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French revolution and its impact in Europe
The social impacts of the French revolution on society
Legacy of marie antoinette
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The Ancien Régime was arguably a more equal society when it came to the roles and power of men and women. The revolution gave men liberty and equality, however, this was taken away from women with the end of the Ancien Régime. During the reign of the monarchy women could occupy the same political space as men, in court and in salons. Noblewomen and widows had the most freedom and could be elected to sit in the Estates-General. Though their seats would be few they would be present for important decisions and to represent the perspective of women. Through these venues, they had some influence over political opinions and could discuss their views with some integrity intact.
In the second estate, particularly in the royal court, women could exercise
The trial of Marie Antoinette is an example of this dehumanization. Marie Antoinette’s trial in October 1793 was filled with accusations of pornography, sexuality, homosexuality, incest, and dissimulation. She was blamed for everything that was wrong with the Ancien Régime leading up to the revolution, including Louis XVI’s poor ruling. While, her husband was well-respected throughout his trial and execution, Marie Antoinette had to endure disparaging lies from the National Convention, who, ironically, claimed her greatest crime was her dishonesty and feminine manipulations to get what she wanted. These false representations of the queen continued after her execution in a letter, supposedly from the queen, to the people of
The king’s body was respected as sacred to the nation, and only after he was no longer king could the National Convention put him on trial. There were no such stipulations with the queen. Her body was sexualized and disrespected throughout her trial and execution. The queen was also accused of incest with her son, the Dauphin. These allegations of incest paint her as a bad mother. As queen, she was both mother of the heir to the French throne and mother of the nation, she was the highest degree of matriarch. By claiming incest between mother and son, Marie Antoinette’s maternal authority is being questioned, which reflects badly on all women of France, as she was their matriarch. Marie Antoinette was used to declare feminists as enemies and devalue women and their ability to lead, essentially saying all women would use their feminine charms to trick and deceive, when the French Revolution and Enlightenment valued transparency and
In Janet Lewis’ “The Wife of Martin Guerre,” the author illustrates the family dynamics of the sixteenth century. Martin would legally remain a minor for the extent of his father’s lifetime, and women’s identity and importance were only known through their husbands. However, Bertrande de Rols, the wife of Martin Guerre, is known as herself in this novel, which expresses that the novel was written according to her experience as the wife of Martin Guerre. Even though it wasn’t acceptable for women to go forward with such accusations, Bertrande de Rols did the right thing by pursuing Arnaud as an impostor because she knew he was not her husband, despite what everyone else said. In sixteenth century France, women were not independent and treated as equals as they are today.
The fact that she was going to be executed by that man and she said sorry for simply stepping on his foot shows about her character. Her execution was a major turning point in the revolution. One major myth about Marie Antoinette is about her "famous" saying; "Let them eat cake!" There is no proof that she ever said that.
Men and women were seen to live in separate social class from the men where women were considered not only physically weaker, but morally superior to men. This meant that women were the best suited for the domestic role of keeping the house. Women were not allowed in the public circle and forbidden to be involved with politics and economic affairs as the men made all the
Women in the Elizabethan era were presented as very obedient to their husbands and respectful to them also. They had no power and no say, they were treated badly and nothing would be done to stop the behaviour. In modern society most women have as much say as the men, they are not expected to stay at home and clean etc, and instead they go to work as well. Some women are like Katherina before she was supposedly tamed, very out spoken, yet inequality still exists.
The role of women in the Early Republic is a topic mostly overlooked by historians when dealing with this era of American history. The triumphs of the Revolution and the early events of the new nation were done solely by men. However, women had their own political societies and even participated in the Revolution. Women's roles began to take a major turn after the war with Great Britain. This was due in part to their involvement in the war and female patriotism. Others believed it was due to the easier access to formal education for young women. Whatever the reason, it inspired women to challenge the social structure of the Early Republic. The roles of women were changing in the Early Republic. However, progress was slow and little change followed after the Revolution. This change in social structure elicited two questions. What caused this social change and what was the major setback for the progression of women's rights? These were the questions Linda Kreber's Women In The Republic: Intellect And Ideology In Revolutionary America, Caroline Robbins' review of Mary Norton's Liberty's Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women, and Sheila Skemp's review of Lucia McMahon's Mere Equals: The Paradox of Educated Women in the Early American Republic attempted to answer. Each of the pieces of literature agreed that the social equality of women was changing, but each offer a unique aspect of what changed it, and what slowed progression of equality.
Marie Antoinette was describes as a young, delicately beautiful, with gray-blue eyes and ash-blonde hair and 14 years lazy and extremely frivolous
.... Anne often spoke her mind, and often dictated what Henry should and shouldn’t do. Although she was greatly disliked, and not attractive she used her body and her sense of style in attempts to win the English people over. Henry used these small everyday household struggles into something bigger, and they ultimately led to her unjust execution.
“Women could not vote, and they were not considered able to handle their own financial affairs. A women could not borrow money in their own name, and when she married, her finances were placed under the control of her husband” (786).
