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Thomas Paine and Mary Wollstonecraft
Summary: Mary Wollstonecraft, like so many of her contemporaries in the 18th century, appealed to reason. She was a philosopher, full of ideas and much of the political optimism of the era that would push for change, and it only naturally follows that her chosen mode of expression would be prose. In Vindication of the Rights of Woman her mastery of rhetoric and the art of essay writing is clear. Her ideas are well grounded in the concept of democracy, which fueled both the French and American Revolutions of the time.
Thomas Paine was an activist for many causes throughout his lifetime including the abolition of slavery, government rule by democracy rather than a monarchy, and in later years about what he believed were falsehoods in the Bible. He was an advocate for freedom of the people and his writings were often controversial. He believed in democracy and leaned toward rule by the common man. After becoming a friend of Benjamin Franklin, he traveled to the colonies. While in the colonies his writings on the American Revolution caused him to become an enemy of the British Government. When he returned to Great Britain his writings as a proponent for the French Revolution caused him to have to flee to France to avoid arrest. His political stance in France eventually caused him to be imprisoned and he eventually had to flee again to the United States to escape long-term imprisonment...
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This section contains 542 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) |
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