To what extent was the fate of the Revolution linked to the personalities of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette ?

Eva D.

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To what extent was the fate of the Revolution linked to the personalities of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette ?

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The French Revolution is deeply linked to the individuals, and the King and the Queen do not infringe on that rule. The personalities of the sovereigns', by which we mean their characters, the values they embody and how they were seen in public opinion, determined, among others the increasing radicalization of the Revolution. We will focus on the influence of the royal couple on the course of the revolutionary events. Before the time of the great depreciation of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, (they were not already crowned King and Queen) the royal couple used to be acclaimed by the people. On June 8th of 1773, the newlyweds made a brief appearance on the large balcony of the Tuileries to the cheering of the crowd. They were at the height of their popularity at that time, but this did not last. Marie-Antoinette, who was not French, revealed her pleasure to her mother in her letters, and significantly proved that she was aware of the difficult situation of her subjects: "I was very touched by the affection and the attentiveness of those poor people who, despite the taxes which crush them, demonstrated transports of joy on seeing us".

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How both Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI had an influence on the Revolution : the royal couple or the slow death of the monarchy
1. An unwise sense of politics
2. Harshly criticized in the lampoons
3. The accusation of counter-revolution
'Marie-Antoinette or the wicked queen'
1. The real nature of Marie-Antoinette
2. The myth of a depraved Queen in the collective imagination
3. The stranger : a threat for the Revolution
Louis XVI or the incarnation of the weakness of the monarchy
1. Political weakness
2. A man of his time
3. The space-goat for massacres

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Extraits

[...] : LEVER Evelyne, Louis XVI, p.433 ; éditions Fayard DOYLE William, The Oxford History of the French Revolution, p.43; Second Edition in Oxford University Press Extract from the reader “Calonne, “Programs of Reform”, Address to Assembly of Notables p.1. Extract from the reader King's Declaration concerning the Estates General June, p.23. Extract from the reader “Decree Ordering Émigrés to Return to France November p Extract from the reader Indictment of Louis XVI December, p.182. [...]

[...] But if we pay attention to the Indictment of Louis XVI on the 11th December 1792, we notice that he is sued for treason and that all his gestures since the very beginning of the Revolution are criticized in that angle : 20 June you attacked the sovereignty of the people by suspending the assemblies of its representatives On 23 June you wished to dictate laws to the nation, you wished to dictate laws to the nation ( (10). Eventually, the attitude of Louis to his prosecutors during his trial does not intervene on his behalf : he displays a distant indifference and he denies most of the accusations or accuses others. [...]

[...] She writes to her brother: Assembly is not the Nation ( ) All the crimes of the Revolution will be remembered” which demonstrates either her naivety or her lack of perceptiveness, and her contempt for a Revolution which she deems completely illegal and unfounded. In the revolutionaries minds, she takes much of the blame for the corruption of and the depravity of the monarchy, probably much more than Louis XVI according to them, even if he's executed earlier. Her bad influence on the King succeeds in blinding him to the interests of the Nation, which is a latent accusation on her trial. [...]

[...] But, we notice with Mona Ozouf that the Court life is a perpetual representation and Marie-Antoinette does not really succeed in escaping that rule. But her attempts to do so have a more serious impact on the public opinion, because permanent toing and froing between private and public life and the confusion between the two styles will foster lampoons” Indeed, the basic principle of lampoons is the identification between private and public life, and the general indifference of the Queen was interpreted as contempt for the people. [...]

[...] The royal discourses often demonstrate that he does not understand what was happening, and that was probably true since he even seems not to have really foresee danger at the end : after the flight to Varennes, when the hostility was high, he did not hesitate in using his veto to stop what we call the “rejected decree”. Even if was quite within his constitutional rights in so doing, but in this instance it would have been wiser to refrain from asserting his prerogative” The space-goat for massacres On the basis of his discourses, it can be inferred that he never really accepted the Revolution: even if Louis was prone to make concessions, he did not conceive France government without a strong power granted to the monarch. [...]

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