Title: Why Was Marie Antoinette So Hated?
Headings: Why Was Marie Antoinette So Hated?
Why Was Marie Antoinette So Hated?
Assess the arguments raised by Zweig, Fraser, Lever, Dunlop, Amand as to why Marie Antoinette became such a hated figure?
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Content: Poor harvests, the failure to reform the economy combined with government insolvency, the return of veterans from the American War of Independence, and finally a weak King proved a recipe for revolution. Zweig contends that these events and factors were critical in turning Marie Antoinette from being unpopular with some of the people into a woman hated by a majority of the people (Zweig, 1932 p. 156). Antonia Fraser put forward the arguments that Marie Antoinette’s decline from popularity to been a figure of hatred were due partly to how she was perceived by the French public and also due to circumstances beyond her control. Fraser argues that the French disliking foreign-born princesses and Queens had been customary before Marie Antoinette married the future Louis XVI. Previous princesses and Queens though had the advantage of maintaining a lower profile than Marie Antoinette did, whilst Louis XIV and Louis XV were more forceful than the indecisive Louis XVI was. The flamboyant Marie Antoinette stood out from her reserved husband; from her arrival in France she attracted both admirers and detractors. Unfortunately for her the ridicule and dislike that some regarded her with turned into being hated by the masses (Fraser, 2001 p. 44). Fraser points out that Marie Antoinette should have taken her mother’s advice to behave impeccably, obey her husband, and give no cause for scandal or rumours. Marie Theresa believed that avoiding scandal was the best way for her daughter to remain popular and not become a hated figure.