A Radical Woman in Revolutionary Times

The year 1794 marked a turbulent period in European history. As France’s revolutionary government executed thousands during the Reign of Terror, across the Channel in England, Mary Wollstonecraft—philosopher, writer, and pioneering feminist—faced her own personal revolutions. Pregnant with her first child, Fanny, by the American businessman Gilbert Imlay, Mary embodied the contradictions of her era: a woman advocating rational independence while emotionally dependent on an unreliable lover.

Her pregnancy unfolded against a backdrop of political upheaval. That same year saw the fall of Robespierre, the release of imprisoned radicals like Thomas Paine, and growing fears in Britain that revolutionary fervor might cross the English Channel. Mary’s personal struggles with motherhood, abandonment, and suicidal despair mirrored the larger societal tensions between revolutionary ideals and harsh realities.

Defying Convention: Motherhood on Her Own Terms

When Fanny was born in May 1794, Mary scandalized traditionalists by rejecting French postpartum “purification rituals” involving ashes. She resumed walking outdoors immediately, breastfed her daughter (describing to a friend the inconveniences of “overflowing milk”), and developed a modern approach to maternal health. These choices reflected the principles she’d outlined in her 1792 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman—that women’s biological functions shouldn’t dictate their social roles.

Yet Imlay’s frequent absences left Mary emotionally devastated. As she wrote, contemplating France’s revolutionary violence: “My blood runs cold, and I feel sick, when I think of all the blood spilled, all the tears of suffering.” Her personal crisis deepened when she discovered Imlay’s infidelity with an actress. In October 1795, after writing a dramatic suicide note, Mary attempted to drown herself in London’s Thames River—only to be rescued by boatmen employed by the newly formed Royal Humane Society.

The Scandinavian Journey: Between Despair and Enlightenment

In a bizarre twist, Imlay dispatched the heartbroken Mary to Scandinavia in 1795 to investigate a lost silver shipment. Traveling alone with infant Fanny and a maid through Sweden and Norway, she found temporary solace in nature’s grandeur. Swimming in northern seas and observing Norwegian fishermen—whom she called “children of nature” living authentically without revolutionary rhetoric—Mary composed Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.

This work, blending travelogue with philosophical meditation, captivated readers including philosopher William Godwin, who remarked it was “calculated to make a man in love with its author.” Ironically, Godwin—a staunch critic of marriage—would become Mary’s second husband.

Revolutionary Britain: The Context of Mary’s Struggles

Mary’s personal drama unfolded alongside Britain’s political crisis. In 1794-95:
– The government suspended habeas corpus, arresting 2000+ without trial
– Radicals like Thomas Hardy stood trial for treason (but were acquitted)
– Food riots erupted as wheat prices rose 75% due to poor harvests
– 100,000 protesters demonstrated against Prime Minister Pitt and the war with France

When King George III’s carriage was attacked by a mob shouting “Peace! Bread! No Pitt!” in October 1795, the government passed the “Two Acts” suppressing free assembly and expanding sedition laws. This crackdown silenced many reformers, including Wordsworth, who abandoned his radical writings.

An Unconventional Union: Mary and Godwin

Mary’s relationship with Godwin defied 18th-century norms. After her suicide attempt and Imlay’s final rejection, the once-opposed philosophers formed an intellectual and romantic bond. Though both had condemned marriage as institutionalized oppression, they wed in March 1797 at St Pancras Church—while maintaining separate residences to preserve independence.

Mary’s second pregnancy brought unexpected domestic happiness. As Godwin noted, this rational opponent of family life found himself “inexplicably drawn” to domesticity with Mary. Their brief union represented the egalitarian marriage Mary had theorized but never experienced with Imlay.

Tragedy in Childbirth: The End of a Revolutionary Life

The birth of future Frankenstein author Mary Shelley on August 30, 1797, turned catastrophic when the placenta failed to deliver properly. Despite doctors’ efforts, Mary developed puerperal fever. After days of agony, the 38-year-old feminist pioneer died on September 10, leaving Godwin devastated. His grief-stricken letters acknowledged the irony: the man who’d denounced marriage found his happiness destroyed by its loss.

Legacy: The First Feminist’s Enduring Impact

Mary Wollstonecraft’s life encapsulated the Enlightenment’s promises and perils:
1. She demonstrated women’s intellectual equality while struggling with societal constraints
2. Her Vindication laid groundwork for modern feminism by separating biology from destiny
3. Her personal crises revealed the tensions between revolutionary ideals and human emotion
4. Her death in childbirth underscored the era’s medical limitations

As Napoleon’s armies mobilized in 1797—the year of Mary’s death—Britain stood on the brink of transformation. Though Mary didn’t live to see it, her ideas would outlast the revolutionary wars, inspiring generations to challenge gender norms and rethink relationships between individuals and society.

In the end, Mary Wollstonecraft’s greatest contradiction became her most enduring lesson: that reason and passion, independence and connection, could coexist—not just in political theory, but in the messy reality of human lives.