppressed woman, but also the ways in which that woman oppressed herself. She argued that women were given an inferior education and that because of this failed to strive for higher understanding, preferring more immediate distractions that tended to consist of luxuries or sentimental romance fictions written by men with superficial opinions of women. “I must be allowed to explain myself. The generality of people cannot see or feel poetically, they want fancy, and therefore fly from solitude in search of sensible objects; author lends them his eyes, they can see as he saw, and be amused by images they could not select, though lying before them.”¹⁴

So here’s where she stood, staring at a world full of foolish girls succumbing to the hubris of their husbands. And while she recognized the exceptional people to this rule; there was no unseeing the patriarch’s patterns. Mary’s opinions would evolve to contrast her parents, her peers, and by extension, society at whole. Her refuge would be among the literary circles where she would meet with Joseph Johnson who would publish so many of her works. And though she had already met William Godwin, it wasn’t until later in life a romance would bloom, one borne of intellect and respect.

Her writings gave her status and the new society she associated herself with, “nourished her understanding, and enlarged her mind. The French revolution, while it gave a fundamental shock to the human intellect through every region of the globe, did not fail to produce a conspicuous effect in the progress of Mary's reflections,” says Godwin.¹⁵

This is what tended to happen, her world around her would fall apart and Mary would watch how it broke apart. She was able to endure by having “a firmness of mind, an unconquerable greatness of soul, by which, after a short internal struggle, she was accustomed to rise above difficulties and suffering,” says Godwin.¹⁶ But her trials would never completely cease.

William Blake's Newton and John Opie's Portrait of Wollstone
craft. The hand holds the tools of reason. 

Yet she lives on in her voice that she encoded in writing. And you the reader can give life to those words as you imagine them in your growing mind. All of her published works now reside in the public domain and may be accessed for free through the Gutenberg database. In her writing, she lends you her eyes, so you can see as she saw, and be amused by images you could not select, though lying before you. Something that simply can't be portrayed in a portrait. Afterall, why would Mary be reading a book with no words.

Enjoy the rest of the exhibit and follow the citations if you want to go down the rabbit hole and learn more. Every quote is an excerpt from a larger piece that tells a story greater in scope. My selections leave out ambiguous sentiments that I was afraid would distract from her overall points. And I left out many crucial events in the latter part of her life.  

I left out details about her failed suicide attempts and both children born out of wedlock and a perilous incident involving her being on a sinking ship, and so I brought them up briefly now to spark your interest. And then there’s the things we’ll never know. What did Fanny Blood look like, and her namesake Fanny Imlay, first daughter of Mary. But be most wary of the things you think you know. Recognize that there is a frame to this portrait and that outside of it; there is more to see.

Letters to and from Mary with the people in her life

Below is an album that won the 1998 Grammy for Best Album of the Year. It explores many of the themes of motherhood, love and opportunity that Mary Wollstonecraft touched on in her works. Fun fact, they have the same birthday. Go figure. 
 

Footnotes

Tate Gallery’s description of John Opie’s portrait of MaryWollstonecraft.¹

Chapter 1 in Pennell’s Life of Mary Wollstonecraft. Kindle Location 262. Because many of the sources are typed transcriptions of printed text with no reference to page number or paragraph number, the footnotes referring to electronic sources will often use Kindle Location referring to the approximate location within the file that the quote may be found, assuming that file was downloaded from the same source, via Gutenberg Project. However, by using the search function to find key words, it should be easy enough to find the referred information within the electronic document, even when downloaded from a different source unless it is a physical scan of a printed text. ²

Chapter 2 in Pennell’s Life of Mary Wollstonecraft. About half way in the chapter.³

Chapter 1 in Pennell’s Life of Mary Wollstonecraft.⁴

Chapter 2 “1775-1783” in William Godwin’s Memoirs of the Author of a Vindication ofthe Rights of Woman. Kindle Location 123.⁵

