Matilda Joslyn Gage

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that one of the most important messages of the women's rights movement was that the full strength of any society could never be realized if half of the persons, women, are not given the full ability to contribute to it, not only by voting but also with their strength as productive and employed members of the society. The author points out that, rather than incite her audience with the continued shortcomings of the roles of women, Gage's message is a message of hope to those who continue to fight for increased rights and equal advantages for women in education and work and to meet their own potential for the greater good of society. The paper relates that one of Gage's main concerns was the destructive and oppressive nature of the Christian faith toward women.

From the Paper:

"In fact, the most striking thing about this speech specifically is the manner in which Gage keeps to the positive. She makes not even a hint of the negative, the reality being progress but hard earned and still relatively infantile. She uses the positive to build a case for the proof, of which her audience was very aware, that women are capable of higher thought, higher vocation and excellence in all and that the works of those women present and absent are not futile. This is in sharp contrast to the speeches she recorded a few years later, in an attempt to further the cause for her new radical women's organization, the darkness and fear created by the subjugation of women in the scriptures and teaching of the church."

More papers on Matilda Joslyn Gage:

• Analytical Essay # 129094 : "The Phenomenon of Phineas Gage"
• Book Review # 116371 : "Matilda"
• Book Review # 100109 : "Dahl's "Matilda"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: