Astell, Mary. “A Serious Proposal to the Ladies

Astell, Mary. “A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, Part II” The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings From Classical Times to the Present. Eds., Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzburg. Bedford: Boston 2001.

“It is not enough to wish and to would it, or t’afford a faint Encomium upon what you pretend is beyond your Power; Imitation is the heartiest Praise you can give and is a Debt which Justice requires to be paid to every worthy Action” (847). =E

“If you approve, Why don’t you follow? Andi if you Wish, Why shou’d you not Endeavour? Especially since that wou’d reduce your Wishes to Act, and make you com glorious Examples of them” (847). =E

Speaking directly to what she believes should inspire women to act. She reminds me of Emerson in her belief that action is necessary to prove worth.

“Firmness and strength of Mind will carry us thro all these little persecutions, which may create us some uneasiness for a while, but will afterwards end in our Glory and Triumph” (848). =E

Even if women were looked down on for using their minds, they should push through. Emerson, King, Sojouner Truth.

"Alas, Human Knowledge is at best defective, and always progressive, so that she who knows the most has only this advantage, that she has made a little more speed than her Neighbors” (850).

Astell recognizes that pride works on women too. The woman is a veritable bulldozer when it comes to rhetoric.

“we hope that our Proposition was such that all impartial Readers are convinc’d it wou’d answer the Design, that is, tend very much to the real advantage and improvement of the Ladies” (851).

“So that when we have cast up our Account and estimated the Present Advantages that false Arguings bring us, I fear what we have got by a Pretence to Truth, won’t be found to countervail the loss we shall sustain by the Discovery that it was no more. Which may induce us (if other Considerations will not) to be wary in receiving any Proposition our selves, and restrain us from being forward to impose our Sentiments on others” (852).

“I shall not therefore recommend under the name of Rhetoric an Art of speaking floridly on all subjects, and of dressing up Error and Impertinence in quaint and taking garb” (852).

Her appeals range from the emotional to the completely logical. By referring to “dressing” up error she hits home with the ladies. Her idea of saying that even if it looks good, it has to be good, goes back to Aristotle.

“but we shou’d fold up our Thoughts so closely and neatly, expressing them in such significant tho few words, as that the Readers Mind may easily open and enlarge them” (853). =E

Again, she is directly hitting on things women were used to dealing with, in this case folding things to make them more compact.

“Neither Reason nor Wit entertain us if they are driven beyond a certain pitch, and Pleasure it self is offensive if it be not judiciously dispenc’d” (854). =B

“So that to guess what success we are like to have, we need only suppose our selves in the place of those we Address to, and consider how such Discourse wou’d operate on us, if we had their Infirmities and Thoughts about us” (854). =E & M

Directly tapping into empathy as a way of addressing an audience.

"We shou’d diligently watch for Opportunities, and carefully improve them, accommodating our Discourse to the Understanding and Genius of all we cou’d hope to do good to” (855). =E & M

“I have made no distinction in what has been said between Speaking and Writing, because tho they are talents which do not always meet, they there is no material difference between ‘em” (856).

“For it is little purpose to Think well and speak well, unless we Live well, this is our great Affair and truest Excellency, the other are no further to be regarded than as they may assist us in this. She who does not draw this Inference from her Studies has Thought in vain, her notions are Erroneous and Mistaken” (858).

Again, she reminds me of Emerson in her desire not only to teach women to think on their own, but to act on their own thoughts!

“Nor will Knowledge lie dead upon their hands who have no Children to Instruct; the whole World is a single Lady’s Family, her opportunities of doing good are not lessen’d but encreas’d by her being unconfin’d” (860).
This lady is good.