Mary Astell
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Mary Astell (1666-1731) was a proto-feminist writer whose advocacy of equal educational opportunities for women earned her the title "the first English feminist."
Raised in an upper-middle-class family in Newcastle, England, she was the daughter of a conservative royalist Anglican father who managed a local coal company. She received an exhaustive informal education from her uncle, an ex-clergyman whose bouts with alcoholism prompted his suspension from the Church of England.
Mary's uncle and father both died when she was 13, leaving her without a dowry. With the remainder of the family finances invested in her older brother's higher education, Mary and her mother relocated to live with Mary's aunt.
After the death of her mother and aunt in 1688, Mary moved to London. Her location in Chelsea meant that Astell was fortunate enough to become acquainted with a circle of literary and influential women (including Lady Mary Chudleigh, Elizabeth Thomas, Judith Drake, Elizabeth Elstob, and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.) [1] , who assisted in the development and publication of her work. She was also in contact with the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Sancroft, who was known for his charitable works; Sancroft assisted Astell financially and furthermore introduced her to her future publisher.
Her two most well known books, A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, for the Advancement of Their True and Greatest Interest (1694) and A Serious Proposal, Part II (1697), outline Astell's plan to establish Anglican nunneries to assist in providing women with both religious and secular education. Astell wanted all women to have the same opportunity as men to spend eternity in heaven with God, and she believed that for this they needed to be educated and to understand their experiences. The 'nunnery' style education she proposed would enable women to live in a protected environment, without the influences of the external patriarchal society.
In the early 1690s Astell entered into correspondence with John Norris of Bemerton, after reading Norris's Practical Discourses, upon several Divine subjects. The letters illuminate Astell's thoughts on God and theology. Norris thought the letters worthy of publication and had them published with Astell's consent as Letters Concerning the Love of God (1695). Her name did not appear in the book, but her identity was soon discovered and her rhetorical style was much lauded by contemporaries.
Astell died in 1731, a few months after a mastectomy to remove a cancerous right breast. In her last days, she refused to see any of her acquaintances and stayed in a room with her coffin, thinking only of God. She is remembered now for her ability to debate freely with both contemporary men and women, and particularly her groundbreaking methods of negotiating the position of women in society by engaging in philosophical debate (Descartes was a particular influence) rather than basing her arguments in historical evidence as had previously been attempted. Descartes' theory of dualism, a separate mind and body, allowed Astell to promote the idea that women as well as men were blessed with reason, and subsequently they should not be treated so poorly: 'If all men are born free, why are all women born slaves?'
[edit] Further reading
- Mary Astell, Political Writings. Patricia Springborg, ed. (Cambridge, 1996).
- R. Perry, The Celebrated Mary Astell: An Early English Feminist. (Chicago, 1986)
- Kinnaird, Joan. "Mary Astell: Inspired by Ideas." The article can be found in: Spender, Dale (ed.), Feminist Theorists: Three Centuries of Key Women Thinkers, Pantheon 1983, ISBN
- Kinnaird, Joan. "Mary Astell and the Conservative Contribution to English Feminism." Journal of British studies XIX(1): 53-75, 1979
[edit] Selected works
- A Serious Proposal to the Ladies for the Advancement of their True and Greatest Interest. London, 1694, 1697, 1701
- Letters Concerning the Love of God, between the author of the 'Proposal to the Ladies' and Mr John Norris. London, 1695
- Some Reflections upon Marriage. London, 1700
- Moderation Truly Stated: A Review of a Late Pamphlet Entitul'd 'Moderation a Vertue' with a Prefatory Discourse to Dr D'Avenant Concerning His Late Essays on Peace and War. London, 1704
- A Fair Way with the Dissenters and their Patrons. London, 1704
- An Impartial Enquiry into the Causes of Rebellion and Civil War in This Kingdom. London, 1704
- The Christian Religion as Profess'd by a Daughter of the Church of England. London, 1705
- Bart'lemy Fair, or An Enquiry after Wit. London, 1709
