Following Himly, Wollstonecraft returned to London on April 1795, but he refused. 1795 In May, she attempted suicide (probably with tincture of opium), but Himly saved her life in time (but this is still unclear today). In his last attempt to win Himly back, Wollstonecraft even went to Scandinavia to negotiate business for him, trying to make up for some of his losses. In this adventure, Wollstonecraft only brought her little daughter and a maid. In a letter to Himly, she described her travel and thoughts in detail. Most of these letters were later compiled into a book, and Short Stay Letters were published in Sweden, Norway and Denmark (1796). When Wollstonecraft returned to England, she finally realized that her relationship with Himmli was completely over. So she tried to commit suicide again, leaving him only this passage:
Let my sins sleep with me! Soon, soon, I will rest in peace forever. When you see this, my burning head will be cold ... I will throw myself into the Thames so that people can't save me from self-destruction. God bless you! You will never feel the harm you have done to me. Let your sensibility be awakened forever, and let your regret reach your heart; And let you be troubled by the pleasure brought by business and lewdness, let me appear in front of you and become a victim of your deviation from integrity.
James Northcote: william godwin, oil painting on canvas, 1802, now in the British National Portrait Gallery. She went out on a rainy night. After "letting her clothes get wet by the rain and wandering back and forth for about half an hour", she jumped into the Thames, but was found and rescued by a stranger. Wollstonecraft once carefully considered her suicide in her mind. After being rescued, she wrote: "When the shadow of death passed, when I was inhumanely dragged back to human suffering, I had no choice but to be sad. But firm determination will never be hindered by disappointment; And this calm behavior that I rationally choose will never develop into a crazy attempt. In this respect, I am only responsible for myself. I don't care about fame, I will be humiliated under other circumstances. "
Gradually, Wollstonecraft returned to her writing life, entered the small circle of Joseph Johnson, and met Mary Hayes, Elizabeth Inchbald and Sarah Siddons. William Godwin and Wollstonecraft's love is like a long-distance race, but it ends in happiness. After reading her letters in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, godwin wrote this passage: "If there is a book that can make a man fall in love with its author, it is my book. She told us about her sadness, which filled us with melancholy and moved us deeply. At the same time, she also showed that she can make us sincerely admire her talent. " When Wollstonecraft was pregnant again, they decided to get married to give their children a legal birthright. Their union exposed the fact that Wollstonecraft never married him, and made her lose many friends with godwin. Godwin also suffered a lot of criticism because he advocated the abolition of the marriage system in his philosophical anthology "Political Justice". 1797 On March 29th, they formally got married, and then moved to two adjoining houses in Polligan, Southampton, to maintain their independent lives. They usually communicate by letter. Although this kind of life will end tragically in the near future, it is undeniable that their life during this period is happy and their relationship is stable.
Gilbert Imlay
In August, 1792, 10, the citizens of Paris captured the Elysee Palace, and the French Revolution further unfolded. 1792, 1792 In February, Wollstonecraft left London and arrived in Paris about a month before Louis XVI was executed. The whole of France was in chaos at that time. She met many British people living in Paris like Helen Williams and joined their small circle. Shortly after finishing the book Women's Rights, Wollstonecraft decided to put her ideas into practice. In the rational atmosphere created by the French Revolution, Wollstonecraft had an experimental love affair: she met an American adventurer Gilbert Imlay in France and fell in love with him. Although Himly doesn't want to marry her-regardless of her wishes, on the surface, Wollstonecraft has completely fallen in love with the perfect man in her mind. Moreover, although Wollstonecraft tried her best to resist sexual relations between men and women in the book Women's Rights, Himmli obviously aroused her passion and interest in sex. Soon after, Wollstonecraft became pregnant, and in May 1794, Hiuke's first daughter Fanny: was named after her closest friend. Wollstonecraft is happy with her first daughter. In a letter to a friend, she wrote: "My little daughter smokes so much that her father even expects her to finish the second part of women's rights" (the bold part is emphasized by Wollstonecraft herself). Despite shouldering the responsibility of raising her daughter alone abroad, and in the increasingly chaotic situation of the French Revolution, Wollstonecraft wrote letters to friends very frequently. When she lived in le havre, northern France, she wrote a history book describing the early Great Revolution: the origin and process of the French Revolution from a historical and moral perspective, which was published in London in February. 1794.
With the deterioration of the political situation, Britain quickly declared war on France, which put British citizens living in France in extreme danger. In order to protect Wollstonecraft, although they were not married, he registered her as his wife at 1793. However, some of Wollstonecraft's friends are not so lucky; Many British people like Thomas Paine were arrested by the authorities, and some of them were even executed (at that time, Wollstonecraft's sisters thought she had been detained by the authorities). Besides, after Wollstonecraft left France, in order to give her daughter legitimacy, she still called herself Mrs. Himmli on various occasions-even in front of her sister.
Out of some dissatisfaction with Wollstonecraft, Himmli finally left her. He promised Wollstonecraft that he would return to le havre after the child was born; However, when Himly didn't come back for a long time and didn't even answer a letter, she finally realized that he had another woman. In a letter to him, Wollstonecraft begged him: as most critics described, she explained to him in extremely sad language (and the plight of raising babies alone during the Great Revolution).
Death and Memoirs of godwin
Godwin: Biography of Women's Rights Defender (1798)1797 On August 30th, Wollstonecraft gave birth to her second daughter, Mary. Although the initial delivery process seemed smooth, the placenta tissue left after delivery caused infection: this was a common thing in the18th century. After enduring great pain for several days, Wollstonecraft died of sept. 10 due to sepsis. Godwin was devastated by this sudden disaster. In a letter to his friend Thomas Holcroft, he wrote: "I firmly believe that there is no equality for her in this world. I feel this from our experience of changing ourselves to make each other happy. I have now given up all hope for happiness. " She was buried in the cemetery of the old church of St. Pancras, where a monument was erected for her; After godwin's death, their bodies were buried together in Bournemouth. Her tombstone reads: "mary wollstonecraft godwin, author of Defending Women's Rights: born on1April 27, 759; Died on September 7, 1797. "
1798 1, godwin published his biography of women's rights defenders. Although godwin's novels show the true side of Wollstonecraft with love and sympathy, many readers are still shocked by what he reveals: her illegitimate daughter, her love and her attempted suicide. The romantic poet Southey accused godwin of "enjoying the pleasure of stripping off his dead wife's clothes"; In addition, there are malicious and satirical works, such as Uncastrated Women. In godwin's memoirs, Wollstonecraft is described as a deeply emotional person who needs to be balanced by his reason. Besides, compared with her personal works, godwin exaggerated her religious skepticism. Godwin's description of Wollstonecraft influenced the whole nineteenth century's view of her, which was also reflected in some poems at that time, such as Wollstonecraft and Fuselli, a poem by British poet robert browning:
Your life is very difficult.
From daughters, sisters, mothers, friends to wives;
Rough fate will accompany you to death,
Let godwin, a heartless man, mourn you again.