Marie olympe gouges biography template

At 16, she was married against her will to Louis-Yves Aubry, who died two years later. Rejecting the institution of marriage, she gave herself the name Olympe de Gouge and moved to Paris with her young son, Pierre. Soon, de Gouges established herself as a fixture in Parisian society; she held salons and began writing poetry, novellas, pamphlets and plays.

A passionate advocate of human rights, de Gouges welcomed the outbreak of the Revolution, but soon became disillusioned when equal rights were not extended to women. Rumour would have it that she was the illegitimate child of the poet, the Marquis Le Franc de Pompignanor even that she could be an illegitimate child of King Louis XV. InMarie Gouze married Louis Aubry, a master of fine dining to the Intendant provincial administratorwith whom she had a child 2 years later.

Her husband died shortly afterwards and she moved with her child to Paris, not wishing to fulfil her role as a middle-class provincial. She drew a parallel between colonial slavery and political oppression in France. One of the slave protagonists explains that the French must gain their own freedom, before they can deal with slavery. De Gouges also openly attacked the notion that human rights were a reality in revolutionary France.

The slave protagonist comments on the situation in France "The power of one Master alone is in the hands of a thousand Tyrants who trample the People under foot. The People will one day burst their chains and will claim all its rights under Natural law. It will teach the Tyrants just what a people united by long oppression and enlightened by sound philosophy can do".

While it was common in France to equate political oppression to slavery, this was an analogy and not an abolitionist sentiment. Over the course of her career, de Gouges published 68 pamphlets. In early she published Remarques Patriotiques setting out her proposals for social securitycare for the elderly, institutions for homeless children, hostels for the unemployed, and the introduction of a jury system.

Parliament is demanding the Estates-General and the Nation cannot come to an agreement. There is no consensus on electing these assemblies The Third Estate, with reason, claims a voice equal to that of the Clergy and Nobility The same year she wrote a series of maries olympe gouges biography template on a range of social concerns, such as illegitimate children.

In these pamphlets she advanced the public debate on issues that would later be picked up by feminists, such as Flora Tristan. She continued to publish political essays between and The French Constitution marked the birth of the short-lived constitutional monarchy and implemented a status based citizenship. Citizens were defined as men over 25 who were "independent" and who had paid the poll tax.

These citizens had the right to vote. Furthermore, active citizenship was two-tiered, with those who could vote and those who were fit for public office. Women were by definition not afforded any rights of active citizenship. Like men who could not pay the poll tax, children, domestic servants, rural day-laborers and slaves, Jews, actors and hangmen, women had no political rights.

In transferring sovereignty to the nation the constitution dismantled the old regime, but de Gouges argued that it did not go far enough. De Gouges was not the only feminist who attempted to influence the political structures of late Enlightenment France. In her early political letters de Gouges made a point of being a woman, and that she spoke "as a woman".

Like other pamphlet writers in revolutionary France, she spoke from the margins and spoke of her experience as a citizen with a desire to influence the ongoing public debate. In her letters she articulated the values of the Enlightenmentand commented on how they may be put into practice, such as civic virtueuniversal rightsnatural rights and political rights.

In language and practice this was a debate among men and about men. Women were not granted political rights in revolutionary France, thus de Gouges used her pamphlets to enter the public debate and she argued that the debate needed to include the female civic voice. De Gouges signed her pamphlets with citoyenne. It has been suggested that she adopted this notion from Rousseau's letter To the Republic of Genevawhere he speaks directly to two types of Genevans: the "dear fellow citizens" or his "brothers", and the aimables et virtueses Citoyennethat is the women citizens.

In the public letter Remarques Patriotique from December de Gouges justified why she is publishing her political thoughts, arguing that "This dream, strange though it may seem, will show the nation a truly civic heart, a spirit that is always concerned with the public good". As the politics of revolutionary France changed and progressed de Gouges failed to become an actor on the political stage, but in her letters offered advice to the political establishment.

Her proposition for a political order remained largely unchanged. She expresses faith in the Estates General and in reference to the estates of the realmthat the people of France Third Estate would be able to ensure harmony between the three estates, that is clergynobility and the people. Despite this she expresses loyalty for the ministers Jacques Necker and Charles Alexandre de Calonne.

De Gouges opposes absolutismbut believed France should retain a constitutional monarchy. I could never convince myself that a princess, raised in the midst of grandeur, had all the vices of baseness Madame, may a nobler function characterize you, excite your ambition, and fix your marie olympe gouges biography template. Only one whom chance had elevated to an eminent position can assume the task of lending weight to the progress of the Rights of Woman and of hastening its success.

If you were less well informed, Madame, I might fear that your individual interests would outweigh those of your sex. You love glory; think, Madame, the greatest crimes immortalize one as much as the greatest virtues, but what a different fame in the annals of history! The one is ceaselessly taken as an example, and the other is eternally the execration of the human race.

Public letters, or pamphlets, were the primary means for the working class and women writers to engage in the public debate of revolutionary France. The intention was not to court the favour of the addressee, often a public figure. Frequently these pamphlets were intended to stir up public anger. They were widely circulated within and outside France.

De Gouges took to the street, and on behalf of the French people proclaimed "Let us plunge into the Seine! Thou hast need of a bath Although she was a celebrity in her lifetime and a prolific author, de Gouges became largely forgotten, but then rediscovered through a political biography by Olivier Blanc in the mids. The square was inaugurated by the mayor of the 3rd arrondissementPierre Aidenbaum, along with then first deputy mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo.

However, her remains—like those of the other victims of the Reign of Terror—have been lost through burial in communal graves, so any reburial like that of Marquis de Condorcet would be only ceremonial. The play The Revolutionists by Lauren Gunderson centers on de Gouges and a dramatized version of her life as a playwright and activist during the Reign of Terror.

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Marie olympe gouges biography template: Born Marie Gouze in Montauban, France

Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikidata item. French playwright and activist — Portrait by Alexander Kucharsky.

Marie olympe gouges biography template: She was a social reformer

Many even questioned whether she was the true author of the writings to which she attached her name. Nevertheless, she persisted…. Bythe French Revolution was well underway— a development De Gouges initially welcomed. It did not include women among the persons who would be accorded expanded rights and citizenship in a nascent Republic.

In fact, it hardly considered women people at all— they were simply omitted from its new concept of the citizen. Having joined a club called the Society of the Friends of Truth inDe Gouges associated with other women who were in favor of extending rights to women, including Sophie de Condorcet, married to the Marquis de Condorcet, a mathematician, philosopher, and revolutionary.

Not incidentally, in Condorcet himself published a remarkably progressive essay in favor of emancipating and according citizenship to women.

Marie olympe gouges biography template: Olympe de Gouges (born May

He also unsuccessfully argued for women to be granted the latter in After directly addressing Marie Antoinette whom she personally delivered the pamphlet to following its publicationthen male readers in opening statements, De Gouges declares the following:. Given that ignorance, disregard or the disdain of the rights of woman are the only causes of public misfortune and the corruption of governments [they] have decided to make known in a solemn declaration the natural, inalienable and sacred rights of woman; this declaration, constantly in the thoughts of all members of society, will ceaselessly remind them of their rights and responsibilities, allowing the political acts of women, and those of men, to be compared in all respects to the aims of political institutions, which will become increasingly respected, so that the demands of female citizens, henceforth based on simple and incontestable principles, will always seek to maintain the constitution, good morals and the happiness of all.

Article I immediately proclaims that women are the equals of men. But the most famous statement from the pamphlet is probably this one:. In other words, De Gouges was arguing, if women can be equally tried for crimes and executed, they can also be given equal treatment in public and civic life.