The female voice and the absent mother : a study of selected works by Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley

Abstract

The female voice in literature is a relatively new phenomenon since up to the twentieth century, women in England were treated as a second-class gender whose primary purpose was to bear and rear children. Many prominent political and philosophical leaders believed that women were too emotional to think rationally, and thus, they had decided that girls did not deserve to have the same educational opportunities as boys. This thesis explores how Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley used their work to highlight the injustices women faced, whilst also discussing sensitive topics such as mortality, morality, sexuality, and the absent mother.