William Blake (1757-1827)
Tales of Life
1791
Engraving
4.75″ x 2.5″ (12.07 x 6.35 cm)
Wetmore Print Collection, Connecticut College
FW-0045

Blake’s engraving of a scene from Mary Wollstonecraft’s Original Stories misrepresents her intended message. Her book chronicles a caregiver’s attempts to show two young girls a life of higher importance through activities such as reading and charity. The scene portrayed here was intended by Wollstonecraft to illuminate these girls’ work to aid a man whose life was crippled by debt. Blake’s portrayal of the girls as passive onlookers in this image of the man’s crumbling house directly conflicts with what Wollstonecraft attempted to convey through her writing.