Marie-Antoinette

Research Status: Moderate Last Updated: 2025-01-23 Diary Coverage: Up to 1881-02-22

Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793), Queen of France, wife of Louis XVI, executed during the French Revolution. Her tragic life and death became a subject of intense literary and historical interest in the 19th century.

Historical Context

Marie-Antoinette's story - from Austrian archduchess to French queen to revolutionary prisoner - captured 19th-century French imagination. Her execution symbolized both the tragedy of the Revolution and the fall of the ancien régime.

In Popular Culture

By the 1880s, numerous books, plays, and historical works explored Marie-Antoinette's life, often emphasizing her suffering and nobility in captivity. She was frequently portrayed sympathetically as a victim rather than as the frivolous "Madame Deficit" of revolutionary propaganda.

Diary References

• February 22, 1881: Saint-Amand brings Marie a book he wrote, "Les dernières années de Marie-Antoinette" (The Last Years of Marie-Antoinette). Marie finds it "charmant" and notes that "Marie-Antoinette est un sujet à tirer éternellement des larmes" (Marie-Antoinette is a subject that eternally draws tears).

Marie's Response

Marie's emotional response to Marie-Antoinette's story may reflect her own sense of victimhood and tragedy. The doomed queen's isolation and suffering would resonate with Marie's feelings of being trapped and misunderstood.

Sources

• French Revolution history
• 19th-century Marie-Antoinette literature and historiography