Literature, in its finest, is on the cutting edge of society, pulling on its
borders, broadening its views, and bringing to it new ideas and concepts. In
this way, an essay can be as effective as a vaccine or technological discovery.
"An End to Blind Obedience", written by Mary Wollstonecraft is an example of
such an essay and has changed the popular thoughts of its time. This essay was
written to the scholarly men of her time, men who, by heart, knew the great
teachings of such philosophers mentioned such as Milton and Rousseau. These were
the men that Wollstonecraft sought to persuade because she knew they were the
puppet masters of society, and they pulled the strings of the governmental
leaders and legislators of that time.
This work could not have been published by
an inexperienced woman rights radical, but by a woman of honor and dignity,
who earned respect from the eminent writers and thinkers of her time, including
Thomas Paine and William Blake. She states in her first paragraph that she
writes "to account for, and excuse the tyranny of man", however I feel she
has an ulterior purpose. I believe the essay was also written as a well
organized example and as hard evidence in the form of an essay that women were
as capable and sometimes more capable than women. With Wollstonecrafts
narrative language, mode, and structure, she fulfills effectively fulfils the
purposes of her essay.
The language of this essay is one way by which the author
is successful in fulfilling her task. This diction is not simply wordy, but more
eloquent and articulate. The use of polysyllabic words and extremely extensive
vocabulary are very common in Wollstonecrafts work. Words such as puerile and
epithet are examples of scholarly word choice and rendered powerful when used in
the justification of the intelligence of woman, as the author of the essay is a
woman. She even modifies words such as ephemeron and Mahometan to say what she
means.
Also, by creating these words, she may cause the reader to feel her
vocabulary is more extensive than his/hers. The syntax in this essay is also
used to make the essay more effective. The sentences are long, complex and
filled with punctuation. This work becomes extremely complicated to the reader,
and he must focus on it the entire time, without losing his place and therefore
the continuity of the essay. This complexity was Wollstonecrafts intention.
Nothing is more effective in proving her case than presenting a work that
requires the reader to read her essay actively and if they do not, they would
not understand it. Imagine if a scholar of that time had trouble following the
work of a woman, whom he claimed to have so much more intelligence than. This
language all combines to form Wollstonecrafts effective mode and tone by
which her essay follows. The tone of this essay, because of its intense language
and complex sentence structure, is extremely scholarly and intellectual.
There
is no doubt that her work was even more so well thought out and brought together
by the men in which the essay was intended to effect. This scholarly tone was
effective by showing the men of her time the ability of a woman to match or even
surpass the writing ability of her times scholars. Also, as far as the
content of the essay goes, notice the Wollstonecrafts choice of structure.
She moves her essay by first stating her goal, then dispelling popular ideas of
the time, then she presents her own ideas, and finally closes the essay with the
illustration and comparison of a woman to a soldier. This structure also adds to
the effectiveness of her essay.
She first contradicts popular ideas, inserts
here ideas in the gap she made, and the assures them with an illustration. With
this structure, her goal is more than adequately fulfilled With
Wollstonecrafts amazing ability to present in essay with eloquent diction,
complex syntax, scholarly tone, and effective structure, she presents a
masterpiece which does mare than just express her ideas, but validates them. The
essay appears a little too complicated for some readers taste, however this
was done purposely by Wollstonecraft to validate herself. This essay is a fine
example of how an essay can be as powerful as a sword, and as revolutionary as
science.
Few essays ever have had such opportunity and ability to effect society
in the way the "An End to Blind Obedience" has been able to.
