1. Melissa Wroblewski
Historical Question: Were women considered capable of virtue in the Enlightenment?
History 343: The Enlightenment
7 December 2015
Admired, Not Equal
While the Enlightenment is often characterized as an intellectual movement, a better
word is mentality. Defining the years from the 1680s to the 1790s as a mindset allows for a
better explanation of a time period that was not characterized by a shift of thought from one set
of ideas to another but a shift from one way of thinking to another. The Enlightenment changed
many values, ideals, and practices that were accepted and admired.1 Among the values most
philosophes saw as the embodying the spirit the Enlightenment were the cultivation of freedom,
education, and virtue. However, while they called for those values, not everyone seemed entitled
to them. New ways of understanding class, gender, and race, were offered by the Enlightenment,
however, intellectuals would not be comfortable with the implications of the new way of
thinking for years. For most writers in the eighteenth century, women were at best virtuous
objects rather than subjects capable of achieving virtue.
In their book, Eighteenth-Century Europe, Isser Woloch and Gregory Brown argue that
the natural philosophers of the Enlightenment had two main ideas: “one, the ability of human
reason to produce reliable valuable knowledge about nature from sense experience; and two, the
importance of communicating knowledge with others.”2 The first idea comes into play in
conjunction with the requirement of reason and logic to back up arguments. The second idea,
however, is exhibited through studies of not only academic books and universities, but of public
1 Isaac Kramnick, ed., The Portable Enlightenment Reader (London: Penguin, 1995), x.
2 Isser Woloch and Gregory Brown, Eighteenth-Century Europe: Tradition and Progress, 1715-
1789, 2nd ed. (W.W. Norton, 2012), 201.

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life. The Enlightenment challenged the traditional view of academics as solitary studies with the
ideal of the public sphere. Woloch and Brown define the public sphere as an ideal place where
scholars were welcome to speak about ideas: “the public sphere [was] a space free from
domination and coercion.”3 Places such as salons, bars, and coffee houses became centers for
thought and discussion.
While a place free and open for ideas was a nice ideal, Woloch and Brown point out the
reality that, “No social interaction was in fact open to all comers or free from internal
hierarchy.”4 Authors, such as John Priestley, were frustrated by some of the practical problems
for participating in conversation: “The business of [natural] philosophy is so multiplied, that all
the books of general philosophical transactions cannot be purchased by many persons or read by
any person.”5 But there were other constraints. The Earl of Shaftesbury in the early eighteenth
century noted that when individuals spoke in the public sphere they should always “adhere to
rules of ‘politeness.’”6 An example of the formality and required politeness when speaking in
public is demonstrated in the film, The Mission. In the scene where the Jesuits are asking
Cardinal Altamirano (Ray McAnally), who they must address as “your Eminence,” for
protection, Rodrigo Mendoza (Robert De Niro) is reprimanded for speaking directly and in a
challenging manner to a higher official, and is forced to give a heartfelt apology.7 This scene
illustrated both the politeness required to speak in public and the hierarchical structure that was
still normal social practice. Another limitation on participation in the public sphere was the
question of who would be considered equally capable of participating. In The Mission, the pro-
3 Woloch and Brown, 215.
4 Woloch and Brown, 215.
5 Kramnick, 69.
6 Woloch and Brown, 215.
7 The Mission, dir. R. Joffé (Warner Brothers, 1986).

