Women are turning the established order of things all topsy-turvy in "The Rights of Woman," and the speaker knows it. She spends most of the poem describing how women are going to take up weapons and overthrow the rule of men. And then, at the end, she takes it all back, saying that actually, the current order of things is just fine, thank you. All you need is to have an awesome, loving relationship, and you won't worry so much about all this "women's rights" stuff.
Questions About Rules and Order
- What do you think daily life would be like under the new order of things described by the speaker? Can you find evidence in the poem to support your theory?
- Why do you think the speaker backs off at the end of the poem, saying that women don't really want "conquest and rule"?
- Why do you think the poem starts with the word "Yes"? What's the effect of that on your reading? How would you approach the poem different if it just said, "Rise up, injured Woman, and assert thy right"?
Chew on This
The speaker seems to be very progressive and willing to change the social order, but at the end of the poem, she reveals that she is more conservative and unwilling to challenge what she sees as the "natural" order of things.
The speaker naturalizes the social order by evoking "Nature" in line 31, essentially asserting that the current order of things is "natural" and unarguable.