OLYMPE DE GOUGES: BIOGRAPHY AND WORKS - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793) was the pseudonym of Marie Gouze, a French writer who advocated the abolition of slaves and the rights of women; she is considered a pioneer of feminist movements and citizen reforms. Her literary and political work is part of a libertarian and vindictive legacy within the history of humanity.

From an early age Olympe de Gouges was exposed to the influences of the great aristocratic salons and intellectual activities of Paris, which enlivened in her certain artistic faculties that led her to participate in the political arena of her time. She was a contemporary political activist with the landmark of the French Revolution.

Historically, the role of women has been reduced because history is usually viewed from a male perspective. Active participation in the politics and social life of Olympe promoted progress in matters of law and social justice: it embodied the inclusion of women and their participation in public life as agents of change.

She was a defender of equality between men and women. She questioned the institutions of her time, opening debates on the female condition in the educational and labor systems, access to private property and the right to vote, as well as on the oppression exercised by family, governmental and ecclesiastical entities.

The transition from absolutism to revolutions and the entry into the century of the bourgeoisie was the propitious setting for Olympe de Gogues to publish a series of plays, essays, manifestos and pamphlets in which he expressed his social sensitivity and exposed his ideas of change, which later became the basis for the shaping of modern feminism.

Biography

Marie Gouze was born in the town of Montauban on May 7, 1748. At the early age of 17, she was forced to marry Louis-Yves Aubry on October 24, 1765. The following year she was widowed and left with her only son., Pierre Aubry, who was also born in that year.

From 1770 Olympe moved to Paris, with the main intention that her son obtain a quality education.

Cultured atmosphere in Paris

In Paris he spent part of his time in the great salons, where political and literary issues, current events and avant-gardes were discussed. This gave him a greater critical sense about his existence and a social sensitivity to look at French society in a different way.

In 1777, at the age of 29, he began his literary career and changed his name to the pseudonym Olympe, in honor of his mother.

He dedicated himself to self-taught learning. As a result of being widowed, she inherited a considerable amount of money from her husband, which allowed her to have more time to devote to literature.

Olympe de Gouges brought to the public arena the debate on the institutionality of marriage and the oppression of man, as well as the establishment of divorces. Also noteworthy is her interest in the protection of infants and the marginalized; In this sense, it promoted creating spaces for maternal care with adequate health services.

In 1789, with the arrival of the French Revolution, Olympe de Gouges defended a moderate monarchical state where the separation of powers was present. In almost all of his literary production, he exhibited his political ideology about the State and the tyranny exercised over women; for de Gouges, this tyranny was the epicenter of all inequality.

Fraternal Societies

During his political activity he founded several fraternal societies, in which both men and women were admitted.

Likewise, in 1793 the Revolutionary Republican Society was created, in which Olympe had a strongly active participation. At that time her support for the Girondists cost her imprisonment: she was accused of writing a pamphlet in their favor, an accusation that led her to jail.

French revolution and death

During the tragic events of the French Revolution and still confined, Olympe de Gouges openly expressed his denial of centralism. Likewise, she criticized the radicalism imposed by the consolidated Jacobin government.

In July 1793 he managed to publish a pamphlet entitled Les trois urnes, ou le salut de la patrie (The three urns, or the salvation of the fatherland), in which he demanded a royal referendum to decide the future government of the French. This generated some unease in the Jacobin government.

Robespierre delivered Olympe de Gouges, a 45-year-old widow, to the revolutionary tribunal. There, after being accused of sedition after verification by a letter written to Robespierre (Pronostic de Monsieur Robespierre pour un animale amphibie), she was sentenced to die by guillotine on November 3, 1793.

Plays

Among the majority of the works written by Olympe de Gouges, the theater genre stands out with around thirty pieces, followed by the genre of the novel and political pamphlets. The work of this writer is framed in protest and social claim.

He directed and wrote for the newspaper L'Impatient, in which he published strong criticism and publicized his disagreement with Robespierre's Jacobins. It was also the space to reflect issues of debate about the natural superiority of men over women.

In 1784 he wrote Memoirs of Madame Valmont, an autobiographical fictional novel. A year later she presented the play entitled Lucinda y Cardenio.

That same year he published the Letter to the French Comedy and in 1786 he published Chérubin's Marriage, The Generous Man and Reminiscence. In 1787 the works of The correct philosopher, or the horned man (a theatrical drama) emerged, as well as Molière in Ninon, or the century of the great men.

About slavery

De Gouges was one of the advocates for the abolition of black slaves and colonial systems, as well as racism. She made constant scathing criticism of the corporate heads of an entire network that profited from human trafficking.

Among the fundamental theatrical pieces with an abolitionist content, one of the highlights is The Black Slavery, written in 1785, which was later renamed Zamore and Myrza, or The Happy Shipwreck. It is a key work to understand the phenomenon of slavery and its consequences.

This comedy cost her her freedom, as she was imprisoned in the Bastille jail; However, she managed to get out thanks to the friendships and influences she had. Upon leaving this first confinement in 1788, he published the essay Reflections on Black Men, and at that time he also wrote the short story Bienfaisante, or the good mother.

Socialist ideology

In 1788 he published a couple of pamphlets in the General Newspaper of France: the first entitled Letter to the people and the second called A project of patriotic union. In that publication, he raised ideas of a socialist order, which were not the subject of discussion until years later.

On the other hand, de Gouges promoted the emergence of a social program: he demanded the creation of an assistance service for public workers, and shelters for children and the elderly.

Likewise, he also advocated for improvement within the legal and penitentiary system; on this subject he wrote the text Project on the creation of a Supreme People's Court of criminal affairs (1790).

Political content

1789 can be considered one of the years of greatest literary production of Olympe de Gouges. In that year he published another novel called The Prince Philosopher, and the philosophical essay Allegorical Dialogue between France and the Truth. His entire narrative had as its central theme social criticism and the call for revolution.

Among the most considerable works of political and feminist content of 1789, we can mention the publication of the play Heroic Action of a Frenchwoman, or France saved by a woman. Another forceful writing published that year was The Blind Speech for France.

In 1790 he published The Black Market, in continuity with his defense and repudiation of the slave trade, which gave considerable benefits to the European States. On the subject of marriage suppression, he wrote the drama The Need for Divorce.

Declaration of the rights of women and citizens

One of the fundamental works of Olympe de Gouges is the Declaration of the rights of women and citizens. It was published in 1791 and was taken from the model of Rights of the man and the citizen of 1789. The declaration was a denunciation of the invisibility of women; it is one of the broadest social demands of its time.

This work is made up of seventeen articles that converge on a central objective: the inclusion of women within the framework of civil law. It sought to highlight that in this context, women are equal to men and, therefore, are also endowed with natural rights.

In 1791 Olympe also published other works of a social nature, in which he expressed his concern for French society and its future. In 1972 he published writings such as French good sense, France saved or the dethroned tyrant and The ghost of political opinion.

The literary work of Olympe de Gouges has become a historical reference within the framework of critical theory, and an antecedent of future postcolonial reflections and movements of critical-philosophical thought such as feminism.

References

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