Margaret Fuller’s essay “The Great Lawsuit: Man versus Men. Woman versus Women”, was originally published in July 1843 in The Dial magazine and was later rewritten, expanded, and republished in book form in 1845 and was named Woman in the Nineteenth Century (Von Mehren 192). “The Great Lawsuit” can be referenced to the feminist movement in which women should perform equal roles as men in society.
Fuller makes a huge point in this essay about the importance of education for women and how women, along with men, can accomplish the provider role as well as the caretaker role. Her approach for this desire of equality possibly was due to her upbringing as a child. “From the age of six, Fuller was tutored so rigorously by her father that in her mid-teens she could match wits with the brightest men at Harvard” (Chevigny 279). Her father’s desire for her to be an intelligent and bright woman encouraged her beliefs for women to attain an education.
Her essay received a lot of criticism as well as hopeful notions. Edgar Allen Poe wrote that the work was “a book which few women in the country could have written, and no woman in the country would have published, with the exception of Miss Fuller” (Von Mehren 225). This suggests that Fuller aspires women towards self-dependency and individualism, as well as intellectual freedom. On the other hand, some harsher critics such as, Sophia Hawthorne (Nathaniel Hawthorne’s wife), who stated that:
The impression it left was disagreeable. I did not like the tone of it—& did not agree with her at all about the change in woman’s outward circumstances… Neither do I believe in such a character of man as she gives. It is altogether too ignoble… I think Margaret speaks of many things that should not be spoken of. (Miller 235)
As a woman herself, Hawthorne disagrees of Fuller’s approach and belief of her presentation of women’s roles in society.
Margaret Fuller’s Woman in the Nineteenth Century became one of the major documents about American feminism and was considered the first of its kind in the United States (Slater 89). It was meant to enlighten both men and women to create change by encouraging women to strive towards equality and intellectual freedom, and for men to support this notion.
Bibliography
Chevigny, Bell Gale. “Fuller, Margaret 1810–1850.” American Writers: A Collection of Literary
Biographies, Supplement 2. Ed. A. Walton Litz. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1981. 279-306. Scribner Writers on GVRL. Web. 22 Aug. 2013.
Miller, Edwin Haviland. Salem Is My Dwelling Place: A Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1991: 235.
Slater, Abby. In Search of Margaret Fuller. New York: Delacorte Press, 1978: 89-90.
Von Mehren, Joan. Minerva and the Muse: A Life of Margaret Fuller. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1994: 192-225.
103A: American Literature from 1789 to 1900 
This information is useful in understanding that Margaret Fuller’s writing resonated or not with only one particular gender or one set group of people. Edgar Allan Poe’s comment on her essay is evidence of that. What’s even more telling is that she received harsh criticism from those she wants to be equal to men. In fact, looking at what kind of opposition she had coming from other women rather than just men also gives the readers a better perspective at how previous thoughts on the capabilities of women and where their “place” is in society can permeate the way women think about others of their own gender and how they can just as easily resist change as much as the men who disagree with Fuller’s thoughts.
Fuller’s essay is a powerful statement of the roles women held in the nineteenth century and the factors–mainly education–that hindered women from holding more power in society as a whole. The influence of her upbringing that Tien points out is apparent in her work, and understanding her father’s “rigorous” tutoring during her childhood explains where her beliefs come from. Her own unusual education seems to have laid the groundwork for how women should strive for intellect–not by accepting the limited and controlled education given by other men, but rather by seeking intellectual capacity and the same degree of knowledge available to those men.
Knowing about Fuller’s childhood education helps us to understand her views not only on the equality of men and women, but also on marriage. Fuller’s father highly educated his daughter, as we can see through her reference to “Miranda” from Shakespeare’s The Tempest. In this reference she compares herself to Miranda, which draws a connection between her father and Prospero, the learned wizard teaching his daughter what he knows. Fuller also extends this reference from being about learning from her father, to be about feminism, as Miranda is the only mortal woman within this play. Because some women, like Sophia Hawthorne, seem to go against Fuller’s ideas, she feels just as alone in her cause as Miranda is. Perhaps Fuller feels similar to Miranda in that she is the only woman of her time that challenges the ideas surrounding what women are capable of. Just as Miranda must discover her place in the world as the only woman on the island, Fuller must fight for her equal rights in order to prove to the rest of society what she, and all women, are capable of. Fuller highly valued education in women, and because she found it to be an equalizer between her and her father, this could be why she believed that the happiest marriages are those based on equal intellect. When a man is able to respect a woman due to her education, as Fuller’s father was able to respect her, then the marriage will be happiest. Because of Fuller’s childhood education, she is able to see the equalizing effect of intellect, and believes that a marriage based on equality is one that will be most happy.
