The Politics of Autobiography: Personal as Political in Mary Wollstonecraft’s Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman
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Department of English
Abstract
This research work examines how Mary Wollstonecraft’s Maria remains personal and serves for political implication. It tries to inspire all the women to critique the patriarchal ideologies of the society and encourages them to secure self identity in the male dominated society. Her autobiography deconstruct the ideology of marriage system of the eighteenth- century Britain by which women were treated as exchangeable commodities and objectified material for males and tries to represent the condition of women in patriarchal society. Applying the theory of autobiographical studies the researcher attempts to analyze the politics behind the use of Wollstonecraft’s own life story as a subject matter. In this autobiography Maria says how her husband, George Venable follows the cultural ideological system of selling women into prostitution where many women are wronged by their husband. She expresses each and every personal experience of her life which is supposed to remain secret with her. In fact, her text advocates for women’s liberation and inspires women to get rid of from cultural subjugation and exploitation from male dominance. In the same way, she strongly confesses her mistake and tries to motivate woman not to repeat the same mistake which she faces in her life. Hence, this project explores Mary Wollstonecraft’s autobiography as personal life writing that serves as writing with political motives in the society.