Marie Antoinette is the epitome of a woman not in
control of her own life. Her life, decisions and ignorance was under a
microscope her entire life. The fact that she was a temporary solution to ease
the tensions between to rivaling countries says a lot. She was practically
groomed and molded into an idealized version of what France held important in a
prospective dauphine. From age 11, she was constructed to submit to France and
to create a new identity leaving behind her Austrian roots. Dena Goodman
states: “She was constantly being identified, constructed, presented, and
represented” (Hosford, 183). At a young age, Marie Antoinette had to conform to
French expectations.
However, when it came time for Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to reign over the entire population of France at only 18 and 19 years old. So far Marie Antoinette had been molded and told what and how to do things, how was she supposed to stand on her own two feet without looking like a complete novice. This was the beginning of an endless array of scrutiny the Queen would face throughout her lifetime. To establish her own identity as Queen, she turned to extravagant headpieces, which altered the perception of fashion. However, being a foreign-born always made the nation uneasy. Her hair statement had turned from a personal expression to a matter of the state when the Queen’s extravagant expenditures started to weaken the nation’s economic status. Those who saw the Queen as a mistrustful Austrian started to criticize her overspending. However, even when Marie Antoinette, “…allowed herself to appear as an individual woman, rather than as the queen of France” she was met with even more backlash (Hosford, 192). Either way Marie Antoinette was represented as a foreign threat sent from Austria.
In regards woman’s history, Marie Antoinette’s life shows how scrutinized woman were. Marie Antoinette never got to experience a normal childhood, she was pressured into being a mediator in stifling the conflicts of two rivaling countries. That is a lot of pressure and stress to put on a 14 year old girl. At that age, girls are supposed to be carefree and bask in the no responsibilities phase. Instead as an adult she made it her priority to bask in the delights that should have been awarded to her as a child. This fact that she was much too naïve to rule an entire country at the side of an equally naïve man, Louis XVI, made for catastrophic results.
References
Hosford, Desmond. “The Queen's Hair: Marie-Antoinette, Politics, and DNA.” Eighteenth-Century Studies, Vol. 38, No. 1, Hair (Fall, 2004), pp. 183-200.
However, when it came time for Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to reign over the entire population of France at only 18 and 19 years old. So far Marie Antoinette had been molded and told what and how to do things, how was she supposed to stand on her own two feet without looking like a complete novice. This was the beginning of an endless array of scrutiny the Queen would face throughout her lifetime. To establish her own identity as Queen, she turned to extravagant headpieces, which altered the perception of fashion. However, being a foreign-born always made the nation uneasy. Her hair statement had turned from a personal expression to a matter of the state when the Queen’s extravagant expenditures started to weaken the nation’s economic status. Those who saw the Queen as a mistrustful Austrian started to criticize her overspending. However, even when Marie Antoinette, “…allowed herself to appear as an individual woman, rather than as the queen of France” she was met with even more backlash (Hosford, 192). Either way Marie Antoinette was represented as a foreign threat sent from Austria.
In regards woman’s history, Marie Antoinette’s life shows how scrutinized woman were. Marie Antoinette never got to experience a normal childhood, she was pressured into being a mediator in stifling the conflicts of two rivaling countries. That is a lot of pressure and stress to put on a 14 year old girl. At that age, girls are supposed to be carefree and bask in the no responsibilities phase. Instead as an adult she made it her priority to bask in the delights that should have been awarded to her as a child. This fact that she was much too naïve to rule an entire country at the side of an equally naïve man, Louis XVI, made for catastrophic results.
References
Hosford, Desmond. “The Queen's Hair: Marie-Antoinette, Politics, and DNA.” Eighteenth-Century Studies, Vol. 38, No. 1, Hair (Fall, 2004), pp. 183-200.