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Study on Michelet's View of Women 

Yining Ma 
College of the Humanities, Jilin University, Changchun, China 

13604966777@163.com 

Abstract. In recent years, Jules Michelet has been increasingly studied, but most of them focus on 
his Romantic Historiography as a whole. As a representative figure of French Romantic 
Historiography in the 19th century, Michelet paid special attention to women in addition to country 
and revolutionary history. This paper analyzes Michelet's view of women in terms of his attitude 
toward women, the moral qualities he advocated, and the ideal social relations he constructed for 
women. Michelet justified the historically stigmatized women and emphasized the outstanding 
contribution of women in French history. Michelet saw tolerance and elegance as inherently virtues 
of women, on the basis of which the ideal woman should also be humble, chaste, and patriotic. 
Michelet regarded the "supernature", which is a combination of the spiritual qualities of both genders 
as the perfect one, and he constructed a set of gender relations in which both sides are unified, 
complementary, harmonious and even equal. He valued the social value of women's pregnancy and 
child education, and encouraged them to devote themselves to society and the nation without leaving 
the family in order to achieve the unity of the people. There is no denying that Michelet's view of 
women is limited by the times, but it is still highly progressive and noteworthy. 

Keywords: Michelet; Romantic historiography; View of women; History of historiography. 

1. Introduction 

1.1 Research Background  

It is generally believed that Romanticism emerged at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries out of 
disappointment with the enlighteners' construction of the "reason kingdom". It raised doubts about 
the slogan of "freedom, equality, and fraternity" in French Revolution, and dissatisfied with the 
capitalist social order. The Romantic Historiography that had dominated the western history research 
was also developed under this trend. Jules Michelet is considered as one of the most representative 
Romantic historians of the 19th century. Entering in the 20th century, his ideas attracted the attention 
of famous scholars such as Hayden White and Roland Barthes, and the Annales school historian and 
postmodernist thinkers such as Foucault were also influenced by Michelet's Romantic 
historiographical thought. In recent years, the attention to and research on Romantic Historiography 
has increased in China, and Michelet's works have been translated into Chinese in large numbers. 
However, domestic scholars have mostly studied Romantic Historiography and its paradigms as a 
whole, and few have paid particularly attention to Michelet and his ideas. In the Revolution, women 
entered the stage of history and had a great social impact, which also brought about drastic changes 
in their social status and social roles. Therefore, Michelet showed his warm and dedicated concern 
for women in his writing. His characteristic view of women and historical view complement each 
other. The construction of the feminine figure in Michelet's works and his view of women has been 
reviewed and refined in this paper, in order to further understand his ideology and paradigm, which 
in turn slightly complements the studies of 19th century Romanticism Historiography. 

1.2 Current Status of Domestic and Foreign Research 

Western research on Michelet began in the last century and has been fruitful so far. The famous 
critic and theorist Roland Barthes (1) has conducted a comprehensive study of Michelet's work, which 
is rich in structuralism. He argued that Michelet does not promote female superiority on the premise 
of male/female dichotomy, but rather synthesizes the imagined qualities and strengths of each gender 
to create a "supernature". Based on Michelet's use of intention, Anne Vincent-Buffault (2) believed 



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that he highlights the importance of emotional expression and builds a link between femininity and 
humanism through the image "tears".  

Michelet's Romantic views in terms of philosophy, history, nature and society are presented as a 
complex whole in his writing. With the purpose of rationalizing the relation between the various 
elements of his thought, Edward K. Kaplan aimed to synthesize the views expressed in Michelet's 
writing on a variety of topics as natural history, love, psychology of women, the "sociology" of man, 
and history. Jordanova (3) proposed that the relationship between Romanticism and natural science as 
presented in Michelet's work needs to be further examined, as in fact his imagination of nature does 
not derive from Romanticism, but is shaped by his high reliance on contemporary scientific and 
medical thought. 

With the intention of exploring the internal and external formation of Michelet's Romantic thought, 
Chase (4) illustrated Michelet's defense of democracy in the context of nineteenth-century French 
society and history. Mitzman (5) discussed the formation mechanism of Michelet's thought by focusing 
on three transitions in his personal experience, with particular emphasis on the impact of the changes 
in his life. Another article "The Sexual Inspectorate: Michelet and the Republican Mission, 1868-
1870"(6) summarizes the pattern of Michelet's discourse by exploring the clues in the whole of 
"Michelet's psychosexual changes, political idealism, and French republican morality". Steedman (7) 

explored the connection between Michelet's writing and epidemic fever. McCallum (8) discussed the 
interruption of Michelet's academic career caused by the political conflicts and how it affected his 
academic life, and further referred to the unique construction of the concept of "the people" in 
Michelet's history writing. He also pointed out that Michelet's historiography has special significance 
in the structuralist and post-structuralist era and that his model of historical narrative is essential to 
the construction of France.  

