A heroine for everywoman...

She was self-educated and a teacher.  She moved to France with Gilbert Imlay, an American writer, and bore him a daughter.  Later she married William Godwin and bore a second daughter, little Mary Godwin.  She also took on the male establishment by publishing  "A vindication of the rights of men" and later ' A vindication on the rights of women".    She wrote a other works which are not so well known.  Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman was published after her death and was a story on the terrible situation of women in her time.

Unremarkable I hear you say.  So what?  Well, her name was Mary Wollstonecraft and she was born on April 27, 1759.

Her little girl grew up to marry the famous poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, so becoming Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein.

Not many people have heard of Mary Wollstonecraft outside academic circles anymore.

She was born exactly 200 years to the exact day before me.  We have the same first name - I am Mary to my family. I was born on April 27, 1959.  We both had daughters who have outstripped us in the writing arena, although she and her daughter are famous and we are not (although my girl may well be yet...)

Unfortunately she never lived to see her little girl's accomplishments as I have. Mary Wollstonecraft died from complications after the birth of little Mary.  But her progressive ideas found expression.  I wonder what she may have achieved in our time.  I wonder what she would have done with my life if I could but give it to her.

The parallels are so many.  She died because medicine could not relieve her of a placenta that would not detach. She suffered for 11 days before succumbing.  I had exactly the same complication with my second delivery.  But thanks to the wonders of today's medical nous I was whisked away to theatre for a D&C and hey presto 2 hours later I am holding my premature but perfect little son and we are both alive. 

It feels unfair. It feels unjust to me that a woman of her incredible intellect, courage and potential is taken in her prime. 

She died at the age of 38. I have outlived her by 14 years already and I wonder what I have achieved that would compare with her.  I think of her often.  I have read all her work.  I have imagined having conversations with her about human rights, equality, injustice, children.  I have been a bit of an activitist too in my time.  Not so much anymore.

I also wonder how this medium, the blog, facebook, twitter etc would have inspired her.  I bet she would have conquered the world by now.  She was a woman who broke the rules at a time when doing so could land a woman in the street or a mental asylum if not prison. 

I love this image of her - she looks like she means business.

Mary Godwin Wollstonecraft - Woman, Wife, Mother, Author, Activist, Feminist, Philosopher and Hero(ine).

R.I.P