Abstract
This essay considers Mary Astell's treatment of domestic hierarchy in Some Reflections Upon Marriage (1700), in order to determine if, and to what extent, Astell's ideas concerning obedience in the home can be understood somehow as an effort to promote women's advancement. Although Astell's concern for her gender's low status inspired her sympathy for their limited options after marriage, her High Anglican belief demanded that the marriage bond was too sacred to be reformed and her faithfully Tory political stance required that she support A rightful Patriarch's claims to unchallenged authority. Although discussing Astell's apparent contradictions has become an important part of contemporary analysis of her work, this essay looks at how Astell unites her women's advocacy, Anglicanism, and Toryism through the development of her idea of women's advancement through martyrdom. In Astell's attempt to merge her own seemingly conflicting personal, political and religious views, she develops a way by which women, through submission, can demonstrate their inherent moral superiority.
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