In China, researchers who have focused on Michelet have mainly discussed his historiographical 
thought from various dimensions. Wang Lihong has devoted his research to focusing on Michelet's 
historiographical concept of "history and resurrection" and his contribution to the development of 
Romantic Historiography (9). Wang Chaoqun argued that Michelet, in his interpretation of the 
Revolution, emphasizes the impelling effect of emotion on events, and realized the importance of 
emotion earlier than the Annales School and exerted considerable influence on its development (10). 
Wang suggested that "the people" is the central element in Michelet's narrative of the Revolution, and 
"love" is the main motive for its outbreak. Michelet's revolutionary narrative is overly poetic and 
heroic, reflecting the limitations of his time. Liang Ximin took the perspective of history education, 
and emphasized the emotional elements in Michelet's historical narrative and its positive significance 
for domestic history education (11). Wu Yundi discussed the historical imagination in Michelet's 
Renaissance writing. On the one hand, visual images stimulate Michelet's historical imagination, and 
on the other hand, artworks serve as a projection of his imagination, enriching his historical 
interpretation of the Renaissance (12). Tan Xuan illustrated that Michelet, like many historians of his 
time, attaches importance to the emotional history writing of the revolutionaries, but they all neglect 
the emotional factors from the socio-political elites.  

In studies related to the formation of the Romantic Historiography as a theme, Michelet remains 
the focus of attention. Cui Jing (14) discussed the social basis and influence of the rise of Romantic 
Historiography in the 19th century, and explored the rationality of the formation of the 
historiographical ideas of radical Romantic historians such as Michelet. Xu Ping believed that 
Michelet, as a representative figure of 19th-century Romantic historians, reveals both the universal 
and special significance of the revolution in his history writing. Moreover, the revolutionary elements 
that appear to have sprung from the revolution are in fact conceived throughout French history (15).  

Some scholars have also studied Michelet with the support of literary and sociological theories. 
Based on Roland Barthes' Michelet, Zheng Na used the theory of literature and art to explore the 
structural network based on the theme by structuralist approach, and considered the relationship 
between theme criticism and structuralism. Furthermore, based on the change of Barth's attitude 
towards the literary subject, she probed into the influence of the change of the literary subject on the 



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practice of literary criticism. (13). Chen Jianping discussed the discourse construction and nature 
writing in Michelet's prose from the perspective of ecological linguistics, and pointed out its 
unification of humanistic concern and social significance in human-nature-social ecology. 

2. Michelet's Attitude towards Women  

2.1 Eulogy and Praise 

The most obvious attitude of Michelet to women is eulogy and praise. He subjectively praised 
women and emphasized their value, while affirming their historical contributions. 

Michelet emphasized the beauty and value of women, and he celebrated both their physical and 
spiritual qualities. On the one hand, he extolled the virtues of women's physiology including 
menstruation, which plays an important role in the continuity of the nation. "The sacred passion of 
woman is stigmatized and despised in the Middle Ages, which is called impure; but it is why she 
becomes the object of poetic worship (1)." Michelet also used poetic language to celebrate the female 
reproductive function. As Roland Barthes suggested, Michelet's whale is "just a phase of woman" 
with the same gestation period and nursing functions as woman, and he compared the whale to woman 
as a perfect creation (1). On the other hand, Michelet saw women as noble by nature, for others, and 
self-giving as their nature and mission. In fact, this is a virtue of women promoted by the male 
mainstream society, but Michelet regarded it as a female nature and highly appreciated it. He argued 
that the world depends on women for its existence, because women's generous, delicate and innocent 
nature can bring the two genders closer together, and ignite men's love for women. On the one hand, 
it creates new life to sustain nations and countries, while on the other hand, it inspires men's creativity 
in civilization, science and art. The nature of women to give of themselves to others makes them more 
sublime than men. In general, from the perspective of Michelet, "women are the fire of love and 
family, the cradle of the future, the school of children. In short, women are the altar of God (16)."  

