While reading Mary Robinson’s A Letter to the Women of England, I had a sense of déjà vu like I had read something similar. Halfway through her letter it dawned on me that her letter sounded like Antony’s speech from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Robinson reiterates the question are women oppressed because they are the weaker sex (218)? Robinson discusses different physical tasks she has seen women perform and ends the paragraph questioning why women are the weaker sex, if they can accomplish all these difficult tasks. In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Antony reiterates the idea that “Brutus is an honorable man” (Shakespeare). The examples within the speech, however, describe Brutus as honorable for taking part in the execution of Caesar. The juxtaposition of calling Brutus dishonorable and linking him with a dishonorable deed works in the same way for Robinson because she describes women performing physical tasks and questions whether they can accomplish them.
Robinson’s strategy works well because she describes how men view women, then gives examples of the hard labor that most women do for their husbands. Antony’s speech allowed him to become one of the next leaders of Rome, but Robinson’s letter did not have the same societal impact. Robinson proves her own point about women’s education creating better opportunities for women because it’s her familiarity with Shakespeare that helps her establish a successful argumentative strategy.
Shakespeare, William. “Speech: ‘Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend Me…” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, Jan. 2003, http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56968/speech-friends-romans-countrymen-lend-me-your-ears.
Romantic--with a Capitol 'R'--Poetry 