Three arguments by Margaret Fuller for the equal treatment of women in the society

Three arguments by Margaret Fuller for the equal treatment of women in the society

Introduction

Sarah Margaret Fuller was born in an upper-middle class family on May 23, 1810 in Cambridge port Massachusetts. An unconventionally self-governing woman of her time, Margaret Fuller is believed to be one of the first women scholars in America. In 1845, her book, Woman in the Nineteenth Century was published, and it is the most original writing relating to the rights of women. She was educated by her father who compelled her to read and learn at four years of age and instructed her in Greek and Latin at six. She not only studied all the classic writers of Roman and Greek, but also read Cervantes and Shakespeare before the age of ten and also learned German, French and Italian.

This essay will highlight the arguments which Margaret Fuller attempted to criticize and highlight. Keeping the equality on the religious plane, she argued that under the law equality should not be granted to women as an indulgence by man, but as a right given by God therefore women have the right to be equally treated in the society and get their rights and privileges.

Discussion

Equality of husband and wife in marriage

Margaret Fuller argued on women's right to power and religious self dependence. She challenged the biblical perspective propounding that the position of a man over woman as provider, guide, and the protector is God given. She further added in her argument that American men who were raised on the bible believe that women should neither “have authority over men” nor should they “teach”. They should “keep silent” and as wives “be subject in everything to their husbands” because “the husband is the head of the wife”. Her arguments made the reader surprised into an understanding of the multifaceted nature of sexual distinctiveness incorporating marriage, sex, and work (Berl, 2009).

According to Fuller, the first great scripture states that husband and wife are, “one person in law”. She viewed marriage as an equal union between husband and wife, in Fuller's words, “fellow pilgrims”(Steele, 2010). In the expanded version of “The Great Lawsuit” Fuller made her argument clearer regarding what she felt the relation between husband and wife should be, not only on the high level of spirit but also on the “lower” one of gender. Husband ...