Michelet also valued the historical contribution of women. In his History of France, he 
"resurrected" Joan of Arc in detail from her revelation to martyrdom. Michelet highlighted her 
outstanding contribution to the country. Joan of Arc in his writing is a saint in heaven, a heroine on 
earth, and a representative of France and its people. In History of the French Revolution, he also 
attached importance to highlighting the contribution of women in the Revolution. Michelet saw 
women as exerting unprecedented social influence in the Revolution and forerunners, and even as 
leaders of the male revolutionaries: "Nobody knows whether the men would have marched toward 
Versailles without women at the head of the line……The people with the most popular spirit-I would 
say the most intuitive and aware group-is undoubtedly the women (18)." Michelet regarded the 
Revolution as a time of unprecedented unity and love among the people, so he considered the 
Revolution as the culmination of human history, and the women at the forefront as part of the people, 
the leaders of the people, the greatest women of all. Michelet fondly exclaimed for the female 
revolutionaries: "What a noble time it is! These women deserve to be loved and enshrined by men as 
the embodiment of their ideals, their homeland and their virtue!... They will also be immortalized 
(18)."  

2.2 Sympathy and Compassion 

Michelet narrated history and talked about women sympathetically. His sympathy for women is 
mainly reflected in his defense and de-stigmatization of women who have suffered injustice in history.  

In his work, Michelet resolutely defended the "witches," who were historically and premeditatedly 
slaughtered. In the context of traditional religion and demonology in Europe, witches are usually old, 
widowed or unmarried women who are evil, cunning and dangerous agents of the devil. They are the 
epitome and concentrated embodiment of the fact that women are weaker and inferior than men (19). 
But in Michelet's view, although witches are composed of women, it is by no means entirely feminine. 
Rather, it combines the strengths and advantages of both genders. "The witch has all the 
characteristics of the androgynous principle... a superbly integrated gender that combines the 



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strengths of both sides (1)." At the same time, Michelet believed that women's keen nature and intuition 
make them more psychic, but that such gift does not generate evil, but the origin of religion and 
science, "'Nature turns them into witches', all due to women's gift and their disposition. Periodic 
fanaticism leads to her being born a prophet. The beginnings of religion and science are so simple, so 
touching! Thereafter, all things are divided into categories... However, in the initial season, woman 
used to be everything (1)."  

On the other hand, Michelet is keen to emphasize the great contribution of the "witches" to the 
preservation of women's health. In the Middle Ages, women took the risk of being stigmatized as 
witches, making medicinal herbs from slightly poisonous plants in order to cure women's diseases: 
"As the first work on the subject, his (referring to Balasazar) book on women's diseases is admirable 
and brilliant, which is so profoundly moving: and I have no doubt that it comes especially from the 
experience of women themselves, the women to whom people appeal for alms: I mean, the witches 
who go around the country and deliver babies... especially for women. They are the only doctors(1) ." 
Michelet has always stressed the crucial role of female pregnancy in the perpetuation of the human 
race, and given the outstanding contribution of the so-called witch community to the preservation of 
female reproductive health, to the promotion of production, and thus to the maintenance of the race, 
witches should not only not be distorted as the embodiment of evil, but should receive moral praise 
for their kindness and goodness.  

3. Michelet's View of Women 

3.1 Michelet's Construction of Gender Relations 

A slight discernment of Michelet's construction of gender relations is a prerequisite for a specific 
exploration of his view of women. Michelet always believed that the ultimate unity of man, man and 
nature, and man and God is entirely possible, and all things are in an organic whole (20). Therefore, 
he constructed a unified relationship between the two genders: The two sides are fundamentally 
different, not alike, but they complement each other as a whole, and what unites them is love. Michelet 
argued that all the causes of gender separation should be rejected, including, but not limited to, the 
luxury and corruption of aristocratic women, the addiction of men to tobacco and alcohol, and even 
the advance of urbanization and industrialization in France.  

In Michelet's view, the two genders are fundamentally different and complementary: men are 
creative and rational, while women are intuitive and instinctive, and there is no distinction between 
the two. First of all, a complete human being should combine the strengths of both genders, of 
temperament and reason, of instinct and thought, just as he himself is. And a true heroic figure should 
have the strengths of both genders, "Michelet's heroes are all androgynous beings... See Joan of Arc, 
a heroic woman who is not entirely female on her own, but because she is a woman with both genders 
of the spirit. None of Michelet's other heroes and heroines possesses this combination." Similarly, the 
people that Michelet celebrated are also transcendent, not as a definite collection of social classes but 
as the best combination of abstract wisdom and instinct, so that the subject of "the people" Michelet 
portrayed is very close to absolute justice.  

