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Known as much for her fashion choices as for her role in the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette is in many ways a quintessential queen in that the patriarchal historical record severely undermines her power. Marie Antoinette was far from being an architect of the Revolution and yet her role in it cannot be underestimated. Misogynistic misunderstandings and misconceptions about the role of women in positions of power have caused Antoinette’s legacy to have been distorted gravely, to the point where she has been incorrectly credited with saying “let them eat cake.”[footnoteRef:1] Vilified as she was, Marie Antoinette signifies the ways women wielded power even when they were stripped of official or legitimate political agency. [1: “Marie Antoinette Biography.” Last modified Jan 4, 2018. https://www.biography.com/people/marie-antoinette-9398996 ]Marie Antoinette was born into power, the daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Theresa, the empress of the mighty Habsburg dynasty based in Vienna.[footnoteRef:2] Yet as a female, Marie Antoinette learned early in life that she had no real will of her own. When she was only fifteen, she was being played like a political pawn for her parents and sent to Paris to marry the then-dauphin King Louis XVI. The marriage was strategic and proved fateful not just for Marie Antoinette, but for the entire continent. [2: “Marie-Antoinette.” History. Last modified Feb 5, 2018. http://www.history.com/topics/marie-antoinette]
During the first few years of her service as Queen of France, Marie Antoinette’s strong personality shone forth. She is described as being “happy,” and also “well liked by the French citizens,”...
The expenditures of the French crown exposed the corruption at the root of the monarchy—not just in France but in all of Europe. It did not take long before Marie Antoinette became the definitive symbol of royal corruption, fuelling revolutionary sentiment. [3: “Marie Antoinette Biography.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. Last modified 2018. http://www.notablebiographies.com/Lo-Ma/Marie-Antoinette.html]
However, historians have recently derided common accounts of the role Marie Antoinette played in fomenting pre-Revolutionary tension in Europe. “Historians either ignored the women who participated in the French Revolution, restricted them to marginalia or reduced them to stereotypes.”[footnoteRef:4] Marie Antoinette has become a stereotype, a caricature, a mythologized figure who through such fictionalized accounts loses her genuine power. The misogynistic view of women like Marie Antoinette distorts history and demonizes women. Documentary evidence reveals the superficiality of the criticisms launched against the Queen: for one, she was derided for her “sexual audacity,” accused of having numerous affairs not just with men but also with women and children, usurping traditional gender roles and norms for women.[footnoteRef:5] She was also a victim of fraud and defamation involving a diamond necklace trade she never actually authorized: she was the “victim of one of the most byzantine swindles in history.”[footnoteRef:6]…
In conclusion, the French Revolution introduced not only in France but the entire western world to the concept of political revolution at the hands of the lower classes. It also provided some hard-earned lessons on what exactly makes up a democracy where all citizens are treated fairly and equally. In addition, the revolution brought to light the idea that a nation such as France is constructed of more than just
French Revolution An Analysis of the Radical Phase of the French Revolution The French Revolution was almost extinguished in 1792. The economic reforms prompted by the Cahier of the Third Estate of Dourdan (29 March 1789) had only appeared to benefit the middle and upper classes of the Third Estate. Meanwhile, fearing the spread of revolt throughout all Europe, Prussian and Austrian forces were marching towards Paris to cut it off at
French Revolution was the greatest revolution of the 18th century. It was the revolution that started the modern era of politics and had its origins in the financial problems of the government. In the 1770s and 1780s, a protracted war with England left the government of France depleted of money. France's national debt was high and bankruptcy and increased tax rates became inevitable. "The government's yearly income from taxation and other
French Revolution For many people, the French Revolution was the single most important event in modern world history. In a manner of speaking, it's a unique turning point for the ailing French society of the time and Europe. But, the events transpiring in Bastille Fortress in July 1789 are still discussed. The storming is discussed often. Peter Mcphee is an Australian born academic author specializing in modern French history and French
The Analysis However, it is the not past this point that this study needs to go, rather it is at this point that we need to stop and take into analyze the information that is cited here, and to see if that analysis takes us in other directions. There is really very little detailed information about the discussions and debate that might have surrounded the creation of the Civil Constitution of
" It is something that the film, in showing Marie's response to gossip in the news about her, refutes. She also refutes having said, "Let them eat cake," saying, "I wouldn't have said that." However, that is the most likely response a young woman who did not realize the citizens being out of bread meant they were starving, and who, herself would have replaced a shortage of bread with a