Olympe de Gouges: Feminine Sensibility and Political Posturing
2002; Volume: 6; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/itx.2002.0004
ISSN2156-5465
Autores Tópico(s)European Political History Analysis
ResumoIntertexts, Vo!. 6, No. 2, 2002 Olympe de Gouges: Feminine Sensibility and Political Posturing Lisa Beckstrand C O N C O R D I A C O L L E G E Rappclez-vous cette virago, cette femme-homme, rimpudente Olympe de Gouges, qui abandonna les soinsdesonmanage,voulutpolitiqueretcommit des crimes... Get oubli de son sexe I’a conduite 4 r^chafeud.” (Pierre Chaumette 1793)» [Neverforgetthatvirago,thatwoman-man,the impudent Olympe de Gouges, who abandoned the ofherhouseholdtogetinvolvedinpolitics andcommitcrimes.Shediedontheguillotinefor haxdng forgotten the virtues that suit her sex.] c a r e s Whowasthisremarkablewoman,thisrevolutionaryamazonwhofailedto understandthedutiesofhergender?Inwhatwayshouldwe“neverforget thiscontroversial“virago”?HowisitthatMarieGouze,arelativelyun knowncountrygirlwithlittlemeansandevenlesseducationwasabeto provokesuchireamongsthercontemporaries?Inherearlytwenties,er her short-lived marriage ended, Marie Gouze established her residence m Paris,whereshewouldeventuallyembarkuponacareerasawnteranrevo lutionary activist. It is here tliat she would write forty-one plays, twenty-nine worksofproseandsixty-threepoliticalpamphlets,takingunpopularstances ondifficultissuesconcerningwomen’srightsandtheabolitionofslavery,n this context, she assumed the pseudonym “Olympe de Gouges, creating a newidentitythatwastobecomethetargetofrelentlessattacksresting finally in her execution in 1793. i h H Thediscourseonuniversalrightswhichredefinedgenderanprecue women from participating in the body politic was ommpresent^ Gouges’s adult life in Paris. Notions of “normality” for women, eey medical theorists and popularized by philosophers, politicians and epress, resulted in increased social, moral (and subsequent legal) repression o women who sought to play an active role in the Revolution as wnters or as political activists. Nonconformist acts of self-assertion by women were seen assignsofdevianceorrevolt,arejectionoradenialoftheirassignedrolein the domestic realm. WhatdidthismeanforwomensuchasOlympedeGouges,whofound waystoparticipateintheformationofthenewbodypolitic?Howdidthe newemphasisonthefemalebody,whichrelegatedwomentotherealmof motherhoodandallegedlyjustifiedtheirexclusionfromthepublicsphere. 1 8 6 I N T E R T E X T S herselP * understanding of gender and more specifically, of domesticitv ( * ●* ’^^e tension between the ideology of female critics hav7 and her own political and intellectual activism? While ration extensivelyondeGouges’spoliticalagendainherDeclaearlier writino-^*^ ^of^men and Citizen, very little has been said about her writer withiif’ Women will gain the upper hand and become the stronger sex’ (21). While this is amockery of the way in which society values learned women, it is also aveiled call to women to be “profound” in their written works and to become learned.Itiswomen’sdeterminationtolearnthatwillbringaboutthe“dan¬ gerous revolution” to which the Count refers, and assure them aplace in the public sphere.22 Thetext’sframewithitscomplexvoicingenablesdeGougestobringto theforemanycontroversialissuesconcerningwomen’snature.Implicitin Valmont’sstoryisacriticismoftheabusesofagender-biasedpowerstruc¬ ture created to keep women in inferior social and political roles. She tells us thatshewastheillegitimatechildofafatherwhoabandonedherduringher childhood. Left in the was forced to care of her mother, she received apoor education and marry at an early age. Forced to flee from an “odious” hus¬ band,andwithlittlemoney,shemovedtoParis,wheresheattemptedto estabUshanindependentlifeasawriter,activist,andsinglemotlier.Her story addresses problems common to women of the late eighteenth century: arr^ged marriages, lack of formal education, absence of divorce rights, ^fair inheritance laws, lack of the right to legal representation, and so on. Valmontdescribesherlifeintermsofsacrifice:“jefaistonslesjoursdenouveauxsacrifices ,etjecommencememeaetrephilosopheaunageoules femmesjouissentlemieuxdesplaisirs”[EverydayIhavetomakesacrifices, andIambecomingaphilosopheratanagewhenwomenareenjoyingthe best of the pleasures of life”] (87). Valmont snarrative justifies her intellectual pursuits by positing her lit¬ erarycareernotasachoice,butasanecessityforsurvival.Shemakesitclear that,inordertoestablishacareerandanindependentlifeinParis,shehas hadtogiveupthepleasuresthatmostwomenenjoyatherage.Itisthe abusesofpatriarchalauthoritythathavemadeitimpossibleforhertostayin hersituation,asherarrangedmarriagewasmiserable.Itisalsotheseabuses thathavemadeitdifficult(ifnotimpossible)tochangehersituation,since shereceivednoinheritancefromherfather.Notonlyisherliterarycareerin generalanenormoussacrifice,butsoisthewritingofthisparticularnarra¬ tive. Hence, she provides the justification for being afemale author as well as for the writing of this text. WhileValmontportraysherselfasavictimofherfather’sneglect,she alsousesherassociationwithherfatherasasourceofempowerment.She repeatedly makes reference to the fact that her “true” father is afamous play- 1 9 7 Olympe de Gouges: Feminine Sensibility and Political Posturing Wright and poet, whose literary works are the “glory of the nation” and will one day “render him immortal” (85). The proof that she is truly the illegiti¬ mate, biological daughter of the Marquis de Flaucourt is not merely her physical resemblance to him, nor the “penchant” of her heart, but her cast of mind, which is strikingly similar to his. In aletter to her father, she makes reference to his intellectual and literary talent in the following way: .. .il aurait trop de vanite avouloir ressembler en ce point iI’auteur de D.. .au fameux auteur de tant de beaux ouvrages. ...On pretend n^anmoins quc j’ai dans ma fagon une tournure qui ne vous est pas 6trangere, et a laquelle I’education aurait peut-Stre pu dormer un poli, et des graces qui n’eussent pas ete tout ifait indignes de leur source. (86)^^ [... it would be vain of me to want to resemble this author ... this femous...
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