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French Revolutionaries strove to attain a democracy without a specific person representing the nation. Males could not have been used as symbols of the revolution because men were viewed as individuals in the society; however, a woman established a "generic" face for the spreading movement because women were denied their singularity.
Marie Antoinette and Charlotte Corday served as two female representatives for the political unrest during the later eighteenth century. The iconography of Antoinette served to further the turmoil in France, and the varying portrayals of Corday revealed the different political sentiments of each time in which she was represented. During Marie Antoinette’s life, her representation declined; after Charlotte Corday’s life, her image shifted according to each political belief which was held by the artist. Antoinette was viewed as the evil behind the ancien régime, and the views of the French Revolution during various periods was revealed through the artistic interpretations of Corday’s murder of Marat. Queen Marie Antoinette was attacked for her monarchical position, but Corday would never have been an icon of the revolution if she had not murdered Marat. Women, during the eighteenth century, could not place a label upon the political movement of 1789; consequently, Marie Antoinette and Charlotte Corday were the faces of La Revolution Française.
This Web page was created by four high school students in California for a history project. Biographies of Marie Antoinette and Charlotte Corday and a discussion about different paintings on them are on this page (just click on the subject you would like to read). There are a list of sources used for research and some helpful links to educate you more on these two interesting women of the French Revolution. Enjoy it and PLEASE give feedback on our project.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
(These essays were written by students of The Webb Schools , California)
A
biography discussing the "whore" and her image during the Revolution.
A
biography regarding the "murderer" and her image used to enhance
the Revolution.
A great analysis of different iconography of Marie Antoinette and Charlotte Corday.
LINKS
1. Helpful Links About Corday: http://www.fish.com/music/al_stewart/history/charlotte_corday.html
2. Helpful Links About Antoinette: http://www.biography.com/watch/listings/121296.html
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Corday, Michel , Charlotte Corday, E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., New York, NY, 1931.
Cronin, Vincent, Louis & Antoinette, William Morrow & Co., Inc., New York, NY, 1975.
Dobson, Austin, Four Frenchwomen, Dodd, Mead and Company, New York, NY.
Erickson, Carolly, To the Scaffold, William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York, NY, 1991.
Fay, Bernard, Louis XVI, Henry Regnery Co., Chicago, IL, 1968.
Trowbridge, W.R.H., Daughters of Eve , Brentano’s, New York, NY, 1912.
Zweig, Stefan, Marie Antoinette, Garden City Publishing Co., Inc., New York, NY, 1933.
(Primary Sources included in secondary sources.)
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This page was created by Hentyle Yapp, Chantal Nong, Julia Salas, and Edward Chen.