Aurora Leigh is a girl who grew up in Italy, but when her mother and father passed away she was forced to continue her life with her aunt. From here follows another cinderella story, in my opinion, she is forced to live by the aunt’s rules and was only allowed to know what she would teach. Aurora is educated by her aunt and it’s not exactly the most formal education.
Rather than teaching Aurora Leigh what society now views as the basics, she would only learn general themes and ideas over regular school subjects. However, the main focus of her ‘studies’ is how to be a good english wife. Now we are beginning to see the theme that has been present throughout many works we as a class have gone over. Women are supposed to be good wives and that’s the only purpose they have. For example, in “A Vindications of the Rights of a Woman”, Mary Wollstonecraft began to expand on this subject of women only knowing how to cook, clean and nurture. Wollstonecraft claims that we must be more educated than this but again claims women must do this in order to impress a man. However this novel in the form of a poem sheds light on the true power of a woman.
Aurora Leigh actually shows a lot of self respect in book two. When she receives a marriage proposal from Romney Leigh she rejects him. The reason being he tries to tell her that women aren’t as artistic as men and that she would not amount to anything. Aurora Leigh however, moves on to become a successful poet and can support herself.
Actions speak louder than words, Aurora Leigh said that she can be whatever she wants to be and she definitely proved that.
English 2323-020 
Minerva, I like how you connected Aurora Leigh’s life with her aunt as a Cinderella story. Just like Cinderella, Aurora Leigh is forced to obey her guardian’s rules although she despises the treatment. I also like the connection between “Aurora Leigh” and “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” by Mary Wollstonecraft. They both talk about the expectations and stereotypes woman were unfairly given and expected to fulfill. Aurora Leigh did not like these stereotypes and it shows when she rejects a proposal from Romney Leigh. Aurora Leigh broke the norm of society and I find it admirable she had the courage and guts to do so when it must have been unheard of.
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I agree with your ideas about what Aurora Leigh and Mary Wollstonecraft were trying to say in their works. A lot of the works we’ve gone over in class have had similar themes but these two really seem to focus on the education of women. At first glance they are similar in their ideas but when you look more closely at them you see that Wollstonecraft’s thinking was more like Aurora’s aunt’s way of thinking. I also like how you pointed out that Aurora Leigh was successful without a man being in the picture. She proved her aunt wrong by taking care of herself and not being the “perfect English wife”. I think it is good that these women had ideas about changing their roles in society and leading the way for today’s women to be strong and educated without the focus being that they please society or a man and do things for their own selves.
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