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slavery faction call the native Guarani “animals”. In Enlightenment Europe, women faced similar
stereotypes about their capacity for true virtue.
The modern definition of virtue, behavior showing high moral standards, comes close to
how the philosophes would have defined the value, but not all saw virtue the same way. As
Jean-Edme Rommilly put it in the Encyclopédie, “The word virtue is an abstract word, offering
at first to those who hear it nothing precise and determined.”8 However, Rommilly went on to
explain how the term virtue originally was used to explain strength that was gained through
courage. Rommilly stated, “We are aware that the word virtue referred originally to force and
courage; it in fact applied only to those who, weak by nature, became strong through courage; to
vanquish oneself, to subjugate one’s desires to reason, that is the continual exercise of virtue.”9
Montesquieu defined virtue using parables. In the Persian Letters, a story of a peoples
called the Troglodytes is used to illustrate the ideal of virtue. The story begins with the
Troglodytes electing a new ruler and slaughtering him and his family shortly after election. The
people agree that they will not follow laws of anyone, but of their individual self-interest.
Montesquieu describes this when he states, “Freed of this fresh yoke, the Troglodytes now let
themselves be guided solely by their natural savagery; they agreed that they would no longer
obey anyone, but that each would consult his own interest without reference to others’ needs.”10
The Troglodytes continue in this manner, only looking out for themselves becoming more and
more unjust and selfish until a plague wipes out the majority of the peoples as doctors refuse to
serve such a cruel people. As stated, “ ‘Be off with you, you unjust men,’ he told them, ‘your
souls are sick with a poison deadlier than that for which you seek a cure: you are not worthy of
8 Jean-Edme Rommilly, “Virtue,” in The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d’Alembert Collaborative
Translation Project, trans. M. McAlpin (Ann Arbor: U. of Michigan Library, 2005).
9 Rommilly, “Virtue.”
10 Montesquieu, Persian Letters, trans. M. Mauldon. (NY: Oxford U. Pr., 2008), 16.

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occupying a place on this earth, because you are devoid of humanity, and know nothing of the
rules of fairness; I believe I would offend the gods, who are punishing you, if I opposed the
justice of their anger.’”11
However, the story of the Troglodytes does not end there, a small group had moved away
from the unjust members of their peoples and began a new community. This group of
Troglodytes learned from the mistakes of their ancestors and were a happy, fair, and virtuous
people. As explained, “While they ate a frugal meal, they sang of the injustices of the first
Troglodytes, and their misfortunes; of a virtue born anew in the heart of a new people, and its
felicity; they sang of the greatness of the gods, their everlasting favors to those who prayed to
them, and their inevitable anger towards those who feared them not.”12
Both Montesquieu and Rommilly agree that the term and practices of virtue involve
moral laws that all peoples of the world are given by the Creator. However, while Rommilly
argues that governments are capable of creating laws that enforce virtue, Montesquieu’s
Troglodytes see laws enforcing “good” behavior make humans less virtuous. Rommilly states,
Let us simply observe that however numerous the classification of these duties,
all flow from the principle we have just established; virtue is singular, simple,
and inalterable in its essence, it is the same in all eras, all climates, all
governments; it is the Creator's law given to all men, speaking to all in the same
language: do not seek for what constitutes virtue in positive laws, nor in human
conventions; these laws are born, altered, and succeed each other, like those who
make them; but virtue knows nothing of such variations, it is immutable like its
Author.13
While Montesquieu believes virtue is a moral issue, he views laws and governments forcing men
to live virtuously lessens the standards of virtue men personally would hold themselves to
11 Montesquieu, 17-18.
12 Montesquieu, 19.
13 Jean-Edme Rommilly, “Virtue,” The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d’Alembert Collaborative

5. 5
without government laws. He concludes this when he states, “I think it best not to employ purely
abstract reasoning: sometimes simply to persuade people of a truth is not sufficient, one must
also make them feel it; moral truths belong in this category, and perhaps this little narrative will
impress you more deeply than would a subtle philosophical argument.”14 At the end of the
parable, the good group of Troglodytes once again insist upon a ruler which leads to the idea that
while virtue resides naturally in the human race, it is easier to be told to be virtuous than to have
to do it oneself. Montesquieu explains at the end of his narrative with the election of a new ruler,
‘Oh cursed day, why have I lived this long? Then, in stern tones, he exclaimed:
‘I can see exactly what is happening, Troglodytes; your virtue is becoming
burdensome; in your present situation, without a leader, you have to be virtuous
in spite of yourselves, for otherwise you could not survive, you would fall into
the misfortunes of your earliest forefathers; but you find this yoke too heavy to
bear, you prefer to be subject to a prince and to obey his laws, which would be
less strict than your own customs; you know that then you will be able to satisfy
your ambition, amass riches, and live a life of ease and self-indulgent pleasure;
and that, as long as you avoid serious crime, you will have no need of virtue.’
For a moment he fell silent, his tears more copious than ever. ‘And what do you
require of me? How can I give an order to a Troglodyte? Do you want him to do
a virtuous deed, because I command him to do it, he who would do it anyway
without my intervention, simply because it is how Nature guides him? Oh
Troglodytes, I have reached the end of my days, my blood runs cold in my
veins; soon I shall be meeting your sacred forebears; why do you want me to
grieve them, by having to tell them that I left you under the rule of something
other than virtue?’15
While, there are even more extensive and elaborate definitions of the word virtue, the majority of
definitions center around the key components of a natural inclination to virtue through laws
created by a higher power, whether spiritual or governmental that leads men to selfless and just
acts.
During the Enlightenment, in the practice of questioning all beliefs and practices, the
topic of women and their place in society was brought into consideration; and just as many other
14 Montesquieu, 15.
15 Montesquieu, 22.

