Abstract This paper is an historical study of The French Revolution. It discusses the situation in France before the outbreak of the revolution. It details the execution of King Louis XVI and his mistakes that led to it. It studies the failed political system at the time as one of the causes of the revolution. Finally, it also gives a detailed examination of Mary Antoinette's role at the time and why she was executed.
From the Paper "The prevailing theory of Divine right of Kings was the philosophy behind monarchy. Earlier, Louis XIV had used the absolute power of monarchy to the extreme. King was God's representative on earth, and he alone could possess and exercise earthly power. He was always right because he represented and was the incarnation, so to say, of his people.
By the eve of the French Revolution, however, few intellectuals and political leaders accepted idea of the King's divine right. The situation was compounded by Louis XVI's weakness as an absolute monarch, though many supported monarchy in the interest of maintaining law and order and continuation of the national tradition. Louis XVI saw himself as the best judge of the people's good and he tried to do right by them, at least in his own opinion.(<http://www.angelfire.com/ca6/ French revolution 89/bar11.gif>) But to the majority of the people, the King was supposed to be like a father, kind and benevolent. 97% of the population, who were peasants, were fierce monarchists."
Tags: execution, Louis, XVI, Mary, Antoinette, French, Revolution, France
Abstract This is a brief biography of Marie Antoinette, wife of King Louis XVI, who is often cited as one of the causes for the collapse of the French Monarchy in the late 1700s. The paper addresses historical conditions that shaped the Queen's behavior, as well as personal and political events that contributed to her reputation as the woman who said of her starving peasant subjects, "Let them eat cake!"
Abstract This paper states that Marie Antoinette is probably one of the most remembered yet most misunderstood women in history. This paper points out that the life of Marie Antoinette was similar to the lives of most women in the 18th century. The paper relates that women, especially ones in royalty, were seen more as bargaining tokens than human beings, and marriages were not based on mutual love, respect or caring, but on some political alliance or property arrangement. The author underscores that Marie Antoinette was not only a pawn of historical circumstance but her excessive tastes, flippant wit and devotion to Catholicism contributed to the class animosity that underlay the French Revolution. The paper concludes that, if she and her husband King Louis XVI had been more focused on what France needed rather than themselves, the revolution could have been prevented.
From the Paper "Marie Antoinette was born to the great Austrian empress Maria Theresa on November 2, 1755. Maria Theresa was a woman who capably ran the Austrian monarchy even after her husband died, leaving her at a country that was clearly unwilling to accept a female monarch. As a young teenager, she was obliged to wed Louis XVI of France to symbolize an alliance made between Austria and France. Ironically, at the beginning of her marriage to the dauphin, Marie Antoinette was much loved by the French people for her kindness to peasants and her willingness to interact with her subjects."
Tags: misunderstood excessive teenager, out of favor, guillotine
Abstract This paper describes the portrayal of Marie-Antoinette in the French press and in popular opinion from her reign as queen to her execution. Her image is shaped around her portrayal as a decadent monarch and as the "Other" (both woman and foreigner). Although the paper's primary argument is for this division in Marie-Antoinette's image in popular opinion, it also subtly argues that the portrayal of the Queen reflects many of the anxieities of the time and that her actual personage in many ways contradicted the rumours.
From the Paper "Although recent historians have revealed that Marie-Antoinette was in many ways thriftier than many nobles at the time, the pamphleteers used her as a representation of the decadence of monarchy. In popular opinion the queen was frequently portrayed as extravagant in dress and of indulging in a taste for jewels, though Mercy, the Austrian ambassador in Paris, reported that he had found, "her Majesty very much disposed to avoid all needless or superfluous expense" . Mercy was also able to show that Marie-Antoinette, "had never chosen or demanded a single dress but had left everything to her lady of the bedchamber", and in going through the accounts it was found that the expenses were carried out largely by the queen's maids, who demanded large quantities of ribbons and materials which were never used."
