Family and Nation

Charlotte Smith and Mary Wollstonecraft are similar in their depictions of the relationship between family and nation during the late eighteenth century. Wollenstonecraft describes the association of church and state when she writes in Vindication of the Rights of Woman, “A man has been termed a microcosm; and every family might also be called a state” (177). The idea that family is the foundation of understanding social cohesion and patriotism is present in Smith’s Desmond. Geraldine voices her feelings on the importance of family when she says, “Where families are divided among themselves—I mean, where the father or mother disagree with the children, or the brothers and sisters with each other, there is something very wrong among them all” (191). Desmond recognizes the important familial role of Geraldine when he exclaims, “Geraldine will bear my name—will be the directress of my family!” (314). Desmond’s desire for a mutual relationship versus one where he runs the show is suggestive of Smith’s position that women and men should be politically equal. I found the suggested connection between family and state interesting because a healthy family life has been attributed to many personal benefits but those reaped by the greater good are not as frequently mentioned. The positive sentiments of love and togetherness created by family life can have an impact on a national level. If family establishes a set of common ideals that everyone can relate to then social cohesion will be enhanced. Wollenstonecraft and Smith both put family first and related the characteristics of that institution to a larger scale.