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subject, the issue had an array of opinions that range from sole objectification to deserving
respect. Authors such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, and Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart viewed women as objects to be admired by men, guided by men, and subordinate to men.
However, in opposition to Kant, Rousseau, and Mozart, authors such as Francoise de Graffigny,
Olympe de Gouges, Mary Wollstonecraft argued for the rights of women.
In her Declaration of the Rights of Woman, de Gouges questions what right men have to
force women to be the weaker of the two sexes. In the spirit of the Enlightenment, she brings in
the study of nature and the lack of oppression she sees in the animal kingdom, the lack of natural
reasoning for having a dominant sex. She states,
Man, are you capable of being just? It is a woman who poses the question; you
will not deprive her of that right at least. Tell me, what give you sovereign
empire to oppress my sex? Your strength? Your talents? Observe the Creator in
his wisdom; survey in all her grandeur that nature with whom you seem to want
to be in harmony, and give me, if you dare, an example of this tyrannical
empire. Go back to animals, consult the elements, study plants, finally glance at
all the modification of organic matter, and surrender to the evidence when I
offer you the means search, problem and distinguish, if you can the sexes in the
administration of nature. Everywhere you will find them mingled; everywhere
they cooperate in harmonious togetherness in this immortal masterpiece.16
De Gouges is pointing out that the male academic culture that focuses on how
society should reflect natural order, is in even the most basic of functions, equality of
sexes, falling short; somehow forcing women to be subordinate to men.
Arguments made by women for women can also be seen in Francoise de Graffigny’s
Letters of a Peruvian Woman. In the end of the story, rather than have a Zilia rely on a man and
marriage, this story is the first introduction to the idea that women can find happiness out of
16 Olympe de Gouges, “The Rights of Woman,” in The Portable Enlightenment Reader, ed. I.
Kramnick (NY: Penguin, 1995), 611.

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marriage and outside of romantic love. Zilia surrounds herself with friendship and grows through
experiences and knowledge rather than by secluding herself in a house to raise children.17
One of the few male authors who depicted women as capable of virtue was Montesquieu. While
the majority of the letters in the Persian Letters on women focus on women’s captivity, one of
the later letters focuses on a woman, Zulema, discussing the Muslim tradition of a male only
after-life.18 Zulema explains that in Persia along with the belief that Paradise is only for men,
there are groups that claim women do not even have souls. However, Zulema argues that those
who believe in the myth that women have no souls are only furthering a claim that has no factual
basis. She redefines the notion of virtuous men gaining God’s rewards into all of God’s virtuous
children gaining rewards. She states,
‘God will not limit himself in his rewards; and just as those men who have lived
virtuously, and have not abused the power they have over us here on earth, will
inhabit a Paradise so full of heavenly, exquisite beauties, that if a mortal man
had seen them he would instantly kill himself in his impatience to enjoy the; so
too will virtuous women inhabit a place of pure delight, where they will be
intoxicated by flowing streams of sensual pleasure, with sublime men who will
submit to them the women will each have her own seraglio where these men will
be confined, with eunuchs to guard them even more faithful then are our own.’
19
Zulema rationalizes Persian women’s lack of freedom during their life on earth by believing in
an afterlife where men are subject to the captivity women face on earth.
Montesquieu was an exception. Most other male Enlightenment authors allow women virtue
only as a matter of chastity. While there are many examples of women who overcame obstacles
during the Enlightenment and became educated and respected parts of the Enlightenment’s
17 Francoise de Graffigny, Letters of a Peruvian Women, trans. J. Mallinson (NY: Oxford UP,
2009).
18 Montesquieu, 188.
19 Montesquieu, 188.

