Genre
Essay, proto-feminist prose
Setting and Context
The setting is 17th century England and the context of the essay is socio-economic condition of women at that time.
Narrator and Point of View
Mary Astell is the narrator herself.
Tone and Mood
Direct, critical, satirical, ironical
Protagonist and Antagonist
There is no such protagonist or antagonist in the essay as it describes the condition of women as a whole.
Major Conflict
The major conflict of the essay is women's subservient position in family and society as well. The essay deals discursively with the root causes of such condition of women.
Climax
At the climax of a section in her essay, Astell remarks, "She must be a Fool with a Witness, who can believe a Man, Proud and Vain as he is, will lay his boasted Authority, the Dignity and Prerogative of his Sex, one Moment at her Feet, but in Prospect of taking it up again to more Advantage; he may call himself her Slave a few Days, but it is only in order to make her his all the rest of his Life."
Foreshadowing
Astell foreshadows that a man is not solely responsible for the deplorable condition of women in society. A woman is also responsible for her subservience after marriage.
Understatement
The essayist understates women's poor decision making ability while accepting marriage proposal. Later Astell says that a woman is left in that state of ignorance by the society. It is done to control woman and to keep her under the submission of her husband.
Allusions
Astell alludes to the critical essays of Alexander Pope in her essay.
Imagery
Astell uses the imagery of a slave to illustrate the condition of women in a family.
Paradox
Astell paradoxically remarks, "But if Marriage be such a blessed State, how comes it, may you say, that there are so few happy Marriages? Now in answer to this, it is not to be wonder’d that so few succeed; we should rather be surpriz’d to find so many do, considering how imprudently Men engage, the Motives they act by, and the very strange Conduct they observe throughout."
Parallelism
Mary Astell's essay is in parallel with the condition of women in 17th century British society.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
"One wou’d have thought that Cardinal Mazarine, whose Dignity, Power and Riches, render’d him so considerable in the Eyes of all Europe;" (Eyes: Synecdoche; Europe: Metonymy)
"founded in the Oppression, and cemented with the Blood of the People." (Metonymy)
Personification
N/A
