# Jean-Jacques Rousseau — A Vindication of the Rights of Woman character guide

> Jean-Jacques Rousseau in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Rousseau, J. J. Rousseau, himself

**First appearance:** 0002-a-vindication-of-the-rights-of-woman

## Snapshot

The celebrated philosopher of liberty whose prescriptions for women Wollstonecraft returns to again and again — as the argument she must dismantle.

## Who they are

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 refusing his conclusions, and the friction between admiration and outrage sharpens her prose. His ideal of the graceful ivy clasping the oak becomes her recurring target, because it flatters women into dependence and calls the result virtue.

## In the story

### [To M. Talleyrand Perigord, Late Bishop of Autun](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/chapters/to-m-talleyrand-perigord-late-bishop-of-autun)

Referenced implicitly through the critique of prevailing opinions on women's education and character.

### [A Vindication of the Rights of Woman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/chapters/a-vindication-of-the-rights-of-woman)

Critiqued for his views on women's education and nature.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/chapters/i)

Criticized for his idealization of a state of nature and barbarism, and for inconsistent arguments about evil and providence.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/chapters/ii)

Criticized for advocating that women be governed by fear and made coquettish slaves.

### [Chapter III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/chapters/iii)

Criticized for his views on women's nature and education, accused of using eloquence to make absurdities plausible.

### [Chapter V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/chapters/v)

Primary target of critique; his views on women's education, obedience, and limited reason are extensively quoted and rebutted.

### [Chapter VIII: Morality Undermined by Sexual Notions of Reputation](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/chapters/viii)

Quoted for his view that reputation is as important as chastity for women; Wollstonecraft critiques this position.

### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/chapters/xi)

Referenced for his concept of necessity and submission to reason, though criticized for not defining it.

### [Chapter XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/chapters/xii)

Criticized for his contradictory views on women and his relationship with Thérèse Levasseur.

### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/chapters/endnotes)

Referenced multiple times, including his work 'Emilius' and views on women's education.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/characters/rousseau
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_vindication_of_the_rights_of_woman_se/characters