A Vindication of the Rights of Men Literary Elements

A Vindication of the Rights of Men Literary Elements

Genre

Political pamphlet

Setting and Context

The setting is 18th Century Europe

Narrator and Point of View

This text is written from Mary Wollstonecraft's perspective.

Tone and Mood

The tone is political, reasoned and sometimes humorous.

Protagonist and Antagonist

Mary Wollstonecraft is the protagonist, and she is writing in response to Edmund Burke.

Major Conflict

The conflict in this text is political, between Mary Wollstonecraft and Edmund Burke.

Climax

The climax is Wollstonecraft's conclusion.

Foreshadowing

With her ironic opening aimed at Burke, Wollstonecraft foreshadows her criticism of him throughout the text.

Understatement

Wollstonecraft argues that Burke understates the Queen of France in his descriptions.

Allusions

Mary Wollstonecraft alludes to Edmund Burke and Marie Antoinette in this text.

Imagery

Wollstonecraft uses negative imagery to describe aristocratic men. For example, she said that their position in life turns them into a "monster."

Paradox

In her criticism of Burke, Wollstonecraft points out that his work is often contradictory and paradoxical.

Parallelism

Wollstonecraft parallels her own liberal and radical beliefs with Burke's conservatism.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

N/A

Personification

N/A

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