Princess Dashkova
Cassidy
To Squeeze a Lemon Dry: How Princess Dashkova’s Memoir Reveals Common Themes Among Russia’s History Princess Ekaterina Dashkova was an intelligent, impressive woman who, at 18 years old (an age when many modern teenagers are still living at home with their parents), helped to stage a coup d’ etat for Catherine Alexeyvna, who was destined to become Catherine the Great.1 Ekaterina was actually called Catherine the Little2, because both women held the same saint namesake and both were considered intelligent and instrumental in the change of the government from Peter III to Catherine the Great. Princess Ekaterina Dashkova’s memoir addresses power struggles, gender inequality, and the disparities between different ethnicities in a multi-ethnic empire. Through her remembrances, Dashkova reveals how unstable court life was; in an instant, an individual could rise or fall from the ruling tsar’s graces, becoming either blessed or forever ruined. She also unknowingly shows how autocracy was rigid but brittle, thus easily broken; throughout her memoir Dashkova unknowingly shows just how weak a government that prides itself on absolute authority really is. As a woman, Dashkova would have been extremely repressed in Europe; luckily, Russia had a unique brand of feminism and women’s roles that allowed Dashkova to work outside the sphere of men while effectively bringing about change. Princess Dashkova reveals the unique status of women in 18th century Russia. European women in the 18th century, particularly Victorian women, were expected to remain chaste, pure, and pious individuals, which impeded their freedoms. For example, women were viewed (by whom?) as delicate and as needing protection from men, and therefore any important positions in government and most jobs (other than maid or housewife) were denied to them (only the Queen seemed to be able to step outside this status quo, as long as she did not marry).3 Russian women, on the other hand, enjoyed
To Squeeze a Lemon Dry: How Princess Dashkova’s Memoir Reveals Common Themes Among Russia’s History Princess Ekaterina Dashkova was an intelligent, impressive woman who, at 18 years old (an age when many modern teenagers are still living at home with their parents), helped to stage a coup d’ etat for Catherine Alexeyvna, who was destined to become Catherine the Great.1 Ekaterina was actually called Catherine the Little2, because both women held the same saint namesake and both were considered intelligent and instrumental in the change of the government from Peter III to Catherine the Great. Princess Ekaterina Dashkova’s memoir addresses power struggles, gender inequality, and the disparities between different ethnicities in a multi-ethnic empire. Through her remembrances, Dashkova reveals how unstable court life was; in an instant, an individual could rise or fall from the ruling tsar’s graces, becoming either blessed or forever ruined. She also unknowingly shows how autocracy was rigid but brittle, thus easily broken; throughout her memoir Dashkova unknowingly shows just how weak a government that prides itself on absolute authority really is. As a woman, Dashkova would have been extremely repressed in Europe; luckily, Russia had a unique brand of feminism and women’s roles that allowed Dashkova to work outside the sphere of men while effectively bringing about change. Princess Dashkova reveals the unique status of women in 18th century Russia. European women in the 18th century, particularly Victorian women, were expected to remain chaste, pure, and pious individuals, which impeded their freedoms. For example, women were viewed (by whom?) as delicate and as needing protection from men, and therefore any important positions in government and most jobs (other than maid or housewife) were denied to them (only the Queen seemed to be able to step outside this status quo, as long as she did not marry).3 Russian women, on the other hand, enjoyed