Defoe's
heroines. Darnford then tells his, and the reader at once recognizes in
him another Imlay. Finally, by a lucky accident the two prisoners make
their escape, and Jemima accompanies them. The latter part of the story
consists of sketches and the barest outlines; but these indicate the
succession of its events and its conclusion. Maria and Darnford live
together as husband and wife in London. The former believes that she is
right in so doing, and cares nothing for the condemnation of society. She
endures neglect and contumely because she is supported by confidence in
the rectitude of her conduct. Her husband now has her lover tried for
adultery and seduction, and in his absence Maria undertakes his defence.
Her separation from her husband is the consequence, but her fortune is
thrown into chancery. She refuses to leave Darnford, but he, after a few
years, during which she has borne him two children, proves unfaithful. In
her despair, she attempts to commit suicide, but fails. When
consciousness and reason return, she resolves to live for her child.

"Maria" is a story with a purpose. Its aim is the reformation of the
evils which result from the established relations of the sexes. Certain
rights are to be vindicated by a full exposition of the wrongs which
their absence causes. Mary wished, as her Preface sets forth, to exhibit
the misery and oppression peculiar to women, that arise out of the
partial laws and customs of society. "Maria," in fact, was to be a
forcible proof of the necessity of those social changes which she had
urged in the "Vindication of the Rights of Women." In the career of the
heroine the wrongs women suffer from matrimonial despotism and cruelty
are demonstrated; while that of Jemima shows how impossible it is for
poor or degraded women to find employment. The principal interest in the
book arises from the fact that in it Mary explains more definitely than
she had in any previous work, her views about the laws and restrictions
of matrimony. Otherwise the principles laid down in it do not differ from
those which she had already stated in print. Her justification of Maria's
conduct is in reality a declaration of her belief that cruelty,
depravity, and infidelity in a man are sufficient reasons for his wife to
separate herself from him, this separation requiring no legal permit; and
that a pure honest love sanctifies the union of two people which may not
have been confirmed by a civil or religious