ted by society, which is a construct of men. Women, in effect, are created by men to be simultaneously innocent and seductive:
Women are every where in this deplorable state; for, in order to preserve their innocence, as ignorance is courteously termed, truth is hidden from them, and they are made to assume an artificial character before their faculties have acquired any strength. Taught from their fancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and, roaming around its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison. . . . Women . . . [have] their thoughts constantly directed to the most insignificant part of themselves (Wollstonecraft Vindication 43).
A woman in such a society does have power, which Wollstonecraft acknowledges. However, that power--to seduce, to please a man physically--exists only at the whim of the man, or, more specifically, as Maria depicts, at the whim of the woman's husband. If the husband decides to ignore or override that power, through various abuses, including institutionalization, he may do so legally at any moment, with no recourse available to the woman.
In Vindication, Wollstonecraft champions reason, virtue, independence, and the rights of women to "the same natural 'rights'" which men enjoy: "a right to liberty, equality, and the pursuit of happiness or virtue" (Wollstonecraft Maria v). Without education, without these rights, without adequate social, economic, political, or legal power, especially compared to and in relationships with men, women are reduced to the level of playthings for men, to be adored one moment and mercilessly abused the next. In the case of Maria Venables, the reader finds a woman whose husband has her locked away in a madhouse--legally--for showing signs of independence or "disobedience."
Whereas Vindication speaks in broad and general ideological terms, Maria brings the argument down to its most basic unit--the family. In this unit, societ...