Just Me Being A History Buff

I love history. And for some reason the life of Marie Antoinette has always been a life particularly fascinating to me.

I'm sure most people, when thinking of Marie Antoinette, think of a silly, materialistic queen. Perhaps the quote, "Let them eat cake!" comes to mind. Well, I feel pity. That little bit of a prick that comes to a corner of your heart, that is what I feel.

Marie's marriage was created to keep the alliance between her home country of Austria and France, so she wan't even French to begin with. However, the people of the French court were racist against her Austrian heritage and that made her somewhat of a social pariah in Versailles. Her own husband, Louis XVI, was cold to her in public setting because he was raised to be mistrustful of Austrians.

Speaking of Louis, he was also cold to her. Her safety on the throne of France was dependent upon consummation, or the first time they slept together, and the birth of the Dauphin, or the next king of France. And it took their marriage a little over three years to be consummated. So, he was emotionally stark to his wife.

Not to mention the indignities. What kind? The kind where she had to leave behind everything related to Austria and her previous life upon entering France. The first thing that happened when she entered France was that she was stripped down and dressed up. All of the sttendants and her pets and everything were left behind. She entered France wholly vulnerable, without a fmailiar face or anything, really, that could have given her comfort. Or, how the whole court of Versailles had the privlege of going and watching her give birth. Come on, who wants to have people, a lot of people, watch them give birth? Her first birth was so traumatic that she actually ended up hemorrhaging and losing consciousness and other bad things.

She gave birth to four children, three of whom died before reaching full adulthood. One died in infancy, one as a child of seven, and then one who died at age ten in prison. In prison! I know this was common for the time, but losing a child must still cause extreme and immense pain beyond my youthful capability of perception.

This was followed by the vicious lies and rumors that circulated, resulting in the French Revolution. While she was frivolous, and did spend a great amount of money, her extreme consumerism is understandable. Imagine your life, dignity and family being dependent on a marriage with someone exceedingly cold towards you, in a place where you were hated, ruling where you were hated. Her life was very sad. I would've turned to shopping, too. A lot of people would. Material items are used to fill emotional voids. Not that it exactly justifies putting the whole country into debt. But, it was also French aid to the American Revolution that put the country into great debt. And because their aid was key in winning the war, I doubt that most people would complain of that.

Now do you get why I am sympathetic? Maybe you don't understand why I am empathetic, but I don't think I can explain the sadness that pierces my heart when she is brought up in conversation and ridiculed.