Margaret fuller an outline biography summary

Margaret Fuller — , one of the most important American feminists of her day, was a philosopher, journalist, and literary critic. Fuller is remembered not only for her writings, but also for her life: a series of undertakings to live up to her own ideal of transcending the then customary gender differentiations. This article will present a summary of her philosophy and also take note of the various ways in which she sought or did not seek to implement her philosophical ideals.

Cambridgeport is now part of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Margaret Fuller House where she was born is still standing. Timothy Fuller was elected a Congressman from Massachusetts in and served until He lavished upon his eldest daughter a rigorous classical education usually reserved for boys.

Margaret fuller family

Her childhood curriculum included Latin prose, poetry, and composition, supplemented by Greek writings that included the New Testament as well as the classical philosophers, along with natural philosophy natural science and the wide-ranging discipline then called moral philosophy, which subsumed what we call the social sciences. Samuel Johnson to her reading list.

Formal schooling only began for Margaret in ; starting in she boarded at the School for Young Ladies in Groton for two years, then returned home. There she resumed her study of the classics.

Where was margaret fuller born

She found the Greeks more congenial than the Romans, identifying the Greeks with idealism, imagination, and freedom, the Romans with practicality, logic, and stern composure. Her readings were supplemented now by the Romantic literature taking shape in Europe, which she found fascinating. By the time she was in her thirties, she could be regarded as the best-read person, male or female, in New England Douglas She ended up espousing an avowedly dual philosophy that sought to embrace both classical and Romantic outlooks.

She taught that the Platonic tradition celebrated masculine qualities while Romanticism celebrated feminine ones. Humanity as whole needed both—and each individual person should cultivate both their masculinity and their femininity. Margaret felt understandably bitter, and though only in her twenties was forced to assume responsibility for supporting her mother and young siblings.