Abstract This paper explains that Lady Antonia Fraser's "Marie Antoinette: The Journey" is a good introduction to this period of French history and, after more than two centuries of criticism, is a needed antidote to the bad image the reader may have of Marie Antoinette because she is shown to be much more a victim than a victimizer. The author points out that the story is told in a straightforward fashion with numerous citations, so the interested reader can delve further if desired. The paper relates that Fraser includes a great deal of information on the social and cultural attitudes of the time, as well as painting a picture of the world of the 18th century, especially of the world of the royals.
From the Paper "Marie Antoinette lived from 1755 to 1793; her life cut short by the guillotine once the rebels had taken over France and started eliminating remnants of the aristocracy. She was the youngest daughter of Francis I and Maria Theresa, Emperor and Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, and she had been told from a young age than it was her destiny to be queen of France. Her parents arranged the marriage of her to the crown prince of France in 1770, and she would become queen in 1774 when her husband was crowned King Louis XVI."
Tags: francis, arranged, louis, victum, information
This paper looks at Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre' and Jean Rhys's 'Wide Sargasso Sea' and discusses two literary peas in a pod, with regard to Jane and Antoinette.
Abstract In this article, the writer notes that while Charlotte Bronte wrote her novel 'Jane Eyre' in 1847 and Jean Rhys wrote her novel 'Wide Sargasso Sea in 1966', they contain major similarities: the latter book being written as a prequel to Jane Eyre. The writer discusses that the most profound similarities arise between the two main characters, Jane in 'Jane Eyre' and Antoinette in 'Wide Sargasso Sea'. The writer also discusses that both characters suffer major losses in early childhood; in addition, they are isolated and oppressed by the patriarchal society in which they exist. The writer concludes that 'Jane Eyre' and 'Wide Sargasso Sea' are two works from the same foundation. They compliment each other in a unique way, especially with regards to the characters Jane and Antoinette.
From the Paper "In her short existence, Jane has lost many things dear to her.
"Just as Jane suffers from major losses in her childhood, so does Antoinette in Wide Sargasso Sea. Early on in her life, Antoinette lost her father. Mr. Cosway was a rich man who owned Coulibri Estates- the plantation in the Caribbean Islands where Antoinette lived with her mother, father, brother and slaves. This existence would not last after slavery was abolished; the farm went to ruin. Consequently, Cosway became an alcoholic, began having sexual relationships with his ex-slaves, and died in a drunken frenzy."
Abstract This paper analyzes and explores the character of Antoinette Jean Rhys's "Wide Sargasso Sea". The paper attempts to examine her role as a woman, a native of the Caribbean, and a wife.
From the Paper "Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea tells the story of a woman who most readers are familiar with, but know very little about. Antoinette is better known to most as ?Rochester's mad wife,? from Jane Eyre, a portrayal that is slightly less than three dimensional and, as she is nowhere near being the story's main character, gives little in the way of deep characterization. Rhys picked up the character and gave her a backstory, a history that helps us better understand her "madness" and, in general, who she is. Rhys? Antoinette is fully fleshed out, and through examining her text, Antoinette's madness in Eyre and the latter portion of Wide Sargasso Sea is easier to rationalize. "
Abstract This paper explains that Sofia Coppola in her film "Marie Antoinette" is successful in capturing the child-like play of the Queen's lighthearted personality. Coppola has been criticized as presenting the character as a modern day teenage mall-rat rather than a royal princess. However, the writer feels that this film is an accurate portrayal in that Marie was a child, fascinated by sparkling and beautiful clothes, shoes and furnishings. The paper stresses that, consistent with historic portrayals, Coppola's film is a commitment to showing the character and personality of the Queen not the stories and rumors the debates about conspiracies.
From the Paper "In the film, Coppola shows that there was a maturing in the relationship between Marie and Louis, but that that relationship was one of friendship, two young children having been thrown together, who grew together, as friends. Louis is not depicted as a jealous or over doting husband, in fact, it shows Louis as more interested in affairs of state, though it does not depict him as being in touch with his subjects by being out amongst them. The film is careful to emphasize that two young children, teenagers, were put together and became, still as teens, rulers of a country."
Abstract The paper explores why the Tony Awards were named after Antoinette Perry and who exactly Antoinette Perry was. The paper discusses how these questions are often not mentioned when people talk about the Tony Awards, but there are many reasons that the Tony Awards were named after Antoinette Perry. The paper examines how the life and works of Tony Antoinette Perry affected Broadway, the lives of many GIs, actresses and actors and many others. The paper relates that the way to show the appreciation for all that Tony Antoinette had done for Broadway was to name the Tony Awards after her.
