Reading Response: Maria or the Wrongs of Woman

In the end of Maria or the Wrongs of Woman, Maria is allowed to submit a statement of her behalf to the court. In this statement she attempts to justify her behavior by showing the unjust treatment she received by her husband. Maria also attempts to make a convincing social critique on the institute of marriage at the time. She feels that the laws and customs of marriage serve to enslave women. She as a woman had to overlook the faults and infidelities of her husband, and she tries to prove that he was indeed unfaithful to her. Maria finds that the witnesses refuse to come forward to corroborate he claims. In her statement she charges that marriage puts an undue burden on the weaker shoulders of women by placing them in a totally dependant position. She believes that there are certain extreme situations that should legally allow a woman to divorce her husband. She then goes into detail about her husband’s attempts to use her to borrow money from her wealthy uncle and how he eventuall...