Between Spectacle and Subversion: The Feminist Legacies of Robinson and Tussaud

This project examines the lives and legacies of Mary Robinson (1757-1800) and Marie Grosholtz, later known as Madame Tussaud (1761 -1850), as protofeminist figures of their time. While Robinson and Tussaud lived in different cultural and social context – Robinson as an actress of the stage, a writer, and a feminist activist, and Tussauds as a sculptor and a businesswoman – my paper will investigate ways in which they each carved a place for themselves despite their gendered social, political, and economic restraints of their time. Most of all, this study will concentrate on how they shaped future feminist thought by fighting for female agency and challenging patriarchal expectations through their understanding and capitalization of the public’s appetite for spectacle and celebrity obsession.