Author- The author is Daniel Defoe. (c. 1661-1731) Defoe was very into politics and writing. He was not afraid to write down his opinion and he wrote a lot.
He was in prison from 1704-1713. At some point in his life he wanted to be a dissenting minister but he went into business instead. Place and Time- It was written in England in 1719. In his time women were forbidden to receive the higher education that men were able to obtain. Prior Knowledge- I know that his view on women is distorted based on how he describes them all as a whole when in reality it is too complex to put into generalities.Audience- His audience was the general population.
He was trying to promote the idea that women should be educated. Reason- I think this piece was just him writing down his opinion based on his own observations but its debatable. The main idea- The main idea centers on the opinion that women are superior to men and they deserve the opportunity to get the same education that men can get. Although his opinion of women seems a bit extreme the idea that they should be considered equal to men remains true to this day.Significance- Its very important to understand that Defoe was not afraid to write down what he believed and that during his time period women did not have the same rights as men.
Defoe was writing something that probably came off as radical to most people of his time. This document is extremely important in the context of history because it is an early record of someone who believed that women were not just equal but superior to men and deserved the opportunities that men had. This idea and way of thinking is what got us to the level of acceptance (although still not perfect) of all race and genders that we have today.
