Stuti Pandey Mr. Quinn AP English Language 24 September 2021 In her work “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman,” Mary Wollstonecraft criticizes the intellectual subjugation imposed on women by oppressive male figures. The phonics of her alliterations parallel the meaning of her words, which serve to mock and caution against such institutions, but also to invoke sympathy for the victims, all of which influence the reader into a gradual agreement with her logic. Wollstonecraft employs a pressured alliteration that uses voiceless consonants to force readers to scorn conventional forms of female intellectual negligence. To establish a more universally relatable context, Wollstonecraft likens the education of the military to that of women. In describing the military as a process of acquiring “what is termed a knowledge of the world,” Wollstonecraft reveals her contempt towards the military through intentional avoidance in using a curt linking verb (Wollstonecraft). Rather than saying “a knowledge of the world,” adding “what is termed” plants skepticism in readers towards the military’s alleged “knowledge.” Atop the feelings of doubt she invokes, Wollstonecraft furthers her contempt by using alliteration to force readers’ focuses onto the systems’ shared inferiority: “Soldiers, as well as women, practice the minor virtues with punctilious politeness” (Wollstonecraft). Her simile aids in her claim that both institutions, in receiving weightless education in “punctilious politeness,” are worthy of mockery. With the words beginning with a “pə” sound that requires pressure behind the lips to voice, the phonetic emphasis on the front of the words creates a stark break in the flow of the sentence, which drives readers to recognize the words separately. Wollstonecraft also intentionally uses words that end in the same ending consonant of “s.” The identical aligning of both the beginning and ending consonants act as a frame that forces the reader to analyze the meaning of the phrase more deeply than its surrounding language, in that it criticizes the hyper-meticulous emphasis on manners. Working in tandem with her simile, Wollstonecraft’s pressured alliteration compels readers to resonate with her feelings of contempt, an initial emotion that acts as her foundation to convince readers to agree with her other criticisms later in the text. Wollstonecraft uses alliteration once more later in her essay, but rather than aiming for readers to concur with her, she tries to make readers align and thus empathize with women, made victims because they are often unaware of their oppression. In her continued simile between women and the military, Wollstonecraft has effectively laid her claim of these institutions being exalted but actually being worthy of contempt prior in the text. However, after her readers feel the same distaste towards the institution, Wollstonecraft suddenly switches her language to that of a sympathetic tone towards the individual victims. In her new tone, Wollstonecraft uses alliteration to evoke an understanding of the women’s experience in readers: “The great misfortune is this, that they both acquire manners before morals…” (Wollstonecraft). The meanings of the words “manners before morals” parallel their phonetic shape. The shared consonant “m” between “manners” and “morals” is of a softer tone, aiding in the author’s intent of sympathy. More importantly, however, the similar consonant forces readers to discern a similarity between the two words’ implications, where both are held in high esteem within society. However, as readers reach the end of the words, their realization of the words’ ultimate dichotomy eclipses their initial semblance. Although both words begin with the same “m” consonant, “morals” transitions into an “ō” vowel while “manners” reaches an “ă” vowel. In consequence, readers denote a likeness from the alliteration at first, but as they read deeper into the words they realize their eventual difference. The confusion of manners and morals the phonetic structure induces in readers parallels the confusion of manners and morals that broad social institutions induce in women. The readers’ gradual change of their interpretation, to Wollstonecraft, acts as a microcosm of the entire female experience, where women believe they are pursuing morality by practicing manners, but in actuality, they practice a prescribed curriculum that purposefully blinds them from genuine intellectuality. With her seemingly similar word choices, Wollstonecraft effectively tricks readers into the same naïvety in which she believes women become entrapped, but the final realization of the dissimilarity shines a mirror onto the readers to realize their own gullibility. In their realization, they also implicitly understand the trap women fall into in society, and Wollstonecraft uses this to warn that institutions imposed by men under the guise of “intellectuality” are at fault rather than the victims, women. Only a few sentences later in her text, Wollstonecraft again uses alliteration to emphasize the danger of women’s intellectual suppression to readers. After evoking both disdain for such institutions and sympathy for their victims in her audience, Wollstonecraft finally highlights the grim result of such impositions: “The consequence is natural; satisfied with common nature, they become a prey to prejudices…” (Wollstonecraft). The purpose of Wollstonecraft’s alliteration of “prey” and “prejudices” is to focus the reader’s attention onto the front of the words, as the phonetic sound of “pr” requires pressure in the mouth to enunciate. In its pointed effect, Wollstonecraft’s language leads to a tone of warning and danger. She intentionally uses the words “prejudices” not only because of the pressured phonics but also because of its prefix “pre-”, which denotes a situation created beforehand. With her alliterative connection, Wollstonecraft aims for readers to bridge the already existent prejudices, which are social conventions on which women are forced into relying, to their vulnerability in the hands of such sexist macro-sociological patterns. Thus, Wollstonecraft’s alliteration and its phonetic pressure force readers into acknowledging the meaning of those words, that women become meek “prey” because of the pre-imposed shackles of “prejudices,” a position unmovable unless, as Wollstonecraft argues, their capacity for intellect conquers their intentional suppression. With readers feeling a third emotion of danger alongside derision and empathy, Wollstonecraft has successfully aligned her audience into full agreement with her criticism of the suppression of women’s capacities from three different perspectives.
