In Chapter 1, Wollstonecraft dives into her critique of what her society claims to value, and uses personification to enhance the reader’s engagement with her ideas. She attacks the emphasis that society places on rank and wealth, and explains that despite purportedly valuing reason and virtue, men too frequently take power only to misuse it and elevate themselves. Her use of personification near the beginning of the chapter helps her characterize the relationship between genius and wealth. She says:
For whilst rank and titles are held of the utmost importance, before which Genius ‘must hide its diminished head’, it is, with a few exceptions, very unfortunate for a nation when a man of abilities, without rank or property, pushes himself forward to notice.
In this section, Wollstonecraft personifies the attribute of genius in order to explain that it is often undervalued in favor of other attributes like social rank. She says that genius must hang its head, giving it the human attribute of a head, and using a common gesture that indicates shame or unhappiness. Her use of personification is also a reference to a line from Paradise Lost, one of the texts that she criticizes elsewhere in her piece. The original line calls to a figure whose presence makes the stars themselves hang their "diminished heads," indicating that this godly figure has precedence over all the heavens. Because Wollstonecraft criticizes Paradise Lost for its failure to properly represent complex female characters, she alludes to it here as a way to emphasize Milton’s overestimation of men. Wollstonecraft’s clever recycling of this line characterizes the relationship between genius and title by giving genius the attributes of a human capable of shame.
In Chapter 6, Wollstonecraft tackles the relationships between men and women, and focuses specifically on their communication. She uses personification to express the complexity of the relationships between men and women, and criticizes the way that women are conditioned to interact with men and form relationships with them. This section of her argument fits within her desire to prove that women are improperly taught, and are therefore unable to function reasonably during interactions with men. Her use of personification allows her to illustrate this. She says:
Men look for beauty and the simper of good humoured docility: women are captivated by easy manners: a gentleman-like man seldom fails to please them, and their thirsty ears eagerly drink the insinuating nothings of politeness, whilst they turn from the unintelligible sounds of the charmer—reason, charm he never so wisely.
In this section, Wollstonecraft personifies women’s ears, giving them thirst and the ability and desire to drink. She uses personification to express the way that women are conditioned to be persuaded when men are polite and have good manners. Her personification implies that they are appeased like someone who has been longing for water and is given a long drink. Wollstonecraft’s description in this section allows her to emphasize the way that women are unable to resist the bare minimum of decency and polite behavior. Her personification of their ears invokes the sense of longing that they must feel, and the satisfaction that they get from being given even the smallest amount of decency.
