Madame Roland

by John S.C. Abbott

Madame Roland (17 March 1754 – 8 November 1793), was, together with her husband Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière, a supporter of the French Revolution and influential member of the Girondist faction. She fell out of favour during the Reign of Terror and died on the guillotine. The history of Madame Roland embraces the most interesting events of the French Revolution, that most instructive tragedy which time has yet enacted. There is, perhaps, contained in the memoirs of no other woman so much to invigorate the mind with the desire for high intellectual culture, and so much to animate the spirit heroically to meet all the ills of this eventful life. Madame Roland, born Marie-Jeanne Phlippon, the sole surviving child of eight pregnancies, was born to Gratien Phlippon and Madame Phlippon in March 1754. From her early years she was a successful, enthusiastic, and talented student. In her youth she studied literature, music and drawing. From the beginning she was strong willed and frequently challenged her father and instructors as she progressed through an advanced, well-rounded education. Enthusiastically supporting her education, Jeanne's parents enrolled her in the convent school of the Sisterhood of the Congregation in Paris - for one year only. She was enthusiastically religious, leading John Abbott to state "God thus became in Jane's mind a vision of poetic beauty".Following her convent school education, she pursued her education independently, Abbott relating that "Heraldry and books of romance, lives of the saints and fairy legends, biography, travels, history, political philosophy, poetry, and treatises upon morals, were all read and meditated upon by this young child".[2] Several literary figures influenced Roland's philosophy, including Voltaire, Montesquieu, Plutarch, and others. Most significantly, Rousseau's literature strongly influenced Roland's understanding of feminine virtue and political philosophy, and she came to understand a woman's genius as residing in Rousseau's definition of feminine virtue as "a pleasurable loss of self-control", which for Roland meant the courage of maternal self-sacrifice and suffering. Manon Phlippon (as her close friends and relatives called her) also, as she traveled, developed an increasing awareness of the outside world. In 1774, on a trip to Versailles, some of her most famous letters were sent to her friend Sophie Cannet, wherein she first begins to display an interest in politics, describing admiringly (if not presciently) the enthronement of Louis XVI and his queen Marie Antoinette fifteen years before the start of the French The ministers are enlightened and well disposed, the young prince docile and eager for good, the queen amiable and beneficent, the court kind and respectable, the legislative body honourable, the people obedient, wishing only to love their master, the kingdom full of resources. Ah but we are going to be happy!

Genres: Biography

140 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1850

About the author

John Stevens Cabot Abbott (Andover Theological Seminary; Bowdoin College, 1825) was a historian, Congregationalist pastor, and pedagogical writer. With his brothers, including Gorham and Jacob Abbott, he was a co-founder of Abbott Collegiate Institute for Young Ladies in New York City.

Reviews

[Michelle Fournier]

Decently written book about a fascinating woman. I had never heard of Madame Roland, but her story and part in the French Revolution is extraordinary. Definitely recommend this story for older middle school /high school studies of the French Revolution. It was a great biography choice and an interesting look at this unforgettable slice of history.

[The Logophile]

I have tried to get through this embellishment of Madame Roland's life, but I simply can't stomach it anymore. The author writes about her as if she was a perfect goddess & completely overlooks her vanity, snobbery, sexism & just outright petty behavior. She had a very high opinion of herself & a rather low one of pretty much everyone else. Would've loved to have read a biography based in fact because she was certainly an interesting & important character before & during the Revolution, but this book is based more on an idealized fairytale rather than reality. Furthermore, there are no footnotes or a bibliography that would've allowed me to research more of what was being peddled in the book. Overall just an extreme disappointment.


P.S. This is not to say that I dislike M. Roland, rather that I wish she was represented more accurately in her many facets. Individuals are infinitely more fascinating when their faults are displayed alongside their many positive attributes.

[Mary Jo]

This is an interesting book about the life of an amazing woman who lived through the horrors of the French Revolution. Madame Roland is an interesting woman with an amazing life, and this book could have been better if it was written in a bit less eloquent style. The author writes similar to most grand philosophers I have been graced to lay my eyes upon. *coughs* I would recommend this book to anyone who hasn’t heard of Madame Roland and would like to learn more about an empowering woman 1700’s

[Aubrey]

"Oh Liberty, Liberty! What many crimes have been committed in thy name!" I read this book as a kid and it sparked my interest in the French Revolution. I even remember that particular line, as the book moved me so.

[Phil Syphe]

Before reading this biography my preconception of Madame Roland was that she pushed for Louis XVI's and Marie Antoinette's execution - or rather their vile murders - and that she was a black-hearted fanatic. Pleased to say my ignorance regarding this great lady has been remedied.

Although Madame Roland was a prime mover during the dastardly French Revolution, her intentions were for the good of the nation. She did not desire the deaths of the monarchy or the French aristocracy.

This tome had made clearer to me the background behind the three main fractions, namely the Royalists, the Girondins, and the Jacobins. For some reason I thought Madame Roland was a leading force in the Jacobins, who were merciless terrorists, but she was in fact an influential member of the Girondins, who originally wanted to keep a limited monarchy, similar to England at the time (the late 1780s/early 1790s).

In hindsight, it's a shame the Girondins couldn't have compromised with the Royalists and perhaps turned the tide of the ocean of blood, but instead they tried reasoning with the Jacobins; a party who couldn't be reasoned with. As a result the Girondins at length found themselves in the same dreaded position as the aristocrats.

Madame Roland herself was a fascinating woman, possessing great knowledge, courage, and selflessness. She left behind many memoirs for future historians. She was imprisoned by the Jacobins because of her influence on their rivals and for her association with them. She was beheaded for the same reasons. This is one of many outrageous reasons for murder during the Reign of Terror. Few who met with the guillotine were actually guilty of any crime.

Here's an apt quote from this biography:

“France, even in its darkest hour, was rather ashamed to behead a woman, upon whom the eyes of all Europe were fixed, simply for being the wife of her husband and the friend of his friends.”

I would've rated this book with more than 3 stars, but as with Mr Abbott's other works, some of his digressions, his bias, and his overuse of the passive voice detract from the text on the whole. For example, he invariably writes "The father of Jane" or "The mother of Jane" as opposed to "Jane's father" or "Jane's mother". It strikes me as odd for an established writer to avoid the active voice so frequently.

Regarding bias, Mr Abbott always favours the devoutly religious and dutiful housewives. He expressed his disapprobation when members of the twenty-one Girondins, who were having their last meal before the following day's execution, managed to put their impending doom aside and have a laugh together. Mr Abbott felt that they should not take death so lightly and that they should not have been laughing together during their final hours.

We're all entitled to our own opinions, and my view is that the condemned men had every right to behave this way. What right has anyone who has never faced such horrors as this to judge those who have?

But on the most part this is a worthwhile read. I'm sure there are more superior biographies out there on the fascinating Madame Roland than this nineteenth-century publication, but as this is available from Project Gutenberg for free, I can't complain.

I feel Madame Roland deserves to be remembered. Here's a quote by Mr Abbott that sums up the talented lady:

“Her case is one of the most extraordinary the history of the world has presented, in which the very highest degree of heroism is combined with the most resistless charms of feminine loveliness.”