Olympe de Gouges demanded the regulation of prostitution and the dissolution of marriage, but when she criticized Maximillien Robespierre’s Reign of Terror, he silenced her for good.
In 1791 , Olympe de Gouges call for an rebellion of French cleaning woman in her treatise , Declaration of the Rights of Woman . “ Women , fire up up ; the tocsin of grounds sounds throughout the universe ; recognize your rights . ”
During the acme of the French Revolution , de Gouges feared that manly revolutionary would ignore charwoman and so she became the most striking spokesperson telephone for her gender ’s rights .
De Gouges fail too far though when she deride Robespierre ’s Revolutionary Tribunal , and her enemy place her to the guillotine .
Unknown/Louvre MuseumA watercolor portrait of Olympe de Gouges from 1793.
Olympe De Gouges, A Teenage Widow
The daughter of a butcher born on May 7 , 1748 , Marie Gouzereinvented herselfafter becoming widowed as a teenager .
When her husband died , 16 - yr - older Gouze changed her name to Olympe de Gouges and moved to Paris on the arm of a wealthy man of affairs who pay her debt and left her an allowance , consecrate never to remarry .
In Paris , de Gouges declared herself an intellectual and consecrate herself to study the works of Enlightenment philosopher , but she rapidly come across the limits station on eighteenth - century fair sex .
Eugène Delacroix/Louvre MuseumLiberty Leading the People, 1830.
Men hold her illiterate and tried to bar her from compose play . Yet by the 1780s , de Gouges had nonetheless constitute herself as a dramatist when the Comédie Française tell on her works .
unnamed / Louvre MuseumA water-colour portrayal of Olympe de Gouges from 1793 .
Even more shameful , de Gouges ’s plays focused on political issues . Unlike other women playwrights who published anonymously or wrote plays sharpen on domesticated outlet , de Gouges used her writing to highlight injustice .
Unknown/Gallica Digital LibraryThe execution of Robespierre in 1794.
In her works , de Gouges took controversial view on the rights of women , divorcement , and slavery . She even discussed intimate duple standard .
Among her works featuring women as leading character reference , de Gouges wrote the first French play criticizing slavery as inhumane . The maneuver was so controversial thatriots break off outduring one performance and many blamed de Gouges for start the Haitian revolution .
In response , amale critic declared , “ [ t]o write a good swordplay , one needs a beard . ”
Mettais/Wikimedia CommonsThe execution of Olympe de Gouges by guillotine in 1793.
She go on to drop a line 40 plays , two novel , and 70 political tract .
Leading The 18th-Century Fight For Women’s Rights
De Gouges was part of a growing movement that crusade for women ’s rights . draw on the language of the Enlightenment , de Gouges take a new approach to a woman ’s position in society .
She saw political activism as the key fruit to change and advocated for the right wing of single mothers , the regulation of prostitution , and the elimination of the dowry system .
“ Man , are you open of being just ? It is a charwoman who poses the doubt , you will not deprive her of that right at least . differentiate me , what gives you sovereign over empire to persecute my sex activity ? Your strength ? Your endowment ? ”
Unknown/Musée CarnavaletPortrait of Olympe de Gouges, 1784.
wedding and divorce appeared oftentimes in de Gouges ’s writings . base on her own experience , ram into marriage at 16 , de Gouges described wedlock as a form of exploitation , calling it the “ tomb of combine and honey . ”
The institution of spousal relationship did not collect love , de Gouges reason , but rather subjugate women to “ perpetual totalitarianism . ” The solution , according to de Gouges , was the right to divorce and civil right for all women , whether married or single .
Indeed , the young playwright believed women ’s right was a part of the large conflict for human rights .
Fighting In The French Revolution
When the French Revolution break out in 1789 , de Gouges jump into the disturbance .
The revolution offered new hope for change society and attacking shabbiness . When de Gouges see how the 1789Declaration of the Rights of Manignored women completely and the young National Assembly refused to extend citizenship rights to women , she get laid the rotation was miss .
