Women of The 18th/19th Century - Essay Example

How did the role of women change from the 18th to the 19th centuries? What significant contributions did women make in terms of political, philosophical, or artistic achievements? In the 18th century, women were considered as objects or slaves, existing to serve men’s needs and desires. They were not accepted as persons with feelings and intelligence. The possibility of equality between the sexes was not even being considered, women were practically slaves to men. Men held all of women’s possessions as their own. Also, women’s lives were almost meaningless and men could do whatever with their bodies without being charged for it. In Voltaire’s Candide, the main female characters are prostitutes, women that marry for money, disease-spreaders, and most importantly victims.  Candide is full of uncommonly graphic accounts of the sexual exploitation of women. The three main female characters—Cunégonde, the old woman, and Paquette—are all raped, forced into sexual slavery, or both. Both the narrator’s and the characters’ attitudes toward these events are strikingly nonchalant and matter-of-fact. Voltaire uses these women’s stories to demonstrate the special dangers to which only women are vulnerable. This only shows how the torturing of women and ruling them was considered natural back in the 18th century. Candide’s chivalric devotion to Cunégonde, whom he wrongly perceives as a paragon of female virtue, is based on willful blindness to the real situ-ation of women. The male characters in the novel value sexual chastity in women but make it impossible for women to maintain such chastity. The most noticeable case concerns Voltaire’s treatment of women in Candide. While there were many views espoused during the period of the French Revolution about the rights of women, it must be observed that even a progressive thinker like Voltaire did not always hold views aligned with such ideas. In thinking of Voltaire, women were not always considered equals (aside from a few exceptions). It was suggested, “The state of their [women’s] natural weakness does not permit them to preeminence…” Their very weakness generally gives them more lenity and moderation, qualifications fitter for good administration.” Like the Old Woman, Cunégonde is subject to horrific violence, both sexual and otherwise. A woman of social status, she is reduced to servitude. Ultimately, her horrific experiences destroy her beauty and temperament. Cunégonde seems to represent the way the horrors of the world destroy innocence and beauty. Women are strangely represented in the novel since at once they seem like helpless victims yet also show remarkable strength. It seems however, that the “strength” that these women show might not be a statement on the internal powers of women, but rather that they have no choice than to adapt to a gruesome and misogynistic situation. The old woman, after telling her terrible life story, relates that she does not believe in self-pity—she was merely telling everyone to pass the time. Although there are many female victims in Candide, none of them seem at all aware of the travesties committed to them or their sex and moreover, they hold true to an abundance of stereotypes (gold-diggers, prostitutes, battered old women) In 18th century it was thought that a woman does not have to be educated as men, but that it is enough if they learn only so much to be able to bring up their children and keep the house. There is a change of situation in the 19th century and women became more respected in society, and they were allowed to do more than only house-keeping. Women in the early 1800s were not supposed to be involved in politics. Men proclaimed that women were too emotional and that they could not handle the extra stress. Around the 1820s women stood up and took part in politics. Lucretia Mott organized the Philadelphia Female Anti-slavery Society because women were not allowed to join the American Anti-slavery Society. Many women joined the Philadelphia Female Anti-slavery Society and they made the abolition of slavery a public issue and the first political movement they participated in. The Philadelphia Female Anti-slavery Society went on to focus on womens rights a few years later. Fanny Wright went on a tour in 1828-1829 to lecture about womens rights in education, property rights, rights in education, and the accessibility to birth control. She was strong in her lectures, which made her an expressive and practical speaker. Because it was unusual for a woman to speak at a public lecture, in fact it was unusual for a woman to even go to one, Fanny had much criticism on her. Even though Fanny was being criticized, she continued lecturing on her beliefs. Thus Fanny Wright opened a doorway for womens free speech. Women of the 1800s did many things that led up to womens recognition of equality in the 1900s. These women fought so that they could have rights in equality, to be treated as human beings. They could not keep their own wages, children and sometimes even themselves. Education and job opportunities were very limited until women began to stand up and speak out. Whether they are young or old, everyone did something that led up to equality. Even if it was something little like refusing to marry who your father wants you to, that is one step to equality because that is saying that you have a mind of your own and that you should be able to choose who you will marry. Read More