Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark · Question
How does Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark develop the theme of Commerce and Morality?
Answer
Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark by Mary Wollstonecraft develops Commerce and Morality across the chapters the companion marks for this theme.
Wollstonecraft critiques how commercial interests corrupt human relationships and ethics, leading to fraud, exploitation, and a narrow, materialistic worldview.
Wollstonecraft observes how commerce enriches merchants but raises the cost of living for others, and links hospitality to indolence rather than virtue.
Discusses the moral and economic consequences of war, sudden wealth, and sumptuary laws on the poor and the nation.
Discusses the economic structure of Norway, including the salt works, trade restrictions resembling Ireland's subordination, and the mercantile class's focus on profit over intellectual or moral improvement.
Evidence in the book
- Letter II
Wollstonecraft observes how commerce enriches merchants but raises the cost of living for others, and links hospitality to indolence rather than virtue.
- Letter III
Discusses the moral and economic consequences of war, sudden wealth, and sumptuary laws on the poor and the nation.
- Letter VII
Discusses the economic structure of Norway, including the salt works, trade restrictions resembling Ireland's subordination, and the mercantile class's focus on profit over intellectual or moral improvement.
- Letter IX
Reflections on the relationship between industry, labor, and moral improvement; the necessity of fair compensation to prevent corruption and promote virtue.
- Letter X
Discussion of how trade and property ownership affect morality, with the Count's monopolistic practices and the cunning of seafaring towns.
- Letter XIII
Critique of commerce as a pursuit that undermines honesty and humanity, illustrated by merchants' tricks during the war and the grain speculation that sparked unrest.
- Letter XIV
Wollstonecraft critiques the tyranny of wealth and the moral impact of commerce, contrasting the simplicity of Norwegian farmers with the cunning of coastal traders.
- Letter XX
She notes the absence of the 'enterprising spirit of commerce' in fostering culture, and criticizes drinking as an impediment to improvement, contrasting it with French sobriety.
