Marie-Henri Beyle, better known by one of his hundreds of pen names, Stendhal, was a French writer and practitioner of realism. He was born in Grenoble on the 23rd of January 1783, and lived a bad childhood with his lawyer father (his mother died when he was very young). His closest friend was his sister Pauline. His aunt toke care of his education along with a Jesuit priest. He hated his hometown and family, except for his sister.
In 1800, he joined the French army, under the command of Napoleon. He served as a lieutenant of dragoons, and fought in Italy, Germany, and Russia. When the French empire fell in 1814, Stendhal couldn’t even get a job as an under-paid librarian, so he left France and settled in Milan, Italy. He turned into quite a womanizer, and had many love affairs. He was friends with patriotic Italians, and because of that, he was exiled from Milan by the Austrian police, and he returned to Paris. He lived the rest of his life there, writing many novels, autobiographies, and non-fiction books. He fell from seisures on the streets of Paris and died three hours later on the 22nd of March 1842.

At first, Stendhal’s work wasn’t appreciated during the Romantic Era. He wrote many things, most of which were not very popular while he was alive and some where never finished. A couple of his books were only published after his death. Here is a list of some of his best known written texts:
Novels:
Armance (1827)
Le Rouge et le Noir (translated as The Red and the Black, 1830)
Lucien Leuwen (unfinished, published 1894)
La Chartreuse de Parme (1839) (The Charterhouse of Parma)
Lamiel (unfinished, published 1889)
Novellas:
The Pink and the Green (1837, unfinished)
The Cenci (Les Cenci)
The Duchess of Palliano (La Duchesse de Palliano)
The Abbess of Castro (L’Abbesse de Castro, 1832)
Biographies:
A Life of Napoleon (1929)
A Life of Rossini (1824)
Autobiographies:
Souvenirs d’Égotisme (Memoirs of an Egotist, 1892)
The Life of Henry Brulard (1890)
Journal (The Private Diaries of Stendhal)
Non-fiction:
De L’Amour (1822) (On Love)
He also wrote several short stories, did some journalism, and also used his experience to write travel books for Rome, Naples and Florence.

A psychosomatic illness was named after him. Stendhal Syndrome, also known as Florence Syndrome, is used to describe someone who feels dizzy, confused, has a rapid heartbeat, feels faint, and sometimes even having hallucinations because of being exposed to art. The art is to be either excessively beautiful, or there is a lot of art in one single place. Many people experience this when exposed to Florentine art, or even FLorence itself, whence the given name. It is, however, more commonly known as a Stendhal Syndrome, because he described himself, in one of his travel books, feeling it while visiting Florence. The syndrome was named in 1979.

Reference: http://historicalbiographies.suite101.com/article.cfm/mariehenribeyle_17831842, http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/stendhal.htm, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stendhal, Portrait by Johan Olaf Sodemark, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stendhal_syndrome

