Tea at Trianon: The Victorian Fairy Tale

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, June 3, 2011

The Victorian Fairy Tale

The Maiden's Court reports. (Via Hermes.)

Many fairy tales prior to the Victorian period tended to feature some grotesque or scary themes and events. There were ogres, scores of children being eaten up, magic, sexual references, violence etc. These tales were not seen as suitable for children because of these characterizations.

Enter the Victorian period. Literature during the Victorian period took on a unique style very much the opposite of its predecessor. The main focus of the tales from this time became issues of morality. There was almost always a message that the reader could take away from the story (sort of similar to the Aesop’s Fables of old). (Read entire article.)

Alexandra said...: My favorite! Literature and character education(Christian morality) all in one book. We use these a lot.; June 3, 2011 at 3:01:00 PM EDT