Background
Born in or near London on Apr. 27, 1759, Mary Wollstonecraft early rebelled against the tyranny of her father, Edward. At the age of 18 she left home to become a lady's companion at Bath. Later she opened a school at Newington Green and, when it failed, served as governess in a noble Irish family.
Career
In 1787 she returned to London and began work as a writer for the liberal publisher Joseph Johnson. Her Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787) was followed by a semiautobiographical novel Mary (1788), a volume of Original Stories for children (1788), translations from French and German, and contributions to Johnson's Analytical Review. She first attracted notice as a polemical writer in 1791, when she replied to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France with A Vindication of the Rights of Man. In the following year she established her reputation as a pioneer among feminists with A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, an impassioned appeal that women be given the sort of education which would enable them to enjoy economic independence and self-respect. Unfortunately the influence of this book was considerably vitiated by the scandal which was soon associated with her name.
Late in 1792, after her advances had been rebuffed by the artist Henry Fuseli, she went to Paris to observe the Revolution at first hand, only to be stranded there by the outbreak of war early in 1793. She accepted the protection of the American Gilbert Imlay, rejoicing in her unconventional status even when their daughter Fanny was born in May 1794. As time passed, she realized that Imlay was losing his love for her, and although she followed him to England in April 1795, and presently set off on a trip to the Scandinavian countries and Germany as his business agent, she finally left him. At first she was despondent and tried to drown herself; later she rallied her forces and published Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (1796) in an attempt to resume her literary career. In August 1796 she became the mistress of the philosopher William Godwin, to whom she was married on Mar. 29, 1797.