It is very interesting to note that some of Fuller’s supporters were men, while some of her strongest detractors were female. This highlights the widely held views in society at the time about gender roles–views held by both men and women. Although Sophia Hawthorne is herself a woman, she disagrees with Fuller’s views about the need for change because of deeply ingrained societal notions of what women and men should be. This shows just how much Fuller was up against, and how revolutionary her views were. Knowing that her father valued education in women also helps us to understand how Fuller became the woman that she did. Her education and her father’s support for her led her to value learning, intelligence, and equality. Perhaps, with a different upbringing, Fuller would have held similar views to Sophia Hawthorne. Instead, her relationship with education led her to understand and embrace women’s full potential.
Understanding that Fullers work is considered to be one of the first pieces of literature including feminist ideals sheds some light on the piece. While reading I felt as though I was hearing the echo’s of feminist journals I have previously read, as it turns out, Fullers journal is the original and the other things I have read are echo’s of this piece. I found Fullers work very motivating and enlightening by todays standards and I can only imagine the effect it would have had when originally published. The reviews of Fuller included in the blog post do a lot to say something about the society in which this piece was presented to, and the effect that the piece had on such a society. From Poe and Sophia Hawthorne’s reactions we can see that women were expected to behave as Fuller explained in the article. Reading those reactions helped to put into the perspective what the gender constraints women faced at the time. As Poe saw it, Fuller was breaking out of the “female” mold and asserting independence never before seen by a woman, both her essay as well as the act of publishing the article are statements against traditional gender roles. It is interesting because even today we see similar reactions to feminist works. Women who are feminist are often criticized by other women in the same way Mrs. Hawthorne criticized Fuller. Knowing the history of the piece and how it was accepted by society gives more insight into the on going feminist movement and helps to gain a more indepth understanding of the imporance of Fullers work.
I found the inclusion of Hawthorne’s criticism to be very interesting, as it speaks to a timeless issue in the struggle to promote social progress, the issue of tone. It is fitting that she said she did not like the tone of it, as this comes up a lot as oppressed groups of people start to become more vocal about their rights, with detractors saying they find the argument for progress to be too pushy or aggressive. A lot of this comes from the fact that an aggressive tone can put people on the defensive when they are the group in power being criticized. Hawthorne’s case is particularly interesting because she is a woman, so her criticism could have been that she thought people would be turned off from the idea if the message came on too strongly, but it seems she actually disagreed with Fuller on a lot more than that. This seems to match up with Fuller’s descriptions of herself as well as what we learned in class about what other people thought of her, namely that she was somewhat “manly” and not feminine, which could be an issue Fuller had that would manifest itself in the tone of her writing.
Margaret Fuller’s essay is agreeably one of the most inspirational essays regarding women’s rights and feminist action. The positive support given by her father showed that women, when given the same or higher treatment and expectations as men were given, can accomplish the same, if not more, than men. Fuller is a living example of this. However, negative criticism given by women, such as Hawthorne, shows the looming ideas of gender roles. This emphasizes the fact that not all women during a time of feminist movement, fought for equality among men.
Margaret Fuller takes a stand against the paternalistic nature of American culture, drawing on the sexist and racist tendencies of a white, male-dominated society. She declares that relying on the idea of a “virgin” being the ideal woman, “is the very fault of marriage, and of the present relation between the sexes, that the woman does belong to the man, instead of forming a whole with him.” (pg 777) Although virginity does on one hand represent purity and innocence as being inherently good qualities in a woman, we must examine more closely the two possible explanations for this widespread belief. In the first case scenario, women are naturally more pure and innocent than men and this is simply the way it has been since the creation of man. This would draw on biblical expectations of woman’s role in the family and society arising from a predominantly Christian America. In the second case scenario, we can view these claims that woman have a naturally-instilled innocence, as a way to perpetuate the expectation that women are incapable of understanding or handling the difficulties that arise from the spheres of education and politics. In latent terms, women are much like little children whom are treated as though they don’t posses a mind of their own.
Fuller, Margaret, The Great Lawsuit, The Norton Anthology of American Literature
Inspiring the masses to become an individual, strive for equality, and no care about race or gender were all major points addressed in Margaret Fuller’s “The Great Lawsuit”. These points as stated helped the women’s right movement that swept the nation. These rights still are being fought for in today’s day and age which means that this essay can still impact our society with its message. The message that we all are equal and we should not be judged by the color of our skin or our gender. No human being is above the other but we all live as equals is what I believe she strives to portray in her essay.
This post is very helpful in getting a further understanding of Fuller’s essay. The fact that she was taught so diligently by her father shows in her work and gives great insight as to why she would push so hard for education. I was surprised that Poe enjoyed the piece while the female critic Hawthorne gave it a scathing review. It seemed to me that the piece was more geared towards women, so the fact that the female critic hated the ideas about changing women’s circumstances and focusing more on education was shocking. I also find it interesting that a lot of these ideas are still an issue today especially the notion about the importance of education.