Bryanne Salazar's Canonball

An Appeal to BRL on Behalf of Mary Hays
“Appeal to the Men of Great Britain in Behalf of Women” by the lovely author Mary Hays deserves to be a part of the canon for future British Romantic Literature courses. One look at the syllabus for BRL shows that no trace of Hays is to be found. How can the students burgeoning appreciation for the Rights of Women unit be complete without reading an essay that not only embodies the subjugation of women during the Romantic period, but confronts the very prejudices that women of the time were subjected to? In the essay, Ms. Hays made a clear call for the equal education of women. Using a simple framework of how men view women, what men want women to be, what women actually are, and finally, what women should be, Mary Hays laid a concrete foundation for the end of the suppression of and discrimination against women of her day.

We are all familiar with the essay, “Vindication of the Rights of Woman” by Mary Wollstonecraft. In her essay, Mary W. used philosophical reasoning to thrust the issue of equality for women to the forefront of English society. Mary Hays, however, used a far more domestic approach to reach her readers, (Mellor & Matlak, 36.) Mary H., a scorned single woman of her time, used her personal experiences with men to navigate through the fallacious views she claimed the men of Great Britain held of women. Her essay began with a call to the men of her country, alerting them to the issues of liberty and justice that they, holding in such high honor for themselves, were neglecting to bestow upon the women of their generation. Her reasoning was common-sensical, informing the male readers that if they were to seriously consider the attitudes they’ve taken towards women in assuming their inferiority, they would, without hesitation, agree that they were wrong. Mary, a self-educated author who was not considered beautiful nor particularly well-to-do, depreciated her role in representing the female class that she claimed to be a class of humans marked “so sublime…” by God himself, that they were never meant to serve as “the slaves of man,” (Mellor & Matlak, 38.)

Ms. Hays divided her discourse into four analogous categories. First, she attacked the “erroneous ideas which men have formed of the characters and abilities of women,” (Mellor & Matlak, 39.) Quoting famous poet Alexander Pope’s line from, Epistle ii. – To a Lady: of Characters of Women, “Most women have no character at all,” Mary acknowledged the myth that women have no moral fiber. She wrote that men, convincing themselves of this ludicrous notion, have operated to dismiss the entire female human race, and have thus tampered with the very beauty that God himself created in women. By denying women their character, men were denying women their chance at true freedom, which they desired above all else. In addition, by denying women the chance to be educated due to the opinion that women have no character on which to build, women were viewed as ignorant. However, Mary wrote, if women were educated in the same manner as men, they would undoubtedly equal in the intelligence that men claimed to own. Qualities men claimed to be masculine, like determination, caution, and innovation, would prove to be equally distributed among the genders of similarly educated beings.

Mary’s second argument highlighted the qualities of which men would have women emulate. She denounced the absolute stupidity of men trying to modify the actions and attitudes of the female population. Her dispute was based on the idea that as humans with sound minds, both women and men were capable of regulating their own manner, neither one requiring the other to regulate it for them. The attitude that women should be both strong and weak, wonderful and insignificant, sensible and senseless, created a dichotomy that ultimately kept the women inferior to the men who attempted to control their identities.

Mary’s third category attempted to inform men of what women actually were. In her dispute, she claimed, “For it is very clear that they are not what they ought to be, that they are not what men would have them to be, and to finish the portrait, that they are not what they appear to be,” (Mellor & Matlak, 40.) To define a woman, she wrote, was nearly impossible. However, it was clear to Ms. Hays that women, having been denied the right to an equal education by men, were more “objects of pity than blame,” (Mellor & Matlak, 40.) She argued that men have no right to celebrate women’s ignorance; rather, they should feel ashamed for causing it. Further, Mary reminded the reader that any person who perceived superiority over another class of people, though having zero proof of their perceived superiority, would cause the disintegration of the subjugated class’ mind and body. Women, claimed Mary, were no less fit to govern themselves than men were, and that even though men saw themselves as intellectually superior, they were not. As Ms. Hays wrote, “…There is not an individual among them [women], who does not at times see, – and feel too with keenest anguish, – that mind, as has been finely said, is of no sex…” (Mellor & Matlak, 40.)

Mary’s final entry in her essay professed what women should be. She ascertained that women should be seen as companions to men, not as slaves, and further, should be given the respect and love deserved by all human beings. Using the biblical scriptures as evidence, Ms. Hays reminded the men of Great Britain that God intended for the female sex to be “helpmates” and not helpless. Eve was created as a companion to Adam, by God, and no man had the authority to change that. Mary acknowledged the irrational fear men of her era had, that educating women would render them “masculine.” If, Mary wrote, being masculine means “one who apes the exercises, the attributes, the unrestrained passions, and the numberless improprieties, which men fondly chuse to think suitable enough for their own sex…” then men themselves should be ashamed of such qualities, (Mellor & Matlak, 41.) Women, she claimed, had the ability to be masculine in the sense of educated, without demeaning the masculinity of which men held so dear to their own nature.

Mary ended her essay with an aim to show that if men replaced their suppressive views of women with ones reflecting equality, perfection would never be achieved, but she claimed, “We should be on the high road to happiness, of which we might reasonably hope to taste a competent share in this world…” (Mellor & Matlak, 41.)

In conclusion, Mary Hays’s essay, “Appeal to the Men of Great Britain in Behalf of Women” should be selected as canon for future BRL class readings. Her essay manages to both simplify the reasoning behind the subjugation of women during the Romantic period, as well as break it apart into clean, neat categories. Her sound reasoning, combined with clear literary images of how women were viewed by men, creates a vivid portrait of the spirit of freedom burning inside women of her generation. Mary Hays’s essay would be the perfect addition to the Rights of Woman unit, representing the average woman who was not formally educated or elite, and yet managed to address the issues of her time with wit, intellect, emotion and clear reasoning.

Word Count: 1230