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academic and philosophical society. The majority of literature from the period has examples of
women as second-class citizens incapable of gaining equality morally, legally, or academically.
In regards to women being subordinate to men, Louis de Jaucourt explained how women and
wives in particular should specifically obey their husbands. He stated, “Such that the woman
must necessarily be subordinated to her husband and obey his orders in all domestic affairs.20
Continuing women’s lack of agency, Rousseau stated, “If woman is made to please and to be in
subjection to man, she ought to make herself pleasing in his eyes and not provoke him to anger;
her strength is in her charms, by their means she should compel him to discover and his use
strength.”21 Woloch and Brown discuss Rousseau’s position on the role of women. Rousseau
said that women have two main contributions to make to society: sexual pleasure and social roles
such as child bearing. Rousseau’s positions on women seem to come from his firm belief that the
physical and biological differences between men and women led women to be the less moral and
useful members of society.22
Kant continued this sentiment and elaborated on a women’s lack of intellectual depth
only acting on instincts to do what brings happiness to them. He stated,
The virtue of a woman is a beautiful virtue. That of the male sex should be a
noble virtue. Women will avoid the wicked not because it is unright, but because
it is ugly; and virtuous actions mean to them! Woman is intolerant of all
commands and all morose constraint. They do something only because it pleases
them, and the art consists in making only that please them which is good. I
hardly believe that the fair sex is capable of principles, and I hope by that not to
offend, for these are also extremely rare in the male.23
20 Louis, chevalier de Jaucourt, “Wife,” The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d’Alembert
Collaborative Translation Project, trans. N. J. Andrews (Ann Arbor: U of Michigan Library,
2005).
21 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “Duties of Women,” in The Portable Enlightenment Reader,
ed. I. Kramnick (NY: Penguin, 1995), 569.
22 Woloch and Brown, 201.
23 Immanuel Kant, “The Fair Sex,” in The Portable Enlightenment Reader, ed. I. Kramnick (NY:
Penguin, 1995), 583.

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With this statement, Kant argued that while women may at times tend towards an action that is
morally virtuous, it is because they are lured towards beauty, not because they possess morality.
Mozart’s comments concerning women in The Magic Flute, accuse women of lacking any sort of
morality, possessing only the ability to corrupt and deceive men and ultimately lead them to
destruction. He writes, “Guard yourself from women’s tricks: this is the first duty of our order!
Many a wise man has been deceived, has failed and never seen his error; he himself finally
abandoned, his faithfulness paid back with scorn! In vain were all his struggled, for death and
despair were his reward.”24 Author of Mozart and the Enlightenment: Truth, Virtue, and Beauty
in Mozart's Operas, Nicholas Till analyzes the themes that are seen and utilized throughout
Mozart’s Operas. The distrust of women that is seen in the example of The Magic Flute, is a
motif throughout most of Mozart’s operas.25 He views women as objects of sexual pleasure, but
also as beasts who can cause destruction.
Furthermore, other representations of the Enlightenment period regard women in the
same manner as Mozart, as capable of destruction rather than virtue. For example in the film,
The Triumph of Love, Hermocrates has taught Agis that women, especially the Princess, will
only bring corruption and deceit into his life and love is the worst emotion of them all.
Furthermore, the Princess is depicted as someone who will lie to get what she wants, Agis, and
will do anything it takes to get him to fall in love with her, even going so far as to disguise
24 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, “The Magic Flute,” in The Portable Enlightenment Reader, ed. I.
Kramnick (NY: Penguin, 1995), 591.
25 Nicholas Till, Mozart and the Enlightenment: Truth, Virtue, and Beauty in Mozart's
Opera (NY: Norton, 1996).

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herself as a man.31 This modern representation equated women to the moral level or children,
needing to be told what is wrong and right and going too far to gain the pleasure they desire.
Another example of a visual representation of a woman lacking moral standards and therefore
virtue is in the film, The Mission. In the beginning of the movie when Rodrigo Mendoza returns
from a journey he finds the women he loves has betrayed him and gone to be with his brother.
This act of betrayal leads Rodrigo to kill his own brother and set his life on a path of destruction,
until his meets Father Gabriel. However, just as in The Triumph of Love, a women’s lies are what
leads to a man’s downfall.32 Even in Voltaire’s Candide, there are examples of women causing
pain to men. Dr. Pangloss, Candide’s tutor, is discovered by Candide living on the streets
covered in a disease that he contracted from a house-maid during intercourse. Although Dr.
Pangloss does not seem to resent or blame the women, the narrative still causes the reader to
dislike the women. Furthermore, in this example, this women is clearly not capable of virtue in
the moral sense or in the sense of chastity.33
While women played a role in the academic society of the Enlightenment period, the
impact and role was small. The obstacle of male perception of women stood in their way of
making a greater contribution to academics and society as a whole. Their perceived lack of moral
fiber created boundaries and fear that their ideas would lead to a negative impact on the
academic society and even on society as a whole. Women were meant to be admired by men,
guided by men, subordinate to men, but not equal to men for what they lacked in virtue, they
made up for in deceit.
31 The Triumph of Love, dir. C. Peploe (Paramount, 2001).
32 The Mission, dir. R. Joffé (Warner Brothers, 1986).
33 Voltaire, Candide, trans. R. Pearson (NY: Oxford UP, 1990).

