AP Women and the Enlightenment

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…