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Caligula

Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus was born on the 31st of August 12 AD. He was more commonly known by his nickname Caligula, which he grew to dislike. He lived a troubled childhood, but through his charms and wit, he became the third Roman Emperor, and quite possibly the worst. He was the son of Germanicus, who was the adoptive son of the emperor Tiberius, i.e Caligula was Tiberius adoptive grandson. Germanicus was a successful general, and brought his infant son Caligula with him to military campaigns. Caligula even had his own mini soldier uniform, which is from where his nickname appeared. The soldiers were amused with the baby and named him Caligula, a variation of the term of caliga, the term given to the boots soldiers wore. Caligula’s father died in 19 AD, and Caligula’s mother, Agrippina the Elder, returned back to Rome with all her six children, where she was in an increasingly bitter argument with the emperor Tiberius about each others ancestry. This fight caused the destruction of Agrippina’s family, with Caligula left as the sole male survivor. Only three of his sisters survived, but they were all exiled. Caligula seemed untouched by the fates of his closest relatives, and he even accepted an invitation by the emperor to stay on the island of Capri. Once the emperor died of ‘natural causes’ at age 77, Caligula succeeded the throne in 37 AD. He was loved by the people and welcomed when he became emperor. He restored peace, brought down taxes, brought back all exiles, including his sisters, allowed the public to vote again, gave grants to the military, and held splendid shows. After only six months of ruling, he became seriously ill, to the point of near death. When he recovered, he was a changed man. He became mad, added unreasonable taxes on marriage and prostitution. He became aggressive and cruel, decapitating anyone who annoyed him on the grounds that the victims were plotting against him. He never gave any trials to his victims either, and it is known that he openly declared “If only Rome was just one neck”. He became sexually perverse, often prostituting the wives of his senators, turning his palace into a brothel. He drank excessive amounts of alcohol, and there are rumors that he was also his sister Drusilla’s lover. One crazy thing he is most famous for, was that he seriously taught he was not a man but a god. He built two temples in Rome devoted entirely to his worship, and he often replaced the faces of gods in temples with his own face. Another crazy thing he is most famous for, is his race horse, Incitatus. This white stallion was spoiled and treated as a human by Caligula, not for the better. The horse had a marble stable, with an ivory manger, wore purple cloaks (only the emperor and his family could wear purple), and it is even said he drank out of a gold bucket. His meals consisted of oats with flakes of gold. Incitatus even had his own slaves, a fully furnished house in which he ‘invited’ his guests, and it was rumored that Caligula had found him several wives, some other female horses, some human women. Caligula believed that Incitatus was also a combination of all gods, and he wished for his beloved horse to be treated like one. There were also myths that Incitatus was Caligula’s ‘lover’, and the emperor would often ‘invite’ his friend into his bedroom. His objective was to make Incitatus a Senate, in addition to his already existing role of priest, but he was assassinated before he could accomplish that goal.
He was stabbed 30 times while attending the games by a group of co-conspirators. The main man behind the operation, also the first one to stab Caligula, was Cassius Chaerea, a soldier in Caligula’s army. He was tired of being made fun off and always being called demeaning names publicly by the emperor. Many of the Senators were aware of the prepared attack, some were even taking part. Caligula died on the 24th of January 41 AD, at age 29. It is unknown what exactly happened to Incitatus, some say the horse attacked his master and Caligula had his horse killed, others say the horse was killed by the same men who assassinated Caligula.

Reference: http://www.thenagain.info/WebChron/Mediterranean/Caligula.html, http://www.nndb.com/people/775/000027694/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caligula, http://www.artbycrane.com/caligula_incinatus.html, http://www.helium.com/items/1310089-emperor-caligulas-horse, http://www.roman-empire.net/emperors/caligula.html

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Cover of the Lippincott Magazine containing first edition book

This novel was originally written in 1890 by Oscar Wilde. It was Wilde’s only novel, published in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine (July edition 1890). Wilde later revised his novel in 1891, creating many differences between the two editions. He mainly re-edited The Picture of Dorian Gray to cause less trouble with the Victorian society in which he lived. The book is often mistitled ‘The Portrait of Dorian Gray’.
This story is about a young man named Dorian Gray, the friend of painter Basil Hallward. Dorian frequently poses for Basil, who becomes infatuated to point of hinted romance with Dorian because of his youth and obvious beauty. A young man with such grace and beauty can only be good and holy, is what everyone thinks of Dorian, who becomes popular with the higher class. One day, while posing for a portrait, he meets another of Basil’s friends, Lord Henry ‘Harry’ Wotton. Dorian is enthralled by Harry’s views of the world, and through Harry’s hedonistic and aesthetic guidance, he realises his beauty will eventually fade, and he must take whatever pleasure he can get now, before it is too late. He wishes that the painting Basil did of him would age instead of himself, and soon he realises that his wish came true. Dorian then uses his eternal youth and beauty to live a double life, one in which he takes pleasure in the sins of sodomy, murder, drugs, all the while maintaining high class parties and keeping his public and social life active and remarkable. He realises that his painting is actually a door to view his soul, and the thing gets uglier and uglier with every sin he commits.