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Bibliography
I. Reference Sources
A. Websites
Powell, Kat. “Feminine Sensibility and Virtue.” Romantic Politics.
http://web.utk.edu/~gerard/romanticpolitics/feminism.html
B. Books
C. Articles & Chapters
II. Scholarly Secondary Sources
A. Monographs
Brown, Gregory S., and Isser Woloch. Eighteenth-Century Europe: Tradition and
Progress, 1715-1789. Second Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012.
Morse, David. The Age of Virtue: British Culture from the Restoration to
Romanticism. Houndsmills: Macmillan, 2000.
Till, Nicholas. Mozart and the Enlightenment: Truth, Virtue, and Beauty in Mozart's
Opera. New York: W. W. Norton & Company,1996.
B. Anthologies
Kramnick, Isaac, editor. The Portable Enlightenment Reader. New York: Penguin,
1995.
C. Articles
Merikoski, Ingrid A. “Adam Smith and the Virtues of Enlightenment.” Action Institute
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D. Book Reviews
III. Primary Sources
A. Archives & Collections

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B. Images & Other Artifacts
C. Written Documents (Published and Unpublished)
Astell, Mary. “Some Reflections Upon Marriage.” In The Portable Enlightenment
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Boucher d'Argis, Antoine-Gaspard. "Marriage." The Encyclopedia of Diderot &
d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Naomi J. Andrews.
Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2005.
Constantia. “On the Equality of the Sexes.” In The Portable Enlightenment Reader,
ed. I. Kramnick. New York: Penguin, 1995, 601-609.
Diderot, Denis. "Citizen." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative
Translation Project. Translated by Sujaya Dhanvantari. Ann Arbor: Michigan
Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2005.
Gouges, Olympe De. “The Rights of Woman .” In The Portable Enlightenment
Reader, ed. I. Kramnick. New York: Penguin, 1995, 609-618.
Graffigny, Francoise de. Letters of a Peruvian Women. Translated by Jonathan
Mallinson. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Graham, Catherine Sawbridge Macaulay. “Letters on Education.” In The Portable
Enlightenment Reader, ed. I. Kramnick. New York: Penguin, 1995, 591-601.
Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de. "Wife." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert
Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Naomi J. Andrews. Ann
Arbor:Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2004.
Kant, Immanuel. “The Fair Sex.” In The Portable Enlightenment Reader, ed. I.
Kramnick. New York: Penguin, 1995, 580-586.
Montesquieu. Persian Letters. Translated by Margaret Mauldon. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2008.
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. “The Magic Flute.” In The Portable Enlightenment
Reader, ed. I. Kramnick. New York: Penguin, 1995, 591.

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Paine, Thomas. “An Occasional Letter on the Female Sex.” In The Portable
Enlightenment Reader, ed. I. Kramnick. New York: Penguin, 1995, 586-590.
Romilly, Jean-Edme. "Virtue." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert
Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Mary McAlpin. Ann Arbor:
Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2005.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. “Duties of Woman.” In The Portable Enlightenment Reader,
ed. I. Kramnick. New York: Penguin, 1995, 568-579.
Voltaire. Candide and Other Stories. Translated by Roger Pearson. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1990.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. “Vindication of the Rights of Woman.” In The Portable
Enlightenment Reader, ed. I. Kramnick. New York: Penguin, 1995, 618-628.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Women. Oxford: Oxford UP,
2008.
IV. Other Sources
A. Videos
The Mission. Directed by Roland Joffé. Warner Brothers, 1986. DVD
The Triumph of Love. Directed by C. Peploe. Paramount, 2001. DVD