# A Vindication of the Rights of Woman — Character guide

> Key figures in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft.

- [Mary Wollstonecraft](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/characters/mary_wollstonecraft.md): Wollstonecraft writes as herself — no fictional mask — addressing a society that trains women to be pleasing rather than rational, and she refuses to soften the indictment. Her central tension is between the virtue she b
- [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/characters/rousseau.md): Rousseau enters these pages less as a man than as a system: the revered author of Emilius whose vision of Sophie reduces a woman to an ornament of her husband's understanding. Wollstonecraft grants his genius while refus
- [Dr. John Gregory](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/characters/dr_gregory.md): Author of advice literature for women, criticized for promoting weakness.
- [John Milton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/characters/milton.md): Poet whose portrayal of Eve is analyzed in the argument for equality.
- [Sophia](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/characters/sophia.md): Fictional ideal woman from Rousseau's Emile, used as a counterexample.
- [Sir Isaac Newton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/characters/sir_isaac_newton.md): Scientist mentioned as an example of intellectual achievement.
- [Emile](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/characters/emilius.md): Fictional pupil in Rousseau's Emile, representing male education.
- [Thérèse Levasseur](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/characters/theresa.md): Rousseau's companion, mentioned in critique of his personal life.
- [Louis XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/characters/louis_xiv.md): French king cited as an example of arbitrary power.
- [Catharine Macaulay](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/characters/catharine_macaulay.md): Historian and feminist whose work is praised by Wollstonecraft.
- [Lord Chesterfield](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/characters/lord_chesterfield.md): Aristocrat and writer of letters, criticized for his views on women.
- [Mamma](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/characters/mamma.md): Generic maternal figure used in hypothetical examples.
- [Eve](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/characters/eve.md): Biblical first woman, used to illustrate arguments about female nature.
- [Alexander Pope](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/characters/alexander_pope.md): Poet whose lines on women are quoted and critiqued.
- [Samuel Johnson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/characters/dr_johnson.md): Lexicographer and writer, cited for his opinions on women.
- [Being](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/characters/being.md): Abstract philosophical term personified in argument.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/characters