I didn’t really enjoy this novel of such. I did finish it just for the sake of being able to say ‘I read that’. It was very vague in it’s descriptions, which I think was done on purpose by Wilde to avoid even more scandals and trouble with society. One chapter, Chapter 12, was so long and boring that I did seriously consider putting the book down. The chapter talked about Dorian’s new way of life, but used metaphors, and descriptions of flowers and summer to talk about his corruption. Perhaps I didn’t like this chapter simply because I did not like it, but either way, it was very long and very boring. Although, the story plot is great, it is not completely original to Oscar Wilde. This type of story with a man selling his soul in exchange for something which leads to sin was a common plot line before Wildes’s only novel. It appears in the opera ‘Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf Wartburg (Tannhäuser and the Singers’ Contest at Wartburg)’, and in the legend of the character Faust.

Wilde did change his novel significantly because of his trial and the general public outcry concerning the sodomy and homoerotic themes of his book. In the first edition, it was more of a short story than a novel. It contained thirteen chapters, whereas the second edition contains twenty. Wilde added little subplots which he thought would help the book blend in with the other usual stories of the Victorian Era. Wilde moderated the homoerotic references, and also added and deleted many different passages. During his trial, The Picture of Dorian Gray was used as proof against him as it resembled a sort of autobiography of Wilde’s life because of the significant similarities between him and Dorian. In a letter, Oscar had written: “Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry is what the world thinks me: Dorian is what I would like to be—in other ages, perhaps”.

1945 Movie

2009 Movie

There are many allusions to Wilde’s Dorian Gray, many of which are lyrics in songs. There were also allusions in television series such as in the Star Trek: Next Generation series, episode ‘Man of the People’ featured a Dorian Gray-esque type character. In 1945, a film adaptation was made of the book, and in 2009, another adaptation of the book was made into a movie.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray

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Photo by Napoleon Sarony

Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Ireland on the 16 of October 1854. He was a writer, poet, and a prominent aesthete. An aesthete is someone who believes in beauty, instead of morals, i.e. that person believes in sensual pleasure, and extravagant beauty of things. If it is beautiful or feels good, then it must be a good thing. Wilde was taught at home until the age of nine. While he was at home, he became fluent in French and German. He then went to Portora Royal School in Enniskillen, Fermanagh. He left that school with royal scholarships and went to Trinity College, Dublin. Trinity College made a teaching center in Oscar Wilde’s birth house, a building not far away from the actual campus. The center teaches Irish writing and Creative Writing.
Wilde graduated from Trinity with a Berkeley Gold Medal, the highest academic award at Trinity. He then attended Magdalen College in Oxford. It was here that Oscar first became an aesthete. He wore flamboyant clothes, and his house was ful of art objects, such as blue china, peacock feathers, lillies sunflowers, etc. After graduation, he returned to Ireland and found his childhood sweetheart again. She was, however, engaged, and in 1878 she married Bram Stoker (who later wrote Dracula). Wilde wrote her a letter explaining his grief, although he would remember ‘the two sweet years – the sweetest years of all my youth’ they had lived together. He also wrote that he would be returning to London for good, which he did, only coming back to Ireland for two brief visits.
During his schooling years, Wilde had written a number of poems and lyrics which he had sent out to numerous magazines, and in 1881, a book collecting all his work was published. It was met with some success, and he spent the next few years giving lectures on aesthete in America, London and Paris using the income received from his various works.

Constance Lloyd

In 1884, while Oscar was presenting in Dublin, he met with a girl he had already been previously with and proposed. Constance Lloyd was married to Wilde on the 29 of May 1884 in London. They had two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan. He became an editor for a women’s magazine, but he dropped out to form a new magazine because of his lack of interest in the women’s magazine. His article didn’t survive long.
In 1890, Wilde published the first version of The Picture of Dorian Gray. He later wrote two plays (Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Woman of No Importance), which had more success than Dorian Gray.
Oscar Wilde started a relationship with Alfred Douglas. It was an intense affair, and they consorted together regularly. Wilde was earning a £100 a week from his plays (he used to earn £6 a week with his magazine), and he lavished Douglas with everything he wanted. Their relationship was not characterised by fidelity, and Douglas soon introduced Wilde to the underground gay prostitution. Douglas encouraged Wilde to increase his casual sexual affairs, and Oscar met a number of male prostitutes from 1892 onwards. He would offer them gifts, eat dinner privately with them, and take them to a hotel room. He kept Douglas and a few others a part of his aesthete life, but the prostitutes were uneducated and were for the time being only. Wilde made his public life and private life very separate.

Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas

Alfred Douglas’ father was named the Marquess of Queensbury, and he was known to be a brutal man. His second son died in an unexplained shooting accident, and the Marquess believed it to be related to his son’s homosexuality. He blamed ‘older’ homosexuals of corrupting him, and quickly accused his other son, Alfred Douglas, and Oscar Wilde of the murder of his son. Wilde and Queensbury had many altercations, with Queensbury repeatedly threatening Wilde. After being forced by Alfred, and despite his friends’ opinions, he pressed charges on the Marquess. Queensbury accused Wilde of sodomy, as proving that Wilde had done a felony would release him. Details of Wilde’s private life with Douglas and others began appearing in newspapers, and the masses of witnesses and evidence against Oscar were piling up. He dropped the charges, and since Queensbury’s accusations were found to be real, he was declared innocent, and Wilde was charged all the expenses Queensbury had needed for the case. Wilde was left bankrupt.
He was then charged with ‘gross indecency’, although he pleaded not guilty. He was sentenced to two years of hard labour, and while in prison, his status offered him no special privileges, and he suffered health problems. He was released on the 19 May 1897, and spent the last three years of his life in a moneyless exile.
Oscar Wilde died of cerebral meningitis on 30 November 1900.
It is unknown exactly when his wife found out, but by the time of the trial, she definitely knew about her husbands private life. She changed her and her sons name to Holland, and only visited Wilde in prison to tell him of his mother’s death in person. When Wilde was released, she refused to send him money, and made him give up his parental rights. She fell down the stairs and had a sort of paralysis. She died after the spinal cord surgery on April 7, 1898.

Reference: http://www.online-literature.com/wilde/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Wilde

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Did You Know? There are different types of volcanic eruptions, one of which is a Plinian eruption. It is named after Pliny the Younger, a young man who survived the attack of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, and later described the event, although no one believed him at the time. A Plinian eruption consists firstly of a huge vertical column of gas and ash, and a rain of hardened drops of lava which fall from the ash and gas clouds dispersed above. Sometimes, the immense amount of magma being erupted can break off the summit of the volcano, creating what is called a caldera (sort of avalanche).  A much more recent example of a Plinian eruption is in 2010, the Mount Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland. The ash and gas clouds dispersed in the atmosphere by the volcano caused an almost worldwide aerial disruption for a small week. I myself was ‘stuck’ in France because of this Plinian eruption.

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For more info on Jean de La Fontaine, please click here.

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Jean de La Fontaine

Jean de La Fontaine (July 8, 1621 – April 13, 1695) was born in Chateau-Thierry, Champagne, in central France. His father was a sort of Deputy Ranger (Maître des eaux et forêts) for the duchy (land owned by duke/duchess) of Chateau-Thierry. La Fontaine went to Paris to study Theology, but he was unsatisfied with this and later studied law. His father arranged a marriage for him in 1647 to Marie Héricart, a girl of fourteen. He was 26 at the time. The two never got along, and they even had a ‘separation de biens’ in 1658, because of La Fontaine’s very poor business skills. He was often in debt, and always sold things in order to cover his debts. He frequently went to Paris during the first few years of his marriage, but after his separation, La Fontaine had decided to become a famous writer and he left his family and moved to Paris, where he lived his most productive years. He found many patrons, one of his first being Nicolas Fouquet. He wrote small pieces of poetry for Fouquet, concerning people from the King (Louis XIV) downwards. Fouquet then fell out of favor with the King and he was arrested and sentenced to death. La Fontaine then went to Limoges to avoid being arrested too. At Limoges, he completed his first tales in verse, which he expanded and published as ‘Contes et Nouvelles en vers’ in 1666. These tales dealt mainly with marital misdemeanors and love affairs and four different editions were released during La Fontaine’s lifetime. The last edition was banned by the authorities because it was considered too obscene. He returned to Paris and stayed with his patroness, Marguerite de Lorraine, in the Luxembourg Palace until 1672. While with her, La Fontaine produced his main work, the Fables. His work ‘Fables Choisies mises en Vers’, usually called ‘Fables de la Fontaine’ (La Fontaine’s Fables), was published over the last 25 years of his life. The first volume appeared in 1668, and the last volume (the twelfth) appeared in 1694. The total includes 245 poems and fables, each one having a moral. They mostly involved instructions on how to behave correctly or what the rules and consequences of life were. It has been noticed that La Fontaine had based very strongly most of his tales on those of Aesop.
In 1691, at the age of 71, he turned very ill and and he died in Paris in 1695. His wife lived on for fifteen years after him.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_de_La_Fontaine, http://www.jean-delafontaine.com/, http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/jean_de_la_fontaine/biography, http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Jean_de_La_Fontaine.aspx, http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/fontaine.htm, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesop, Could not find original painter of Jean de La Fontaine Portrait.

