Olympe de Gouges' Call to Action for Women's Rights

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[...] The author concludes her argument by stating that if women wanted it, this uprising could take place. She thus links the two actions of 'to want » and 'to be able to ». Freedom is therefore possible for women if they take action and act. Conclusion: Thus, Olympe de Gouges, through this Postamble, has perfectly succeeded in creating awareness in the minds of women by calling on them forcefully to rise up. She awakens their conscience and far from leaving them in a position of victims, she invites them to react to combat the inequalities they suffer. [...]

[...] It is followed by an imperative, suggesting a criticism from Olympe de Gouges who invites them to take responsibility. 'The tocsin of reason » is a metaphor that directly refers to the century of the Enlightenment; the Enlightenment emphasizing the principle of reason as well as the truth that we will find in the expression 'the torch of truth », l.3. This reason must be heard « in all the universe », through this hyperbole, we can perceive the wish of Olympe de Gouges to reach all women, beyond even France. [...]

[...] Problématique: We will see how Olympe de Gouges tries to create a strong awareness in the minds of women. Announcement of the plan We can distinguish three distinct movements. The first movement goes up to 'contempt more marked » (apostrophe); the second movement starts with 'in the centuries » until 'respond » (the call to the women's uprising) and the third movement of 'if they persisted » at the end of the passage (to want is to be able to in order to realize an equitable society). [...]

[...] Second movement « Oh women », lyric, calls women with great expressiveness. The word « women » is repeated and the punctuation is strong. There, Olympe de Gouges uses the plural. Women are accused of blindness, l.6. Rhetorical questions follow one another. Nevertheless, the author proposes a response that is not flattering. The words « contempt » and « contempt » are used with a parallel construction, l.7. The argumentation shows that what would have seemed advantageous for the woman is reduced to nothing because of the « corruption » l.8 characterized by the « weakness of men ». [...]

[...] Third movement Olympe de Gouges recalls that men would not be able to go against the interests of women without being in opposition to their principles, l.15; to this 'weakness» of men, the author wishes that women oppose by putting forward reason. She calls on their courage 'courageously » l.15, so that they fight what she calls the 'vain pretensions of superiority » of men. We are going to find a series of imperative verbs 'oppose», « gather together », « deploy » to invite women to fight together. [...]