Chapter 2 in Godwin’s Memoirs. Kindle Location 135.⁶

Chapter 2 in Pennell’s Life of Mary Wollstonecraft. Kindle Location 400.⁷

Chapter 1 in Pennell’s Life of Mary Wollstonecraft. Kindle Location 201.⁸

Chapter 2 in Godwin’s Memoirs. Kindle Location 165.⁹

Chapter 2 in Pennell’s Life of Mary Wollstonecraft. Kindle Location 447.¹⁰

Introduction of Mary Wollstonecraft’s Maria. Kindle Location 71.¹¹

Chapter 2 in Pennell’s Life of Mary Wollstonecraft. Kindle Location 739.¹²

Letter VI in Wollstonecraft’s Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Kindle Location 665.¹³

Chapter 6 in Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Kindle Location 2125.¹⁴

Chapter 6 in Godwin’s Memoir. Kindle Location 396.¹⁵

Chapter 3 in Godwin’s Memoir. Kindle Location 218.¹⁶

Works Cited

Anonymous Admirer. Letter to Godwin from an Admirer. Ed. William Godwin. Liverpool:, Nov 1800. Print.

Blake, William. "Newton." (1804)Print.

Elizabeth Robins Pennell. The Life of Mary Wollstonecraft. Kindle Edition ed. https://archive.org/details/lifeofmarywollst00pennrich: Roberts Brothers, 1884. Print.

Godwin, William. Letter from William Godwin to Shelley. Ed. Percy Shelley. A letter urging Shelley to keep Fanny Imlay's suicide discreet. Vol. , 13 Oct 1816. Print.

---. Memoirs of the Author of a Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Kindle ed. Johnson, Joseph, 1798. Print.

Imlay, Fanny. Letter to the Shelleys from Mary's Sister Fanny. Eds. Mary Shelley and Percy Shelley. Photographic Scan Vol. London:, May 29, 1816. Print.

---. Letter to the Shelleys from Mary's Sister Fanny. Eds. Mary Shelley and Percy Shelley. Written Text Vol. London:, May 29, 1816. Print.

Northcote, James. "Portrait of William Godwin." (1802)Print.

Opie, John. Portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft. 1790-1. , Wikimedia.org.

"Portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft (Mrs. William Godwin)." http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/opie-mary-wollstonecraft-mrs-william-godwin-n01167. 2004. Web.

Rothwell, Richard. Portrait of Mary Shelley. 1899. National Portrait Gallery, London.

Sharp, William after Haughton the Elder, Moses. Portrait of Joseph Johnson.

Wollstonecraft, Mary. Letters Written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Kindle ed., 1795. Print.

---. "Maria; Or the Wrongs of Woman." (1798)Print.

---. Mary Wollstonecraft's Last Three Notes to Godwin. Ed. William Godwin. "In her final note, Mary Wollstonecraft half-quotes her mother's last words: ‘Have a little patience, and all will be over'. Her own daughter, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (later Mary Shelley), was born a few hours afterwards. (TRUNCATED) Vol. London:, August 30, 1797. Print.

---. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman; with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects. Kindle Edition ed. Gutenberg.org: Project Gutenberg, 1792. Web.

Mourning Dove

                                                                                             Mourning Dove

Courtesy Washington State University Library (Lucullus V. McWhorter Collection) 

It would be hard to understand the significance of Mourning Dove’s work without knowing about the social climate of the world she existed in. Considered to be the first Native American woman to become a published author Mourning Dove was born Christal Quintasket in 1884, less than 10 years after the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and about 6 years before the Wounded Knee Massacre. From birth Mourning Dove existed in a society that posed a very real threat to herself, and her culture. Subsequently Mourning Dove would go on spend her life fighting against her oppressors. According to lore, Mourning Dove’s mother went into labor while in travelling a canoe across Idaho’s Kootenai River, giving birth to Mourning Dove halfway across the river. Although this story’s validity has been challenged with other sources saying her birthplace was in Boyds, Washington, and not in northern Idaho. Whether the story is true or not, being born in the struggle of a river currant would be a very fitting start the life Mourning Dove would go on to live.