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Martin Luther

Martin Luther was born on the 10 November 1483. He was a German priest, and later a professor of theology. He initiated the Protestant Reformation with a list of 95 things he believed were wrong with the church. He pegged this list, called the 95 Theses, to the door of a church in his village so everyone could see and read it. At that time, the church was very powerful and the pope was the one everyone looked up to. The church offered ‘indulgences’, meaning that you could buy your way into heaven, or obtain less years in purgatory. Luther was against this idea, and believed that it was your faith that gave you access to heaven, and not your money. The pope was not happy because his income was decreasing as more and more people sided with Luther’s beliefs. At first, the Pope asked Luther to repent his claims, or he would be excommunicated for heresy. When Luther did not repent, the pope sent a Papal Bull, a document asking him to repent. Luther used it along with other paper indulgences the villagers had as a starting ignition for a public barbecue. He was then called to Worms by Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, for a trial. He was promised safe passage and when asked to repent all his works and writings as heresy, he refused. He said he saw no fault, and could not be convinced there was any unless it was proven with the Scriptures (bible). He was excommunicated and declared a criminal. He was kidnapped by his friend who wanted to keep Luther safe. Luther stayed in hiding for a year, during which time he translated the Bible from Latin to German. When he came back out into the world, he saw that his ideas had created a riot. Peasants were rebelling and Luther wrote to some princes asking them to take care of these peasants. He had ordered a mass killing of all rebels and non-rebels. He helped a congregation of sisters to escape, and he later married one of these runaway nuns called Katharina von Bora. They had six children although only four survived adulthood. Luther set down to writing his ideas about what the new religion would be like in two catechisms. He did not want extreme change so as to not confuse the people. Here is what he believed:

Katharina Von Bora

-Luther believed that there should be no holy relics or statues in Protestantism, so the people would not pray to the statues instead of God himself.
-Priests were to be called Ministers.
-Ministers could marry.
-Justification by faith alone, meaning your faith in God was your ticket to heaven, not your money.
-Masses were to be in the vernacular (country’s speaking language) instead of Latin.
-When in doubt, one should look to the bible for guidance not any man, i.e. the pope.
-Luther believed in only two sacraments. Sacraments are the holy events that happen in a person’s life. Christianity believes there to be seven of them, Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. Luther believed only Baptism and Communion were sacraments.

He died on the 18 February 1546.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_of_Augsburg, http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/people/luther/timeline.htm, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_V,_Holy_Roman_Emperor, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther, http://www.peacelutheranchurch.net/Key%20Beliefs.htm, http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_were_Martin_Luther’s_beliefs , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacraments_of_the_Catholic_Church, Katharina and Martin paintings painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

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Seznec

Le 20 avril 2010 à 20h35, une pièce de théâtre, L’Affaire Seznec, de Robert Hossein a été diffusée en direct sur France 2. Je l’ai vue, mais je ne savais même pas qui était Seznec. J’avais bien aimé le fait que le public puisse voter coupable ou innocent, autant les personnes qui étaient dans le théâtre de Paris que les téléspectateurs. En tant que téléspectatrice, j’avais le choix de voter par SMS, téléphone ou Internet. J’ai pris l’option gratuite, tant qu’à faire (internet). Je n’ai voté qu’une fois, et j’avais décidé que Seznec était innocent des crimes dont il était accusé.

Joseph Marie Guillaume Seznec était né en 1878, à Plomodiern, dans le Finistère. Il à été accusé d’avoir tué son ami Pierre Quéméneur, et d’avoir forgé des papiers de promesse de vente pour une propriété. Ces papiers déclaraient que Seznec allait acheter une grande propriété qui appartenait à Quéméneur pour beaucoup moins d’argent que ce qu’elle valait.

