Irony of Burke's descriptions
During this text, Wollstonecraft exposes the irony of Edmund Burke's account of the Queen of France in his political pamphlet Reflections on the Revolution in France. In this text, he gives an apparently flattering description of Marie Antoinette, describing her as being beautiful and ethereal. However, Wollstonecraft points out that this description is inherently sexist and insulting, as he is associating beauty with weakness.
Irony of political views
Although Wollstonecraft herself came from a comfortable background, she advocates radical socio-political reform that will ultimately affect the poor. This is ironic, as we might expect her to be more conservative like Edmund Burke.
Ironic criticism of Burke
Wollstonecraft uses irony and satire to criticize Edmund Burke. For example, in the opening of the text she aims a criticism of Burke which ironically mocks him: “Not having leisure or patience to follow this desultory writer through all the devious tracks in which his fancy has started fresh game, I have confined my strictures, in a great measure, to the grand principles at which he has leveled many ingenious arguments in a very specious garb”. Here, she is saying his arguments are "ingenious," but is being ironic.
