University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Nebraska College Preparatory Academy Senior Nebraska College Preparatory Academy Capstone Projects
2017 Voltaire the Feminist Esdras Castaneda Nebraska Preparatory Academy, [email protected]
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Castaneda, Esdras, "Voltaire the Feminist" (2017). Nebraska College Preparatory Academy Senior Capstone Projects. 60. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ncpacapstone/60
This Presentation is brought to you for free and open access by the Nebraska College Preparatory Academy at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Nebraska College Preparatory Academy Senior Capstone Projects by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Voltaire the Feminist Conclusions Abstract Esdras Castaneda The conclusions one can draw from Voltaire was not the common Voltaire was that he was an immensely pro- Enlightened philosopher. No, he was one Nebraska Preparatory Academy women philosopher, proving time and time of the great ones. And especially critical Grand Island Senior High 2017 again in his writings and personal life the in the fight for social justice and equality gratitude and respect he held toward for women. Voltaire did not write about University of Nebraska-Lincoln women. Voltaire purposefully wrote women. Typically, women were seen as women characters to break traditional weak, fragile, had pale skin, and were gender roles and to criticize social very thin. But Voltaire wrote about them constructs which unfairly prejudice women in the exact opposite way. They were as and thus lead to a culture of intense rape strong, resilient, and brave as any man. and suffering of women. In Voltaire’s And they were buxom, plump, and personal life, he denounced critically, many provocative. Voltaire purposefully writes social norms and their associated social this way to switch the gender roles; to constructs. Denouncing them as horrible show that women could be anything a conventions to subjugate women under man could be. That they could be heroes. men. As if they were slaves. Emilie Du Chatulet was more than a lover to Voltaire. Upon her death, Further Research Voltaire said, “I have lost one who was Further research ideas might include how my friend for twenty-five years, a great Voltaire shaped a feministic wave within man, whose only defect, was being a the Enlightenment and how this changed woman”. He meant that women were France and the rest of the world. always seen as lessers of men, even though they could be just as great.
Works Cited Key Points Bates, Deborah J. “The Portrayal of Women in Selected Contes of Voltaire.” MacSphere: Home, McMAster University, 1 Apr. 1995, macsphere.mcmaster.ca/handle/11375/15498. Accessed 30 Mar. 2017. ● Voltaire intentionally wrote women to be like men. Bottiglia, William F. “Candide's Garden.” Modern Language Association of America vol. 66, no. 5, 1951, pp. 718–733. ● To show that women and men are basically interchangeable and JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/459532 Pomeau, René Henry. “Voltaire.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2014, had the same potential. www.britannica.com/biography/Voltaire. Accessed 12 Apr. 2017. Quentin, Maurice. “Émilie Du Châtelet.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Apr. 2017, ● Voltaire switched gender roles for his characters to show traits en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89milie_du_Ch%C3%A2telet. Accessed 12 Apr. 2017. Scherr, Arthur. "Voltaire's 'Candide': a tale of women's equality." The Midwest Quarterly, vol. 34, no. 3, 1993, p. 261+. shouldn’t be exclusive to either sex. Academic OneFile, Accessed 31 Mar. 2017.