Marie Antoinette Research Paper

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There is a lot of debate as to the personality of Marie Antoinette. Some people believe that she was an immoral woman who very much contributed to the many issues that caused the Revolution. There are stories of the people of the country starving and having no bread, and Marie just saying something along the lines of ‘Let them eat cake’. There are others, however, who believe that Marie Antoinette was nothing more than a victim. There are some who believe in some of these rumors and not others, and these people will often paint her as a kind – if immoral – queen. There are also others who believe almost none of the rumors and say that she was a kind and wonderful queen and person who was no more than a victim of circumstance. The question is,…show more content…
The slight problem with this, however, is that many of these were published long after this time period by people who did not know either of them at all. This means that even though these people are working off of information that should allow them to make very educated guesses that are very close to truth, they can’t know for sure. It can never be known a hundred percent for sure. But there are also books published somewhat after the time period they lived in. Some of these are compiled of letters, conversations, and notes of theirs and the people they knew. These memoirs are the closest we can get to total truth in how Marie and Louis behaved and if Marie was a victim of circumstances or if she contributed to the events. I believe that Marie Antoinette was nothing more than a victim of circumstance and timing. She was an Austrian archduchess who was given an arranged marriage to the man who would become Louis XVI. At the point in time that this occurred, according to Barrière & Maigne (1883), there were many in France who disliked Austria and its people, wanting nothing to do with them. These anti-Austrians took an instant dislike to Marie because of her heritage, and they made up quite a lot of the population of France as well. A lot of the rumors came from them, and it led to the downfall of Louis XVI and Marie’s

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