Madame Roland: Political Influence Through Feminism and Literature

Madam Roland

Born to the name of Marie-Jeanne Philippon on March 17, 1754,  Madame Roland became one of the most influential women in the French Revolution.  The only surviving child of eight pregnancies, she was talented student at school, and found her interest in literature. She was extremely strong willed, and with an excellent education, and enthusiastic support from her parents, she grew older to become a writer and feminist. She enrolled in convent school for a year, providing her with a religious look on the world, this lead to her interest in philosophy. After her year of convent school, she focused on studying independently, reading many books, including works by Voltaire and Montesquieu, which developed her philosophical view.

In 1770, she married Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière, a French philosopher at the time, who very soon became deeply involved in the political scene of the French Revolution. This involvement by her husband led her to find a new way to express herself, including collaborating in works by her husband, including Dicctionare des Manufactures, and especially an addition to Encyclopedie Methodique. Further, in 1774, she and her husband moved to Lyon, which resulted in the creation of many new relationships with friends and allies. Starting with letters to a journal called Patriote Francais, she and her husband started to assert their support for a French Revolution, soon moving to Paris in 1779 to insert themselves into much more engaged environment. Leaders of parties such as the Jacobin Club met with her to discuss the rights of the people, and to decide upon strategies that would be put to use in the transition of France from a monarchy to a republic that benefited the people.

The Execution of Madame Roland

She was a well spoken women, who worked her way slowly into the very center of the political conversation, where she could persuade the leaders of some of the largest political parties. In 1972, Madame Roland and her husband left the Jacobin Club to form a separate party called the Girondin.  The Girondists hope was to bring freedom to the people of France, while also providing control and leadership. After the surrender of Louis XVI Madame Roland pushed for her husband to become Minister of the Interior, in which she succeeded in doing. This seemingly created what was almost an alternative monarchy, one they may not of been the most ideal of her views, but created a new goal for her, one to push her husband to the highest degree.

Considerably her largest political influence came on June 21, 1792, when she wrote a letter to King Louis XVI demanding the King to pledge loyalty and cooperation to the newly created republic, and if not, to face the consequences of increasing the civil arrest. Almost a year later, on June 1, 1973, Madame Roland and other Girondist party members were arrested for treason and political activism. In prison, Madame Roland completed some of her most important works. She had never preferred to write, but between her arrest and execution, she had written her memoirs, which were collected and put together by visitors who came to see her, and took her finished pieces. Her memoirs were later published in 1975, two years after her death.

On November 8, 1793, Madame Roland, or Marie-Jeanne Philippon, a feminist, writer, and political activist, was executed at the guillotine in the Place de la Révolution. She had wanted to prove that women were important to political success, and she had achieved her goal, even dying as a citizen of the republic, not of the monarchy. Before her death she turned to face the clay statue of liberty that sat there in the square, and remarked to the crowd with the quote for which she is remembered:
 "O Liberté, que de crimes on commet en tom nom!"
("Oh Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name!")

Bibliography

"Madame Roland." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2017.

"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_Roland"

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Jeanne-Marie Roland." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 22 July 2005. Web. 08 Feb. 2017.

"https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jeanne-Marie-Roland"