More about this poem
Burns wrote 'The Rights of Women' for Miss Louisa Fontenelle, a London actress who is known to have performed in both Edinburgh and Dumfries.
Burns was apparently very taken with Miss Fontenelle and so in November 1792 he penned a letter offering her this verse, to be performed at a benefit night.
In this poem Burns communicates the idea that the ruling class would benefit from turning their attention to the female sex to generate humanity, as opposed to crippling civilisation with war.
And so, Burns's message here is similar to that of the bawdy song 'When Princes and Prelates', written at about the same time. The exclamatory conclusion of the poem, 'Ah! ca ira!', is taken from a French revolutionary song and reportedly contributed to the controversy surrounding the poet's politics, by implying Burns's support of the French revolution.
'The Rights of Women' also refers to the role of the female in eighteenth-century society. The poet states that 'The Rights of Woman merit some attention'.
The rights of which Burns speaks are 'protection', 'decorum' (or good manners) and 'admiration'. Society must protect and respect the delicacy of the female sex, and so Burns can be seen to assume a stance typical of his time.
The eighteenth-century notion of sentiment propagated by enlightenment thinkers such as Adam Smith did place women in what was considered to be a crucial role within society.
However, woman's contribution was measured in terms of the positive, more passive, sympathetic effect that they supposedly had upon their husbands.
This highly emotional influence, the very source of which was considered to be the 'fairer' sex, was believed to encourage sympathy in men, and therefore enrich the structure of society as a whole.
Pauline Gray
