Date post: | 14-Jan-2015 |
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Women and the Enlightenment
Perceptions of Women
• Feminism gained momentum in the Age of Enl.
• Why??1. Notions of rationalism & tolerance2. Print culture
Montesquieu
• Supported equality for women • sympathetic to obstacles they
faced (The Persian Letters)
• held traditional beliefs re: man’s dominance in marriage & family
Rousseau’s “Emile” (1762)
• Men and women occupy separate spheres
Worldly Sphere =
Men
Domestic Sphere = Women
Rousseau (cont.)
• Education of women: o subordinate to
men o pleasing to men
Rousseau (cont.)
• Woman’s purpose = bear & raise children
• Weaker/inferior to men EXCEPT in their capacity for feeling and giving love
• No political rights
On the Bright Side…
• Portrayed role of wife & mom as fulfilling & noble
• Gave women of nobility & bourgeoisie a sense of purpose
What I Think of Rousseau…
Tomb of JJ Rousseau, Panthéon, Paris
Diderot & The Encyclopedia
• Published men almost exclusively• Articles that dealt w/ women often
emphasized: o physical weakness o inferiority
• Usually attributed to oMenstruationoChildbirth
Diderot (cont.)
• Women reared to be frivolous & unconcerned w/ important issues
• Motherhood = most important occupation
• Double standard on sexual behavior
(Some) Notable Women of the Enlightenment
Mary Wollstonecraft
• Mother of the feminist movement
• Born in London, England
• interested in becoming educated at an early age
Wollstonecraft (cont.)
• Sought personal liberty & economic independence
• A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792) o 1st booko controversial b/c she stated that men
& women were created equal, but women rec’d less education
A Vindication of the Rights of Women
• Celebrates the rationality of women
• Attacks the view of female education put forward by Rousseau & others who regarded women as weak, artificial & not capable of reasoning
Vindication (cont.)
• Rejects the education in dependency that Rousseau advocated in Émile
• Woman must be intelligent in her own right, as she cannot assume that her husband will be intelligent!
Vindication (cont.)
• Maintained that this did not contradict the role of the woman as a mother or the role of the woman in the home
• Said that “…meek wives are, in general, foolish mothers.”
Wollstonecraft (cont.)
• Both men and women criticized her and her books
• In later writings, she sharply criticizes the conditions in which women (especially poor women) lived
Controversy
• Mother to illegitimate daughter (Fanny)
• William Godwin (husband)• Mother of Mary Shelley
(Frankenstein)
Salons
Salons
• Pleasure - not the objective of Enl. salons
• Many philosophes rejected the academy & university as their base
• Turned to Parisian salons to continue conversations & practices
Salons (cont.)
• Salonnières o listened attentively o filled in during silences
• One purpose of salons = satisfy self-determined educational needs of the women who started them
Salons (cont.)
• For salonnières, salons = socially acceptable substitute for the formal education denied them
Salon Bleu – Louis XV
Salon Jaune
Marie -Therese Geoffrin
• To many, hers = premier salon
Younger years:• Orphaned • At 14 married off to a wealthy man
• In her 20s, apprenticed w/ Madame de Tencin
Geoffrin (cont.)
• Two innovations Geoffrin contributed to the salon:1. Switched traditional late night
dinner to a 1:00 dinner (to allow for an entire afternoon of conversation)
2. Created a regular, weekly salon dinner schedule
• Monday = artists• Wednesday = men of letters • etc
Geoffrin (cont.)
• Mme. Geoffrin was so popular because she was a wonderful, attentive listener
• She knew how to make other people talk their best.
Geoffrin (cont.)
• very generous wealthy & willing to share
• helped young authors • didn’t open her salon on Sundays
to help poor
Madame Geoffrin’s Salon
Bust of Voltaire
Marquise de Pompadour
• Began visiting the court of Louis XV at Versailles
• Watched her perform in plays at her own theater (Etoilles Estate)
Pompadour (cont.)
• 1744: installed at court as Louis XV’s “official favorite” (title of Marquise)
• Had profound effect over court life
Pompadour’s Effects
• Organized suppers • Brought performances to the
theater• Brought back the sense of intimacy
and extravagance that the French court had lost
Pompadour’s Effects (cont.)
• Commissioned artists oVoltaire o François Boucher
• Encouraged the manufacture of porcelain
• Decorated Versailles in the Rococo manner
Pompadour (cont.)
• King’s mistress for 5 years• Oct. 12, 1752 - King made her a
duchess
Pompadour (cont.)
• Played a major role in influencing the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756 (the treaty that allied France with her former enemy Austria)
Pompadour (cont.)
• Held power & influence over the King oRemoved her enemies from office o Enabled her friends to come into gov’t
Pompadour (cont.)
• All of these proved to be disastrous to France
• Led to her unpopularity was hated & blamed for France’s misfortunes
The Pompadour
• Eventually, though, a really snazzy hair style would be named after her
so at least she had that going for her…