Michelet believed that men should respect and love women, and women should respect men, 
because they complement and fulfill each other. From his perspective, men shape women, creating 
everything for them including food, wealth, and happiness, while women likewise shape men, 
bringing joy and inspiration for them to create innovations. "Nature closes life with a triangle of dead 
sections: man, woman and child. People will always die and can only be redeemed by uniting together 
(16)." Michelet proposed that the family members should be united, just as he considered the unity and 
harmony of all human beings as the ideal, and the family is the core unit of society, so the unity and 
harmony of men, women and children is essential to achieve unity and harmony in society as a whole.  



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3.2 Michelet's Feminine Morality  

Michelet valued the moral qualities of women. On the one hand, he believed that nature has shaped 
women's praiseworthy nature, such as tolerance and delicacy, grace and purity, simplicity and chastity, 
which the women should practice. From his perspective, a woman's natural morality should continue 
from early childhood to adulthood that helps to close the relationship between her and men, and "a 
woman should be completely tolerant and graceful... Nature has created her and given her the 
tolerance. She also attributes it to human nature, which makes the masculine attractive and brings a 
divine smile to the whole society (16)." On the other hand, Michelet argued that women should love 
their country and their nation, which is "your second mother, your great mother, is your motherland 
(16). " Such quality is inspired by "maternity" and "love". The great patriotism sublimates women's 
morality, and their devotion to the patriotic cause makes them masculine, supernatural heroines, 
whose personal virtue defects as women can be ignored and redeemed by the glorious quality of 
patriotism. Such is the case with his portrayal of the female revolutionaries and moral example, 
Madame Roland.   

Michelet considered Madame Roland as a perfect moral example, and he dismissed all bad reviews 
of Madame Roland as smears. He portrayed Madame Roland as a woman who adheres to society's 
demands for feminine virtue, who is morally faithful to the end, but also independent in her thinking 
and in her love for her country. "She is on the straight but never idle and fanciful as other women, 
and she does not wear out her will by doing nothing. She is diligent and energetic, and for her, work 
is the guardian of morality. The beautiful creature lived and died with a sacred sense of duty, even to 
the end of her life (18)." The only doubtful flaw in Michelet's morality is the issue of her relationship 
with Boncal, for one of Michelet's great requirements for feminine morality is that a woman must be 
faithful to her husband in marriage. But with the outbreak of the Revolution, "she reverts to thinking 
of the world, of her country and her people... From then on, her country becomes her only lover (18)." 
Through patriotism, republicanism and revolution, Madame Roland also transforms from a dignified 
but ordinary woman into a heroine with perfect supernatural and masculine qualities. It not only 
realigns her relationship with her husband from an unharmonious couple who are about to lose their 
love and fidelity, to a comrade-in-arms who fight and sacrifice together, but also greatly preserves 
her virtue as a woman: purity.  

3.3 Michelet's Ideal Social Relationship for Women  

3.3.1 Women in family 

The key of the ideal social relations for women constructed by Michelet is that women cannot be 
separated from the family, which is the core of all social relations for women. As for the reasons, on 
the one hand, he believed that women are too weak to survive without the family. On the other hand, 
"love" and "maternity" are both the nature and the responsibility of women. 

Michelet believed that women could not live independently from their families without the 
protection of their families and men, and therefore they could not survive. Industrialization has 
changed the fate of European women and made them miserable. For those single women workers, 
"there are only two major industries that they could work in: weaving and sewing. No other work 
could be taken into consideration." But industrialization and the replacement of human labor by 
machines brought a huge loss to them, "How many women suffer from a death blow by the merciless 
weaving machine and sewing machine? Millions. They all starve to death, and that is the end of it 
(16)." The single women intellectuals face the same difficulties, who are scrutinized everywhere and 
even face threats to their personal safety. Therefore, even from the point of view of seeking their own 
happiness, women should return to their families and place themselves under the protection of their 
husbands, so they need to get married.  