Quéméneur

Quéméneur, un marchand de bois et conseiller général du Finistère, avait disparu étrangement entre la nuit du 25 mai au 26 mai 1923, durant un voyage d’affaires à Paris avec Seznec. La famille trouva étrange de ne pas avoir de nouvelle, et une enquête s’ouvrit. Presque toute la police chercha un corps, mais Quéméneur n’a jamais été retrouvé. La disparition fut tout de suite transformée en meurtre, même si ni corps ni arme du crime n’ont été retrouvés. Seznec fut tout de suite soupçonné. Il fut mis en prison et son procès dura huit jours en tout. Près de 120 témoins sont venus a la barre, la plupart contre Seznec. Les autres pistes ne furent même pas explorées, et Seznec n’avait aucune chance. L’avocat général était connu pour vouloir toujours donner la peine de mort, et Seznec était bien parti pour la guillotine, mais le jury ne le trouva pas coupable avec préméditation. Il fut condamné au Bagne jusqu’à perpétuité, mais il en sortit après un peu près 25 ans, en 1948. À Paris, en 1953, il fut renversé par une camionnette qui prit la fuite. Seznec mourut le 13 février 1954 à cause de ses blessures.

Seznec

Durant toute sa vie Seznec a clamé son innocence, et ses descendants ont régulièrement sollicité la justice afin d’obtenir sa réhabilitation. La justice a déjà rejetée quatorze demandes de réhabilitation. La famille Seznec ne l’a toujours pas obtenue.

A la fin de la pièce de théâtre que j’ai vue, nous avons vu les résultats des votes. Dans les spectateurs, 93% avait voté ‘Innocent’. Dans les téléspectateurs, 94% avait voté ‘Innocent’. Je crois moi-même que Seznec était innocent, qu’il n’a pas commis de meurtre, et que Quéméneur s’est enfuit, mais je crois par contre que Seznec avait quelques choses d’autre à cacher, ce qui n’a pas aidé son cas d’injustice judiciaire.

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Emmeline Pankhurst

Emmeline Pankhurst was born in Manchester in 1858. She grew up in a politically active family, quite possibly that being the reason she entered into women’s suffrage. She married Richard Pankhurst, who also wanted the vote for women. When he died of a gastric ulcer in 1898, Emmeline was in shock, yet she threw herself completely out into women’s suffrage. She formed a group named the Women’s Franchise League the same year as her husband’s death. The group did speeches and announcements, but Emmeline found that the government did not really care. She decided to win the women’s vote in a different way. She formed a new group, which was to revolutionise the fight for women’s right to vote. The group was called the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). It was a militant group, using destruction and violence to get the attention of the public and the government. It was the WSPU that came up with the term ‘Suffragette’ . Emmeline led a group of women who were very willing to be jailed repeatedly for smashing windows and disturbing the ‘peace’. The government was surprised that it had to imprison and fine these women, and once they were released they were back into jail not long after. They started not eating while in jail to protest the bad conditions, and they were being forced fed by a tube inserted into their throat by ‘doctors’. This was known as Cat and Mouse Act. However, when WWI broke out, and England declared war on Germany, Emmeline completely changed her priorities. She became so engulfed in promoting the war, and creating ads encouraging young men to enroll, that many members of her group (WSPU), left to still fight the cause. She is considered to have helped bring the right to women in england, however, she was still a harsh and cruel woman. She banned several members of the group just because they express their ideas. She didn’t agree with one of her daughters, and the daughter was sent to Australia, the one-way ticket paid by Emmeline. As Emmeline grew more known and powerful, it was realised she was turning into quite a fascist. She went to America several times to help feminist groups, and after the war, she stopped being a militant but still claimed she was trying to help women. She died on the 14th of July, in 1928, shortly after the vote for women was lowered to the same age as men’s right to vote.

References:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUpankhurst.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmeline_Pankhurst#Post-war_activities
http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/womenww1_three.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Wfirst.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women’s_suffrage#United_Kingdom
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/When_did_women_get_the_vote_in_England
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_and_when_did_emmeline_pankhurst_die

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