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| Ute Lemper as Marie-Antoinette in L'Autrichienne |
It would be easy to be a princess if I were dressed in cloth of gold, but it is a great deal more of a triumph to be one all the time when no one knows it. There was Marie Antoinette when she was in prison and her throne was gone and she had only a black gown on, and her hair was white, and they insulted her and called her Widow Capet. She was a great deal more like a queen then than when she was so gay and everything was so grand. I like her best then. Those howling mobs of people did not frighten her. She was stronger than they were, even when they cut her head off.
A Little Princess - Frances Hodgson Burnett
5 comments:
I was reading a book on handing writing analysis and it used her handwriting as an example of how it shows the person's qualities....her handwriting while imprisoned showed a strong person who was at peace with her impending death.
The immature girl who arrived at Versailles to marry the Dauphin had at the end of her life become the Queen her mother wished her to be....royal, dignified, the best representative for the Throne of the Lilies. How proud Empress Maria Theresa would be of her little Maria Antonia. How even more proud were the French People who detested the violence of the revolution and saw in Queen Marie Antoinette all that was best about the monarchy and the Kingdom of France.
This was the quote that inspired my dissertation about her! A professor of mine had been reading A Little Princess to his daughter at night and he thought that it was so interesting that young Victorian girls were expected to know and empathise with Marie-Antoinette's fate, so he talked to me about her "cultural afterlife" and if it would make a good research topic. I've always loved that quote about her.
Isn't that interesting, Julygirl! Yes, I agree, Lara! Gareth, it is one of the best quotes ever!
A Little Princess is one of my favorite books and this quote is one of the many reasons why! I look forward to reading it with my own daughters one day. This lovely story has so many fascinating Christian themes that would make excellent articles, or even a book, which I hope to write some day.
Gareth Russel: What a blessing to have the opportunity to write about such a wonderful dissertation topic! It has been an interest of mine as well, one that I look forward to exploring further. I hope this subject will intrigue many others so they also will know the truth about Marie Antoinette. :)
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