Mary Wollstonecraft jumps from the page and into our hearts, vivid and real; complex and strikingly modern. Outspoken, outrageous, beautiful...she spoke her mind and was summarily shunned in polite circles. She was both a brilliant and a terrible communicator. At times conflicted and emotional. She caused palpitations in more than a few hearts resulting in outrage and more than a few slammed doors. From the depths of a poor and abusive childhood she dragged herself up and became the main bread winner. A passionate advocate of women's rights, she applied herself to writing and firmly stated what was in her heart and mind. She became famous, then infamous. She fell in love easily, surrendering herself body and soul...only to be let down and betrayed. A wonderful mother, generous, warm and engaged, she was devoted to her little girl, Fanny. She believed in nurturing creativity and freedom of expression. Loyal to a fault she finally found happiness with another writer and philosopher.
Mary Wollstonecraft wrote at a time when this subject matter and honesty was far from the norm. She worried that her words would be forgotten once she died. At 39, nine days after giving birth to a second little girl, she died from ‘purpural fever’. What she could not know was that her words took root in the daughter she left behind. This child was Mary Godwin (Shelley), future author of Frankenstein.
The maternal relationship that took root in Mary Shelley was one of idealized love and profound loss. She had been given her Mother’s name. She was taught by her father to read by tracing her mother's name on the gravestone. The themes of betrayal, loss and abandonment are evident in Frankenstein.
Mary Wollstonecraft’s words were not forgotten...they live on in equal rights for women, in better schools and teaching for all children, and in the influential words and thoughts she and her daughter put out into the world.
A serving spoon distressed, fractured, strong...a reflection of MW. Distressed, torn tag contains the words 'Let my words not lose their power now'. The strength & purpose of the steel pen nib. Anchored by a white domestic button a symbol of domestic attachments and innocence.