Another reason why Michelet argued that women cannot be separated from the family is that 
maternity and love are their mission. She has a sacred responsibility correspondingly including taking 
care of the household, pregnancy and children education, and allocating her energy to her husband to 
keep their love. Michelet pointed out: "To raise a daughter is to raise society itself. Society is made 



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up of families, and the important role for women is to bring harmony to the family (16)." He suggested 
that to love children is innate in women, and that from the cradle women exude a fervent maternal 
nature. Michelet's mother and children in his writing are mutually indoctrinated and interdependent: 
if the child does not have a mother, it will surely die, and the mother depends on the child to live. He 
also believed that love is the mission of women, and that "the goal of women on earth, the obvious 
one, is love (16) ", while love is closely linked to maternity: "To become a mother, is the best state of 
love (16)."  

Michelet saw maternity as the root and basis of almost all the actions from women. On the one 
hand, women's natural maternity is the source of their love for the opposite gender, and "even in the 
blindest impulses, the maternal instinct still dominates everything (16)." Therefore, women do not lack 
love. She is the giver of love, assuming the responsibility and obligation to give love to men, and 
when men do not want to love her, her love returns to maternity and turns to the care of children, 
which may well make her a child educator. On the other hand, maternity is the main incentive for 
women to participate in social revolution, such as the female revolutionaries, who joined the 
revolution to protect the lives of their children: "Many of them has not eaten for three days. But the 
women cannot resign themselves to their fate, and they have children waiting to be fed! They are on 
patrol like lionesses. In every riot, the women react most violently and frantically, making even the 
men ashamed of their slowness and procrastination (17)." Similarly, in Michelet's view, women's 
unique talents are intuitive but not inherently rational, and women's subjective acceptance and 
learning of reason is often accompanied by a maternal drive, "(Women) start their free thinking 
through education, hope and the strength of maternity by thinking about the questions that have been 
in a woman's mind since the birth of her child... Long before a woman has a child of her own, she 
cries out in her mind: 'Ah! May this child grow up happy and well! May he be set free! The sacred 
freedom made by the heroes of old, will it shelter my child?' This is what women consider, and that 
is why when a mother or a sister keeps watch over a child playing in the garden, they are always 
contemplating and reading (18)."  

3.3.2 Social Value of Women Behavior 

Michelet believed that the primary social value of women lies in promoting family harmony, 
pregnancy and children education. Because "society consists of the family (16) ", so the value of 
women in the family is inherently an important part of their social value.  

In fact, Michelet placed special emphasis on the social significance of pregnancy. On the one hand, 
Michelet regarded the normal functioning of female pregnancy as a sign of a functioning society, and 
when women "undergo some kind of metamorphosis that leads to infertility," it is evidence that 
society is at a standstill and hopeless. He even argued that women who commit crimes should not be 
subjected to conventional law in order to maintain normal female pregnancy. "No serious approach 
can be used to suppress a woman... Nature places love and the perpetuation of the race above all 
laws... They are responsible, but unpunishable (1)."  

Michelet also suggested that women should further their social responsibilities without separating 
from their families, as this is conducive to achieving unity and solidarity among the people. He 
thought highly of the women who actively participate in social work and contribute their values. In 
order to show the character of the ideal woman in his mind, he depicted a female philanthropist and 
social reformer, namely Carolina Jones, whom he described as the only saint in Australia (16). Michelet 
celebrated her remarkable contribution to the protection of women in the disordered Australia, as well 
as her passion and persistence in her cause. Moreover, Michelet emphasized that such a remarkable 
woman is not separated from her family, which she values and takes care of in an orderly manner.  

But Michelet also did not believe that women should be forbidden to leave their families and 
participate in the social affairs. On the contrary, when the state and the nation are in danger, a woman 
can also leave her family to save the country, who is then transformed from an ordinary woman to 
the "supernature". Such is the case with Michelet's Joan of Arc: her attempt to leave home in search 
of the Prince provokes her father's fierce anger, but neither declarations to drown her nor temptations 
to marry her can shake her determination to break free from family authority, obey revelation and 



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stick to her personal mission. But in Michelet's context, Joan of Arc, who separates from her family, 
can no longer be considered simply a "woman". Instead, she is the perfect "supernature" who 
combines the strengths of both genders. By means of revelation, she is transformed from an ordinary 
country girl into a heroine, a symbol of the French nation and people (21).  

