The Great Lawsuit

Fuller writes in a style that reflects her highly-educated status and the discursive trends of her time. In addition to showing her intellectual brawn, Fuller adds force to her arguments by demonstrating that she has considered opposing points of view. She sometimes uses literary devices such as made-up dialogue to do so. She uses this dialogue to hint at her opponents’ frustration and waning composure and present herself as cool, calm, and collected. While women are often stereotyped as being too emotional to think clearly or act rationally under pressure, Fuller illustrates that she is just the opposite; it is, instead, her male interlocutor who is the one who struggles to manage his feelings.

Fuller also uses examples to support many of her points, which adds strength to her argument at some points but often raises additional questions. In many cases, Fuller seems to assume that her examples are representative and therefore illustrate a great truth about the relationship between men and women. For instance, when describing the four the types of marriage she has observed in western society, she says the husband and wife who collaborate in a marriage of intellectual companionship pursue common goals. She then provides several examples of intellectually-driven couples who did this. Though this handful of couples, composed mostly of artists and literary figures, may have focused on achieving the same goals, it doesn’t necessarily follow that other couples who enjoy one another’s intellect have such interwoven aims. Some people are simply more independent when it comes to deciding what to pursue and how.

Since “The Great Lawsuit” was originally written for The Dial, a transcendentalist journal, Fuller assumes that her audience believes in concepts such as divine love and transcendence to higher states of being, or that they are willing to consider that these things may be true. She also assumes that they are interested in achieving the type of enlightenment she describes. Fuller spends little time arguing that God exists, focusing instead on her concept of how divinity works and how people should behave as they await their destiny: achieving the perfection offered by divine love.

Though Fuller thinks men and women are quite alike in some respects—for instance, by possessing similar types of souls—she believes there are some natural, essential differences. These differences allow the sexes to complement one another and create harmony. And though they are not the same, they are of equal value. As Fuller puts it, “[m]ale and female heads are distinct in expression, but equal in beauty, strength, and calmness” (Paragraph 75). She insinuates that American society should be more accepting of diversity because there isn’t always a single “best” way to exist. Instead, there can be “unison in variety, congeniality in difference” (Paragraph 75). Plus, it’s wrong for anyone to insist that he or she knows what is best for another; people must decide what is best for themselves through an intensely-personal inward journey that is part of their path to spiritual enlightenment. Speaking or deciding for others denies them of opportunities to exercise self-reliance and tends to lead to selfish decisions.

Making paternalistic decisions for others also enables a certain kind of blindness to their actual needs and desires, according to Fuller. The theme of blindness emerges at several points during the essay, underscoring a point from the Introduction: that American society is asleep and therefore unable to see, understand, or accept divine love. Weaknesses of human nature such as selfishness and vanity make this blindness persist, especially when they become part of a society’s customs, attitudes, and institutions. Fuller sees how these negative qualities function to keep certain people enslaved physically, metaphorically, or both. People can also be blinded by the opinions of others if they do not know how to trust themselves and look inward for answers, Fuller says. She thinks this problem tends to plague women, who are taught to seek the perspectives of others—especially men—and defer to their wishes. Fuller thinks men are also blinded by qualities they have come to overvalue in women, such as beauty and delicate presentation. She cites the enthusiastic attention given to female actresses as an example, noting that such a platform is seldom given to female authors and others who rely much less on their physical features.

“The Great Lawsuit” is often viewed as an early feminist work because it espouses then-uncommon ideas such as voting rights for women. Fuller’s thoughts on social activism and women’s contributions to public discourse provide fuel for these early notions of women’s rights. When discussing how some women such as abolitionist Angelina Grimke have a gift for public speaking, she identifies a route to political power and public influence for women. She also emphasizes the importance of having women’s voices in public discussions of important matters, especially matters that shape their ability to make decisions about their own lives and futures. For this reason, Fuller sees social and political activism as an essential activity for women of her time. If they are to gain the respect and independence they need to be free and pursue divine perfection on their own terms, they need to be seen and heard by the men who hold the power. Likewise, Fuller feels they will gain power and solidarity from the abolitionist movement because both women and slaves can rally around the idea that all people are equal in the eyes of God, which happens to be a tenet of transcendentalist thought.