Mary Wollstonecraft is a famous eighteenth-century English writer and feminist philosopher, best known for her work A Vindication of the Rights of Women. In this essay, Wollstonecraft examines the rights and education of women and how they should be equal to those of men. Some of the topics she touches on are marriage, the role of women in society, and the education of women.
The passage in question from A Vindication of the Rights of Women is:
“In every age there have been tribes of female slaves, who, like the sheep of the field, have yielded a soft wool to the shearer, and been altogether useless, but to receive the commands of their lord.”
When analyzing the tone of the passage, it is hard to say if Wollstonecraft maintains an objective tone. On the one hand, there is a sense of empathy that Wollstonecraft has for the women in the passage, which suggests that she is sympathetic to their plight. On the other hand, Wollstonecraft does not provide any personal opinion or judgement about the situation, as is often the case in more objective writing. She merely presents the facts as they stand and leaves it to the reader to draw their own conclusions.
In conclusion, it is difficult to definitively say whether or not Wollstonecraft maintains an objective tone in the passage. Though there is a sense of empathy in her writing, she does not provide any personal judgement or opinion about the situation she describes. Ultimately, it is up to the reader to decide for themselves.