Marie Antoinette - Antonia Fraser > Reviews (2)

Marie Antoinette is a widely known historical personnage - infamous for her callousness towards the starving peasants ("Let them eat cake!") and for having her head chopped off during the French Revolution, a victim of the guillotine, yet few attempts have ever been made to go beyond the stereotypes and actually investigate the character of this celebrity queen.

Noted historian Antonia Fraser aims to correct this, and has largely succeeded in a very sympathetic biography of the Queen that not only defeats the popular misconceptions surrounding the Queen's character but draws upon an extensive array of historical sources (including a dazzling number of primary sources) to create a complete picture of who this woman actually was. Fraser's second purpose is to trace the evolution of the Queen, from shy and inexperienced Princess to mature Queen to humbled victim of the French Revolution, and it is indeed remarkable to witness her transformation.

By far the best aspect of this biography is the intimate portrait it gives of the Queen, a largely misunderstood person. Fraser begins with a description of Marie's life before France, in the court of her powerful mother, Austrian Empress Maria Theresa, a formidable, and as we learn, often contradictory force in her daughter's life. Throughout the book, Fraser demonstrates keen psychological analysis as she interprets the effects of an overbearing mother, an insecure and impotent husband, and the nastiness of court and public opinion on Marie's personality.

Fraser also sets out to rubbish the many rumors that history has saddled Marie's name with - namely the reports of her reputed sexual insatiability (in truth Marie was quite sexually inexperienced even after marriage and quite pious as well, the allegations deeply upset and shocked her), and of her legendary arrogance, spending inordinate sums of money even as the people of France starved (while she did spend lavishly, even the Royal Family trimmed their expenses in the time of need!)

My main criticism is that in its focus of Marie Antoinette alone, the book fails to completely place events in her personal life against the backdrop of the unfolding Revolution and does not present a clear enough explanation as to how the Queen turned from beloved monarch to such a reviled figure. Fraser periodically references the popular press of the day and the falsely salacious details of Marie Antoinette's insatiable sexual appetites but makes little effort to explain why these reports sprung up in the first place. To pin it solely on the Queen's Austrian ancestry (as the book suggests in more than one place) is to provide an incomplete explanation. Fraser's attempt may have been to chart the evolution of the Queen as an individual, but given the gruesome outcome that Marie Antoinette met with, I would think that charting the popular evolution of sentiment towards her would be equally important and I would have expected as much from a scholar of Fraser's ability.

Nevertheless, the book remains a fascinating glimpse not only into the character and life of Marie Antoinette, but into another age, one of lavish courts, elaborate daily rituals and strict etiquette that had to be maintained at any price.

More importantly, the book reveals the human figures behind the grand historical personages, and though a highly sympathetic retelling of events, does a decent job of explaining the rationale behind the fated Queen's behavior (even if, at times, it seems as though Fraser is making excuses for her).

The book is rich in factual information yet avoids becoming too heavy or mired in history. The writing is extremely good - clear, concise and informative (yet without being dry either), and is an excellent book to read when you don't have the time to dive head-first into a deeply complex and lengthy tome. I highly recommend it.

Happy reading!
:)