Gendering the French Revolution: Carlyle and French women

My study will trace the roots of misogyny in Thomas Carlyle and the Victorian culture. I will draw on feminist theory, psychoanalytic theory and historicist theory on gender and integrate the psychological analysis of Carlyle into a profile of Victorian masculinity and femininity. My principal text will be The French Revolution.;To trace Carlyle's misogynistic psychic development. I will present in Chapter 1. Jessica Benjamin's theory of domination in The Bonds of Love. By combining psychoanalytic theory and feminist theory. she provides a new understanding of individuation and subjectivity. In order to understand Carlyle in the context of the composition of male gender. I will integrate Benjamin's theory with Herbert Sussman's conception of manliness in Victorian Masculinities. Sussman provides the link between Benjamin's theory and Carlyle and the Victorian age. In addition, I will illustrate how Sussman and Benjamin reveal the sexual implications of an unstable identity, which affects erotic relationships, as well as one's role in society.;In Chapter 2, I will apply Benjamin's theory of domination to reconstruct the psychological biography of Carlyle to illustrate how his relationship with his parents reveals his development toward misogyny. I will also present how Carlyle's perception of women affected his relationship to his wife, Jane Welsh.;In a close reading of the text, in Chapter 3, I will illustrate how Carlyle's use of mythological and biblical terminology results in a denigrating representation of women in The French Revolution. In contrast, I will present his portrayal of the men, which is based on his conception of a hero, and therefore, a more positive representation.;In Chapter 4, I will present, Carlyle's social and political philosophy, which informs his viewpoint of women's domestic role in society.;In the final chapter, I will present the self-image of French women who participated in the ideals of the Enlightenment, which Carlyle could not recognize.;As a contribution to Carlyle and Victorian scholarship, I will establish his psychological and cultural specificity of gender projection and a new understanding of Carlyle's position in the conception of Victorian masculine culture.