Abstract This paper studies the Jean Rhys' novel "Wide Sargasso Sea", about Antoinette and her family at Coulibri Estate. The author of this paper attempts to understand the novel from the perspective of defining and confining space, which proscribes any possibility of escape, change or hope. The paper shows how this definition of space limits not only what the characters within Rhys' novel can do but also what Rhys herself can accomplish with the novel. Quoting lines from the book, the paper emphasizes that even with the novel's proscribed narrative framework, Rhys attempts to push the boundaries. Through an analysis of the main character Antoinette's emotions and actions, this paper further concludes that she essentially becomes controlled by the very space that she seeks to fill.
From the Paper "Even with the very first sentence of the novel, Rhys presents an idea of the space enclosing the characters, "They say when trouble comes close ranks" (17). Immediately we are given a figurative idea of how trapped and enclosed Antoinette and her family are within their own land. Despite the literal space that surrounds Antoinette and her family at Coulibri Estate, they become more and more enclosed and controlled by the wild growth of the garden, the animosity of the freed slaves, and their own poverty. The dynamic between the literal size of the estate and the emotional distance between Antoinette and her mother, exacerbates the lack of control and the sense of inevitability that the characters have."
Abstract This paper details how Marie Antoinette and the affair of the diamond necklace were catalysts to the French Revolution.
From the Paper "Several reasons account for the beginning of the French Revolution. First, France had the largest population in Europe and could not feed it adequately due to crop failure several seasons in a row. Second, the rich and expanding bourgeoisie (working class) was excluded from political power, a position which they met with much resentment. Third, the Philosophers, who advocated social and political reform, were more popular in France than anywhere else. However, the two most significant reason for our purposes involved the country's financial status and the view the common French citizen had of the ruling class."
Abstract Through a close examination of Antoinette's cultural and spiritual identity, not to mention her more personal circumstances, including her relationship with her mother and her husband, this paper attempts to highlight the fact that "Wild Sargasso Sea" is not simply an entertaining and moving story, but one which contains very critical and insightful truths about human prejudices and the consequences of those prejudices upon those that are oppressed.
From the Paper "Although Rhys does criticize the attitude of the white Creole society towards both the Jamaicans, as represented in the various servant characters, and Jamaican culture, as represented by Antoinette, she is equally critical of the Jamaicans themselves. Both groups, although having lived together for decades, are unable to accept the other. For instance, the Jamaicans refer to Antoinette as "a white cockroach." Furthermore, they do not just stop at racial insults but descend into violent behaviour. Quite simply stated, racial hatred leads to the burning of the house, an event which completes Annette's total mental breakdown and adds to Antoinette's own descent into madness."
Abstract This essay focuses on the structral issues of "Wide Sargasso Sea" by Jean Rhys. It examines Rhys' use of a narrative voice which switches in three main shifts from the characters Antoinette to Rochester and back to Antoinette. The paper also addresses the issues of character identity through the narrative voice.
From the Paper "Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea attempts to answer the vast array of questions regarding the inconclusive past of Bertha, the "madwoman in the attic" or Antoinette, a character originating from a partial role in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. While Rhys has essentially written a fictional biography of the character of Antoinette, she has presented an unfamiliar narrative voice to reveal Antoinette's story. Rhys introduces the otherwise indefinite past of Antoinette through a set of narrative voices which exemplify the duel, or power struggle, between Antoinette and her husband Rochester. By switching the narrative voice with three major shifts, from Antoinette to Rochester and back to Antoinette, Rhys has established the personality and ultimate fate, pre-determined by Jane Eyre, of each character to be exemplified and exaggerated."
Tags: capability, christophine, eyre, literature, women, world
Abstract This essay on "The Wide Sargasso Sea", (a prequel) to Bronte's Jane Eyre, explores the inter-dependence of madness and sexuality. The importance of the place of the "woman" as prone to madness and how feminism affects our interpretations of an individuals actions and desires is also explored.
