This thesis examines the tradition of British authors appropriating abolitionist language for the sake of feminist arguments. It provides a brief historical context of the feminist and abolitionist movements in Britain in the long eighteenth century before establishing Mary Wollstonecraft as the founder of this tradition, as she uses the language of colonial slavery for feminist goals in A Vindication of the Rights of Men and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. This thesis locates the anonymous author of The Woman of Colour: A Tale and Jane Austen, in Emma, as Wollstonecraft’s successors in this tradition. Ultimately, this thesis argues that all three authors aim to promote both feminist ideas and abolitionist ones at once. Nonetheless, the abstraction of the language of slavery does not allow the texts to treat feminism and abolitionism with equal importance as it necessarily distances readers from the contemporary realities of the slave trade.
