In 1793, William Godwin published his Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, a well-received work which gained him high praises from "people of literary and intellectual distinction" (Allen 57). This piece differs from the other texts treated here, as it is more philosophical and theoretical than the novels and stories of the other authors.

Chapter VI of Political Justice, "Of the Objection to this System from the Inflexibility of its Restrictions," addresses marriage as an issue of property. Godwin asserts, "marriage is an affair of property, and the worst of all properties" (Godwin 850). Of the four authors examined within this section, Godwin opposes matrimony the most passionately. He acknowledges that the institution is unjust to women, hence discussing it in terms of property, but also thinks marriage is damaging to all people. Godwin, something of an anarchist, believed that, "as a genuine state of society is incomparable with all laws and restrictions, so it cannot have even this restriction, that no man shall amass property" (856). His problem with marriage includes but also transcends issues of gender equality.

Part of the problem for Godwin comes from cohabitation. Godwin believed that "all attachments to individuals, except in proportion to their merits, are plainly unjust. It is therefore desirable, that we should be the friends of man rather than of particular men, and that we should pursue the chain of our own reflexions, with no other interruption than information or philanthropy requires" (848). He applies this idea to relationships between men and women as well. Cohabitation with anyone "checks the independent progress of mind; it is also inconsistent with the imperfections and propensities of man." This idea is similar to those of Rousseau, although the two thinkers have grossly different opinions about the role of women.

Godwin also doubted the ability of mankind to stay devoted to one person for an entire lifetime. Instead, he assumed that "it will be impossible for me to live in the world without finding one man of a worth superior to that of any other whom I have an opportunity of observing. To this man I shall feel a kindness in exact proportion to my apprehension of his worth" (851). He goes on to say that the same will be true of women but that this problem is easily overcome for "we may all enjoy her conversation; and we shall all be wise enough to consider the sensual intercourse as a very trivial object" (851).

Like Murray and Wollstonecraft, Godwin felt all relationships should be based on companionship and friendship. He preferred humans "universally to prefer the pleasures of intellect to the pleasures of sense" (851). He considers these relationships, which would not necessarily result in marriage, as stronger and more lasting ties than institutional marriages. For Murray and Wollstonecraft, marriages based on companionship mean that women would require better educations so they can converse with their husbands on a more equal level and be better at educating their children.

That being said, Godwin and Wollstonecraft, both opposed to the institution of marriage, did eventually marry each another for the protection of their daughter, the future Mary Shelley. Mary Hays introduced Godwin and Wollstonecraft early in the 1790s, and then the two become lovers in 1796. Although the two married, they based their marriage on the principles they had advocated for many years. Even after the two were married they maintained separate apartments, reflecting Godwin's ideas about cohabitation. Wollstonecraft died after giving birth to Mary, and Godwin later married Mary Jane Clairmont in 1801, three years after Wollstonecraft's death.

Relevant Bibliography Entries

• St. Clair, William. The Godwins and the Shelleys: The Biography of a Family. New York: Norton, 1989.
• Clemit, Pamela. The Godwinian Novel: The Rational Fictions of Godwin, Brockden Brown, Mary Shelley. Oxford: Clarendon, 1993.
• Philp, Mark. Godwin's Political Justice. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1986.
• Fisher, Carl. "The Crowd and the Public in Godwin's Caleb Williams." In Women, Revolution, and the Novels of the 1790s. Ed. Linda Lang-Peralta. East Lansing: Michigan State UP, 1999. 47-67.
• Benedict, Barbara M. "Radcliffe, Godwin, and Self-Possession in the 1790s." In Women, Revolution, and the Novels of the 1790s. Ed. Linda Lang-Peralta. East Lansing: Michigan State UP, 1999. 89-110.

• 1756 William Godwin is born on March 3 in Wisbech, North Cambridgeshire, the seventh of thirteen children.
• 1773 Godwin enrolls at Hoxton Academy, one of the most prominent and best Dissenting academies in the country.
• 1784 Godwin publishes two novels, Damon and Delia and Italian Letters. He becomes regular contributer to the English Review and The New Annual Register.
• 1785 Godwin writes for the new Whig journal, the Political Herald and Review.
• 1791 Godwin meets Mary Wollstonecraft. He signs contract with George Robinson to write a lengthy work of political philosophy, which eventually becomes Political Justice.
• 1793 Godwin publishes An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice on February 14. He begins writing Caleb Williams and publishes "Letters of Mucius" in the Morning Chronicle.
• 1794 Godwin publishes Things As They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams. His Cursory Strictures contributes to the acquittal of radicals on trial for speech crimes.
• 1796 Godwin meets Mary Wollstonecraft again; they become friends, then lovers in August.
• 1798 Godwin publishes The Enquirer, Reflections on Education, Manners and Literature. Wollstonecraft becomes pregnant and the two marry on March 29. A daughter, Mary, is born on August 30, but Wollstonecraft dies of post-delivery complications on September 10.
• 1798 Godwin publishes his Memoirs of Mary Wollstonecraft and her Posthumous Works.
• 1799 Godwin publishes St. Leon: A Tale of the Sixteenth Century.
• 1801 Godwin eets and marries Mary Jane Clairmont, who brings her daughter Jane and son Charles into Godwin's home.
• 1803 Godwin publishes his Life of Chaucer. William Godwin, Jr. is born.
• 1805 Godwin publishes Fleetwood: or, The New Man of Feeling. He and his wife establish the Juvenile Library for children's literature.
• 1815 Godwin publishes The Lives of Edward and John Philips.
• 1817 Godwin publishes Mandeville, A Tale of the Seventeenth Century in England.
• 1818 Mary Shelley publishes Frankenstein and dedicates it to Godwin.
• 1820 Godwin publishes Of Population in response to Thomas Malthus's Essay on the Principle of Population.
• 1824-1828 Godwin begins publishing his History of the Commonwealth of England.
• 1830 Godwin publishes Cloudesley: A Novel.
• 1831 Godwin publishes Thoughts on Man.
• 1832 William Godwin, Jr. dies of cholera.
• 1834 Godwin publishes Lives of the Necromancers and William Godwin, Jr.'s novel Transfusion with a memoir of his son.
• 1836 Godwin dies in London on April 7.