Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark · Chapter
Letter III explained
Wollstonecraft continues her observations on Swedish society, focusing on the economic and social conditions of the poor, the treatment of servants, and the effects of war on neutral nations.
What happens
Wollstonecraft continues her observations on Swedish society, focusing on the economic and social conditions of the poor, the treatment of servants, and the effects of war on neutral nations. She critiques the oppressive gender roles and class distinctions, reflects on the value of literature and travel, and contrasts natural beauty with artificial improvements in landscape design.
Themes in this chapter
Social Critique and Class
Wollstonecraft criticizes the treatment of servants, the oppression of women, and the class distinctions that perpetuate inequality and servility.
Gender and Women's Condition
Highlights the harsh labor conditions of female servants and the broader oppression of women in Swedish society.
Commerce and Morality
Discusses the moral and economic consequences of war, sudden wealth, and sumptuary laws on the poor and the nation.
Characters to notice
- Mary Wollstonecraft
The narrator and observer, reflecting on Swedish society, economics, and the treatment of servants.
Key passages
“Such are the effects of war, that it saps the vitals even of the neutral countries, who, obtaining a sudden influx of wealth, appear to be rendered flourishing by the destruction which ravages the hapless nations who are sacrificed to the ambition of their governors.”
War drains the life out of neutral countries too, which seem to prosper from sudden wealth while other nations are destroyed by their rulers' ambition.
Wollstonecraft critiques the economic and moral impact of war on neutral nations.
“The prohibition of drinking coffee under a penalty, and the encouragement given to public distilleries, tend to impoverish the poor, who are not affected by the sumptuary laws; for the regent has lately laid very severe restraints on the articles of dress, which the middling class of people found grievous, because it obliged them to throw aside finery that might have lasted them for their lives.”
Banning coffee and promoting distilleries hurts the poor, while dress restrictions burden the middle class by forcing them to discard long-lasting clothing.
Wollstonecraft observes how sumptuary laws disproportionately affect different social classes.
“The men stand up for the dignity of man by oppressing the women. The most menial, and even laborious offices, are therefore left to these poor drudges.”
Men assert their superiority by burdening women with the hardest and most degrading work.
Critique of gender oppression in Swedish servant culture.
“I do not know a more agreeable sight than to see servants part of a family. By taking an interest, generally speaking, in their concerns you inspire them with one for yours.”
Nothing pleases me more than when servants are treated as family; caring for their well-being makes them care for yours.
Wollstonecraft advocates for humane treatment of servants.
“The very dabbling in literature furnishes harmless topics of conversation; for the not having such subjects at hand, though they are often insupportably fatiguing, renders the inhabitants of little towns prying and censorious.”
Even a little engagement with literature provides innocent conversation, whereas without it, small-town people become nosy and judgmental.
Reflection on the social value of literary pursuits.