Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark · Chapter
Letter XIX explained
Wollstonecraft reflects on a public execution she witnesses in Copenhagen, criticizing capital punishment and the crowd's morbid curiosity.
What happens
Wollstonecraft reflects on a public execution she witnesses in Copenhagen, criticizing capital punishment and the crowd's morbid curiosity. She condemns the ignorance and superstition of the populace, including a woman who drinks the criminal's blood as a remedy. She links societal ills to the adoration of property and contrasts Danish servitude with Norwegian liberty. She also discusses gender relations, noting the oppressive state of women and the domestic tyranny of men, and concludes by comparing the virtues of different nations, arguing that true virtue correlates with scientific progress.
Themes in this chapter
Social Critique and Class
Wollstonecraft criticizes the adoration of property as the root of all evil, commercial frauds, and the moral decay of society, contrasting Danish servitude with Norwegian liberty.
Gender and Women's Condition
She discusses the oppressed state of women, domestic tyranny of men, and the limited period of freedom for women during courtship in Denmark.
Reason vs. Sentiment
She condemns superstition (e.g., drinking blood as a cure) and argues for rational education to root out empiricism, linking virtue to scientific improvements.
Characters to notice
- Mary Wollstonecraft
Narrator and observer; reflects on execution, society, and gender oppression.
- Count Bernstorff
Mentioned as the superintending wisdom behind Danish governance.
- Matilda
Referenced as 'poor Matilda' who offended rigid Lutherans by trying to refine pleasures.
- Gilbert Imlay
Implied as the recipient of the letter ('you').
Key passages
“an adoration of property is the root of all evil.”
The excessive worship of property is the fundamental cause of societal problems.
Wollstonecraft identifies property worship as the source of moral corruption.
“most of the struggles of an eventful life have been occasioned by the oppressed state of my sex?”
The majority of my life's difficulties have stemmed from the oppression of women.
She connects her personal struggles to the broader condition of women.
“I am more and more convinced that the same energy of character which renders a man a daring villain would have rendered him useful to society, had that society been well organised.”
The same drive that makes a criminal could have made him a productive member of society if society were better structured.
She argues that social organization, not innate character, determines whether energy becomes destructive or beneficial.
“Executions, far from being useful examples to the survivors, have, I am persuaded, a quite contrary effect, by hardening the heart they ought to terrify.”
Executions do not deter crime; instead, they harden people's hearts rather than inspiring fear.
She critiques capital punishment as counterproductive.