Revolution and the Individual in Romantic Literature
The years from 1785 to 1830 were a turbulent time in English history. Rocked not only by the bloody French revolution and its aftermath, but by growing internal disputes as well, the country was pervaded by the spirit of revolution and change. The writers of the age responded to this political spirit by exploring new areas and varieties of revolution. Wollstonecraft argues for the extension of reason and a sensible education for women as well as men. Blake and Wordsworth both protest the rapid spread of industrialization and its grim side effects. Shelley and Keats suggest that revolution may begin within the mind itself. Although the major authors of the period responded to the political force of revolution in many different ways, they all produced works that reflected the desire for change and equality.
Mary Wollstonecraft was one the first authors to apply the principle of revolution on a smaller scale in the Romantic period. Following her Vindication of the Rights of Man, a response to Edward Burke’s criticism of the French revolution, she produced A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. This logical argument uses Paine-like rationale to demonstrate the crippling effect of the veiled sexism of the time, for men and women both. For women, Wollstonecraft claims that while “they spend many of the first years of their lives in acquiring a smattering of accomplishments” (Wollstonecraft 173), they sacrifice their mental and bodily health in return. The result is an entire population of “weak, artificial beings” that are fit for nothing more than a brief span of marital bliss (172). Wollstonecraft essentially places a woman thus educated at a level of rationality scarcely higher than a child and a level of functionality scarcely higher than an animal. The negative effect of capricious women extends to the men as well, for “the man who had some virtue whilst he was struggling for a crown, often becomes a...