On Friday, May 19, 1536, Anne Boleyn, former Queen of England, was executed for high treason and adultery, her head severed from her body by an expert swordsman, the only concession given her by her ex-husband King Henry VIII. How, in so short a time, had the woman that Henry had defied the religious tradition of England for, divorcing his wife and changing the history of religion in his country, whom he pursued relentlessly for years, fallen so far, so quickly? To understand one must examine Henry’s desperate need for a male heir, understand the politics of the time, and the personality of Anne Boleyn herself.
Throughout the historical literary periods, many writers underrepresented and undervalued the role of women in society, even more, they did not choose to yield the benefits of the numerous uses of the female character concerning the roles which women could accomplish as plot devices and literary tools. William Shakespeare was one playwright who found several uses for female characters in his works. Despite the fact that in Shakespeare's history play, Richard II, he did not use women in order to implement the facts regarding the historical events. Instead, he focused the use of women roles by making it clear that female characters significantly enriched the literary and theatrical facets of his work. Furthermore in Shakespeare’s history play, King Richard II, many critics have debated the role that women play, especially the queen. One of the arguments is that Shakespeare uses the queen’s role as every women’s role to show domestic life and emotion. Jo McMurtry explains the role of all women in his book, Understanding Shakespeare’s England A Companion for the American Reader, he states, “Women were seen, legally and socially, as wives. Marriage was a permanent state” (5). McMurtry argues that every woman’s role in the Elizabethan society is understood to be a legal permanent state that is socially correct as wives and mothers. Other critics believe that the role of the queen was to soften King Richard II’s personality for the nobles and commoners opinion of him. Shakespeare gives the queen only a few speaking scenes with limited lines in Acts two, four, and five through-out the play. Also, she is mentioned only a few times by several other of the characters of the play and is in multiple scenes wit...
Women were excluded from political activity but that didn 't stop them from having civil issues and views. During this time both man and women were dealing with women rights and duties and took their views to writing. They wrote about stuff such as reevaluating “...courtships, marriage, and motherhood in light of republican ideals. Tyrannical power in the ruler, whether king or husband, was declared a thing of the past.” (Roark 219) Views on the roles of men and women and the ideals held for both genders were different including public virtue for man and sexual chastity for women. All these views were being challenged from not only women but also many men who saw the injustice and unfairness with the traditional views set in place for both men and women and who could see the positive outcomes of rearranging our views and to place more importance in the hands of women, including education. These ideas were listened to but only in the ways to help women put their families first and use their new knowledge and skills in raising their families rather than contributing more to the country. However, despite these views not getting the full result they intended at the time it was a good stepping stone along the way for a young
The patterns of damnation knitted by Madame Defarge echo Lucie’s golden threads in their binding of prisoners to their fate. Her desire for revolution and revenge is so strong that Madame Defarge has little compassion for anyone else. Lucie’s appeals to this “sister-woman” (368) are ignored as, having seen “her sister-woman suffer” (369), Madame Defarge does not consider “it likely that the trouble of one wife and mother would” (369) mean much. This doubling of sister-woman reiterates the fact that Madame Defarge is acting out of revenge for her dead sister, which gives her the strength and will to fight. Vengeance, although the “complimentary name” (305) for another personifies the spirit of the revolution and reveals the darker side of Madame Defarge in her belief that women “can kill as well as the men” ((296) and wielding of “her cruel knife” (302). Madame Defarge may represent the increasing power of women yet, by her actions, loses all sense of feminine domesticity. This heightens the contrast between her and Lucie and shows her to be a corrupt version of Lucie’s
Marie Antoinette was born on November 2 1755 in Vienna, Austria. She was the fifteenth and second last child of Maria Theresa empress of Austria and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I. She lived a very carefree life and received the best education which existed at that time in the 18th century. She focused her life on religious and moral principles while her brothers concentrated on academic education. After the completion of the seven years war in 1763 the leaders were involved in strengthening their position and one common way that they used was to enter into matrimonial alliances. In 1965 the French emperor Louis Ferdinand died leaving his 11 year old grandson Louis Auguste as heir to the French throne. It was at this moment that Maria Antoinette was promised in marriage to Louis Auguste. Their marriage on May 16 1770 brought Maria Antoinette to settle down in France with her husband.
Secondly, Elizabethan women were considered to be inferior to men. The life of Elizabethan women was certainly a tough - arranged marriages, subordination to men, short life expectancy, constant child bearing and no right to education, no voting, not political participation, etc. were crucial facts about Elizabethan women’s life. Elizabethan women were categorized class wise as: Upper Class, Royal Class, Lower Class Elizabethan women. Elizabethan women were considered subordinate to men and they were dependent on males. They were also used for alliance with powerful families through arranged marriages not only in the lower class, but also in the ...
...e herself from the same treatment she would have received had she been in the servant girls shoe. Keeping her out of the eyes of the public that would have judged her wrongly. At some point the wife did feel guilty of what she and her husband accused the servant girl off, but after her husband made the final decision, she was force to swallow her thoughts and emotions, bottle them, and move on smiling and being happy as a wife should.