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The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York

Virtue: A Life of Mary Wollstonecraft

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p>This thesis is a screenplay for an imagined "biopic" of Mary Wollstonecraft. Wollstonecraft has already been the subject of many biographies, each presenting their authors' own understanding of her life. Here, I present my view, guided -- to varying and sometimes conflicting degrees -- by my understanding of her own fictionalized autobiographical efforts; by my understanding of Godwin's attempted work in his Memoir of the Author of the Vindication of the Rights of Woman; by the idea that her beliefs about virtue and freedom drove her forward through her own life; by the needs of narrative structure and the challenges and opportunities of the film form; by her works, her letters, and Godwin's Memoir; and by my own admitted desire to portray her life as bold, adventurous, and ultimately a triumph rather than a tragedy. This last consideration was the foremost in my selection of the format of an imagined film as the medium of this biography.</p>

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Arts
Level thesis:degree_level
Master
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Liberal Studies
Grantor
The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York
Year dc:date.available
2015

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • McGivney, Jessica
Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
  • Rachel Brownstein

Subjects

dc:subject × 9

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/593
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:academicworks.cuny.edu:gc_etds-1592

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
City University of New York - Graduate Center
Base URL
academicworks.cuny.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

McGivney, Jessica. Virtue: A Life of Mary Wollstonecraft. Master thesis, The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York, 2015. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/593