                                                        

Her mother was Lucy Stuikin, was the daughter of a Sinixt Chief named Seewhelken. Mourning Dove’s father Joseph Quintasket was of Irish, and Okanagan heritage. This means Mourning Dove like her father was mixed race, this fact about her was something she took to heart. Her first novel that she published in 1927 was called “Cogewea, the Half-Blood” about a young mixed-race native woman growing up, and struggling to find her place in both native, and white culture. It is a work of fiction, but there is no doubting that the problems the main character Cogewea encounters in this book, are reminiscent of situations Mourning Dove encountered in her life. Throughout the 1800’s the United States federal government began federal policies to help assimilate Native Americans into American culture. Essentially attempting to erase Native American heritage by taking children away from their families, and their tribes, and placing them in boarding schools. This is happened to many native children, including Mourning Dove. In 1895 she was sent to the Goodwin Mission School of the Sacred Heart Convent in Ward, Washington. At this school Mourning Dove experienced first-hand punishment, and treatment designed to cause children to reject their heritage. She would be punished for speaking her native language of Salish, and locked in stairwell closets for misbehaving. Mourning Dove experienced abuse from authority first hand, she became so ill that she had to return home just months into attending the school. She would return on, and off for the next 4 years until 1899 when the federal government cut the funding that was being put toward religious education for native children. She would continue her education at the Fort Spokane School for Indians, which was nothing more than an old military fort repurposed to be used as a school.

Mourning Dove's first novel "Cogewea, The Half-Blood"

Mourning Dove’s home life began to fall apart as well, in 1901 her mother died at the age of 30. Her father remarried, and Mourning Dove became the caretaker for two younger sisters, and brother.  The siblings were eventually separated. One sister was sent to live with their grandmother, while the other sister was sent to live with an aunt in Washington state. Mourning Dove arranged to work as a matron at Fort Shaw Indian School in exchange for a room, and being able to attend classes at the school. It was at Fort Shaw that she began to not only assimilate with white culture, but also helped other native children assimilate. She began to sign her name Christine Haines, in effort to dismiss her native heritage. She would eventually meet her first husband Hector McLeod. Hector was also a mixed race Native American. They opened a stable to rent out horses. Hector was an abusive alcoholic who eventually hospitalized Mourning Dove. While she was in the hospital she learned that she was unable to have children, it is unsure whether this was cause from her husband’s abuse, or forced sterilization by a doctor, a secret common practice that had been used unknowingly on Native American women throughout a big portion of the 20^th century. Scholars of Mourning Dove look at her time as Christal Mcleod as the closest she ever came to completely assimilating into white culture.

Courtesy Washington State University Library (Lucullus V. McWhorter Collection) 

                                            

 It wasn’t long until Mourning Dove left Hector, and moved to Portland, Oregon. She had her identity all but taken away by the society she existed in, and was taught to reject her own heritage. Even worse she was sterilized in a genocidal attempt to end her Native American blood line. She also found herself the victim of her husband’s violence. Despite all of this, she was able to find her identity again, and found a way to empower herself to become the prolific author, and activist she would be remembered for. With her new-found independence, she found herself embracing the culture she had grown so far from. She began drumming, and singing in a traditional Native band. It was through this band that she Lucullus Virgil McWhorter who eventually helped Mourning Dove get her works published. It was through her works like “Cogewea, The Half-Blood” and “Coyote Stories” that she was able to expose Native culture to white readers in an attempt to destigmatize, and break down prejudices that were held against Native Americans.
      

References:

1 - http://nativejewelrylit.com/native-writers-mourningdove.html
2 - https://www.learner.org/workshops/hslit/session2/aw/author2.html
3 - http://www.historylink.org/File/9512
4 – Mourning Dove: A Salishan Autobiography
5 - http://usdakotawar.org/history/newcomers-us-government-and-military/acts-policy
6 - http://cbhd.org/content/forced-sterilization-native-americans-late-twentieth-century-physician-cooperation-national-