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A perfect example of the dominate feelings on religion in Europe
is found in one of Anne K. Mellor's novels as well as in the messages
of the political writings of William Godwin, Mary's father.
| When the Godwins met Percy Shelley,
they met a man whose life had been changed by reading William's
book Political Justice. Shelley read it in 1810 and
Mellor claims that he subsequently gained the motivation to
be a challenging force to institutionalized religion. For
example, only months after reading the book he and friend
had published a pamphlet detailing The Necessity of Atheism
and were expelled from Oxford for it. Within a year of issuing
the pamphlet, his family had rejected him based on his "blasphemous"
opinions. He traveled to Ireland where he attempted to "undermine
the control of the Roman Catholic Church through the dissemination
of copies of his pamphlet." (18)
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The
Necessity of Atheism
"A
prose pamphlet by P. B. Shelley and his friend T. J. Hogg,
published anonymously at Oxford, 1811. Using the skeptical
arguments of Hume and Locke, the authors--then both undergraduates--smartly
demolish the grounds for a rational belief in the Deity. The
pamphlet ends with a flourishing 'Q.E.D.', as in a schoolboy's
exercise, which caused great offence, as did its title. They
were both expelled from the University for circulating the
work to heads of colleges and to bishops, and 'contumacy'
in refusing to answer questions about it. It is probably the
first published statement of atheism in Britain."
From
The Oxford Companion to English Literature, 1995.
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This gives a reader some sense that the ideal and conventions of
the Roman Catholic Church were what were dominant in the early 19th
century. One can also look in part to the reaction of some of society
to Mary Wollstonecraft's lifestyle and
writings to understand what were
the dominant ideas in early 19th century Europe in regards to sexual
freedom, gender roles, and education.
First though, it's important to process the fact that William restricted
the literature his daughter was exposed to, and that this went against
Wollstonecraft's principles and ideas regarding education and females.
One example is Anthony Collin's work on rationalism, which William
sent to Charles Clairmont, his son, yet forbade Charles to ever
let Mary read (Mellor, 12).
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