4. Limitation and Transcendence of Michelet's View of Women 

As a nineteenth-century historian, Michelet's view of women's issues does show the limitations of 
his time, which cannot be denied. On the one hand, women were already seen as irrational and 
"uncreative" from the Enlightenment, and Michelet continued this view. He denied that women are 
naturally capable of thinking and creating as men, claiming that women do not value the creativity 
and ignore men's creative motivations (16). He argued that most women do not even want to understand 
what creativity is and do not have the ability to create. Michelet appreciated those women who have 
the ability to think and create, such as Olympe de Gouges, but saw them only as women with male 
characteristics. The "instincts and intuitions" that Michelet considered to be feminine strengths in his 
thought are also extremely important and in no way less valuable than male reason, thinking and 
creative intelligence, but he still considered women to be emotionally impulsive and irrational. 
Obviously, the improvement of women's status in Michelet's writing is largely based on the Romantic 
historian's reflection and reaction against enlightenment and reason, which causes the weakening of 
the value of reason and the enhancement of the value of "intuition, instinct, and emotion" in his 
writing. In addition, Michelet did not see women as fully independent human beings. However, he 
believed that women are made for "others," perhaps for children, husbands, or even the country, but 
not for themselves (16). The so-called core demands of women that Michelet highlighted, such as 
maternity and love, are based on his observation and imagination from a male perspective, which is 
a one-sided, monotonous and solidified view of femininity. At the same time, Michelet 
overemphasized the distinctions between the two genders, denies the sameness and that women are 
rational and capable of thinking, which is not essentially different from the traditional view of women 
in French society and the view of women proposed by enlighteners. 

However, the transcendence of Michelet's view of women is undeniable. On the one hand, 
Michelet affirmed the nobility of the feminine community in defense of women, and their outstanding 
contribution to the maintenance of the nation. He considered women as an important part of "the 
people" and the subject of history-making. This greatly enhances the status of women in the historian's 
history writing and gives women the role of historical subjects and even history makers. In addition, 
Michelet's intention to build a harmonious and complementary gender relationship between the two 
genders elevates women to relative equality with men, and women are given a more noble possibility 
than men. Those who dare to be pioneers could even become the leaders of men in noble undertakings. 
It undoubtedly breaks through and impacts on the ideology of Western European society since the 
Middle Ages, which devalues women and misogyny. In addition, in measuring women's personal 
morality, Michelet overthrew the moral standard that women's attempt to enter the public is 
considered immoral. His moderate and even appreciative attitude toward women's struggle for rights 
and even political gender equality can be seen in his discussion of the early feminists, Olympe de 
Gouges and Odile, in The History of the French Revolution. Michelet did not regard women as 
absolute subordinates of men, but his ultimate goal in encouraging women to be given freedom is to 
give full play to women's qualities of comforting, healing, and soothing men while inspiring male 
love, thus promoting social harmony. He did advocate giving women certain rights of speech and saw 
the positive significance of women's freedom in achieving social harmony.  

5. Conclusion 

Michelet's Romantic view of women is both conservative and transcendental. His attitude toward 
women is consistent with his attitude toward the people, which is the subject of history in his mind, 



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namely, praise and sympathy. As a historian, based on his preliminary understanding of natural 
science, he justified the long-standing stigma of women in Western European history based on the 
principle of truthfulness, while recognizing the outstanding contribution of women to the 
development of France. Michelet's connotations of "supernature" and "the people" highlight his 
celebration of what he saw as the best qualities of women. In his history writing, Michelet valued 
wholeness and dialectical unity, and thus saw women and men as complementary unities, outlining a 
set of harmonious gender relations in which the two genders learn from each other and respect each 
other with rich romance and imagination. Michelet's view of women is constrained by the times, there 
are also stereotypes that overemphasize the biological value of women and consider women as 
irrational and uncreative ones, and even weaker than men. However, his recognition of the social 
value and historical contribution of women's activities, his advocacy of giving women freedom and 
voice, and mutual respect, love and harmony between the two genders also demonstrate considerable 
uniqueness and advancement. Michelet's concern for women is a manifestation of his concern for the 
marginalized in the main historical narrative and his historiographical thought of "history as 
resurrection," which also implies his spirit of truth-seeking and universalism as a Romantic historian, 
and is still inspiring even today.  

In addition, it must be admitted that there is still room for enrichment in the following aspects. 
First of all, this paper fails to grasp the whole evolution of French history and French women's social 
status and role. Secondly, it has a shallow understanding of Michelet's romanticism, and fails to make 
clear the relationship between his view of women, history and nature. In addition, the ideological 
origin and social influence of Michelet's view towards women are not discussed. Due to my limited 
ability, I hope that you will not hesitate to give me more suggestions for this paper. 

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[4] Chase, Richard R. Jules Michelet and the Nineteenth-Century Concept of Insanity: A Romantic’s 
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