Eugène Delacroix / Louvre MuseumLiberty go the mass , 1830 .
In reply to these treatises , de Gouges write her most notable study , theDeclaration of the Rights of Woman .
issue in 1791 , the pamphlet fence that all of the right Gallic revolutionaries demanded for valet should also apply to woman . Its first declaration was that : “ Woman is born detached and stay equal to man in rights . ”
TheDeclarationpassionately argue for a fair sex ’s right to own property , woman ’s agency in government , and rights for unmarried woman .
“ Women , when will you cease to be unsighted ? ” De Gouges wrote . “ What reward have you gathered in the Revolution ? ”
Considered a radical even before the French Revolution , de Gouges notice eventually argue for more moderate , passive view by 1792 . That twelvemonth , aRevolutionary paper write :
“ Madame de Gouges would care to see a revolution without fierceness and without bloodshed . Her wish , which proves she has a good essence , is undoable . ”
Unknown / Gallica Digital LibraryThe execution of Robespierre in 1794 .
During King Louis XVI ’s test , de Gouges reason for the queen ’s exile rather than his instruction execution . When Maximilien Robespierre rose to power and show in the Reign of Terror , de Gouges openly criticized his rule .
A proponent of constitutional monarchy , de Gouges soon discover herself labeled an enemy of the Revolution .
Paying With Her Head
TheDeclaration of the Rights of Womanforeshadowed the final stage of de Gouges ’s life . In one announcement , de Gouges held that “ woman has the right to mount the scaffold , so she should have the right as to mount the podium ” or the podium from which to follow her impression .
Just two geezerhood later , de Gouges confront arrest for these beliefs .
In 1793 , de Gouges had anticipate for a lineal vote on France ’s form of government . She spent the next three months in gaol where she continued to release works defend her political views .
But then on Nov. 2 , 1793 , the Revolutionary Tribunal convicted de Gouges of print insurgent plant after a rushed trial .
The next Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , they sent her to the closure by compartment .
Mettais / Wikimedia CommonsThe execution of Olympe de Gouges by guillotine in 1793 .
Ananonymous Parisian chroniclecaptured de Gouges ’s final moments :
“ Yesterday , a most extraordinary person call Olympe de Gouges who held the imposing title of woman of letters was taken to the scaffold . She go about the scaffold with a serene and tranquil expression on her side . ”
The chronicle summed up her crimes as an endeavor “ to uncloak the [ Jacobins ] , ” which was the political radical Robespierre second and “ they never forgave her , and she paid for her carelessness with her drumhead . ”
De Gouges knew the risks of challenge Robespierre ’s Revolutionary Tribunal and yet , one month before her stay , she wrote : “ If you ask the pure and spotless ancestry of a few innocent victims to bring frontwards your days of horrific retribution , add to this great campaign the blood of a woman . I have planned it all , I know that my death is inevitable . ”
A Founder Of Modern Feminism
Even decades after her execution , many displace de Gouges as an arrogant charwoman who did n’t know her home .
Weeks after her expiry , Pierre Chaumette , the prosecutor of Paris , presented de Gouges ’s execution as a admonition to other women .
She “ abandoned the care of her household to get involved in politics and trust crimes , ” Chaumette pen . “ She died on the guillotine for having bury the virtues that suit her sex . ”
The only womanhood doom to dying for sedition during the Reign of Terror , de Gouges ’s legacy remained obscure for age . However , today she holds a seat as one of the founders of modern women’s liberation movement .
Unknown / Musée CarnavaletPortrait of Olympe de Gouges , 1784 .
In 2016 , the French National Assembly honor de Gouges with a statue in her purity .
“ At last we have make it at this bit , ” declare Claude Bartolone , President of the United States of the assemblage . “ At last , Olympe de Gouges is entering the National Assembly ! ”
Olympe de Gouges was n’t the only feminist who changed account nor was she the most illustrious woman execute in the French Revolution . check about thefinal mean solar day of Marie Antoinette ’s lifeand then check out thesefeminist icons who do n’t get enough credit .
