Mary Astell is one of the pioneer feminists in history. Astell was born to a poor family in 1666. Her father died when she was twelve years old leaving his family in great debt. However, Astell’s uncle graciously came to their rescue. He took Astell and raised her as his own child. He taught her how to be confident in who she was and to aspire to be the best version of herself. Astell never got married but her book, Some Reflections Upon Marriage challenged the laws of matrimony at the time. In the book, Astell includes different reasons why she never got married.
The book opens up with Astell’s claim that true love and happiness is a deception. She argues that during that era, men married for three things, wealth, beauty, and only one in a thousand married for love. Most marriages were arranged and were designed to increase the wealth and superiority of particular families. Men who married for love were so rare that it was considered a heroic act, which Astell detested. According to her, referring to love as a heroic act of saving a woman is simply degrading to women. She also classified men who married for beauty in the same category as those who married for money and fame-both were governed by lust.
Astell was convinced that men were naturally ever-faltering which led to the disgrace of many women. She referred to courtship as a trap laid by men who only sought to further their selfish interest. In the peaks of her arguments, she presents a solution for women to escape a man’s trap-education. She emphasized greatly on the need to educate women, according to her, an educated woman will surpass a man’s achievements and gain more wisdom. Education would further women’s goals and elevate their minds making them “immune” to the deceptions of men. Astell believed that an educated woman is a perfect woman.
