Louis And Marie example essay topic

A royal female child of the eighteenth century had only two things to accomplish. The first was to ensure her parents throne by going along with an arranged marriage to a foreign royal. The second was to have a son to ensure the unity of the two families futures. Maria Antonia, later known as Marie Antoinette, was born Archduchess of Austria. She was born in 1755 and died 1793. Growing up Antonia's life in Austria was pretty formal behind the scenes.

Her parents were one of the few who actually married for love. So this already placed high expectations of marriage in her young mind. She saw how well her parents ruled and got along together. Antonia's childhood came to an end quickly, at the age of 14, when her mother arranged for her to marry Louis XVI.

This marriage represented the alliance between Austria and France. In 1770 Maria was on her way to meet her soon-to-be husband. The two were married on neutral ground. Maria and Louis had a similar idea of the marriage. Both of them would rather not, but knew it was necessary because of the responsibilities they were born with.

Once married Marie went from the name Maria Antonia to Marie Antoinette. At first glance both of them had distinct first impressions of each other. "Louis was impressed with the petite, blonde, pretty woman. He was very nervous and her innocence and friendliness helped him to relax."Marie gazed at the heavy and gawky youth and took pity on him. He aroused her sympathy, and she saw the fear in his eyes touched him. She thought he would be much more presentable if he would stand up straight".

Marie was thought to be beautiful, small, and sarcastic. Louis was thought of as stupid, awkward, and clumsy. Louis was intimated by her looks but welcomed by her personality. Marie was not put off by Louis appearance. She thought he was not too bad looking. She took sympathy on him because he was so backwards.

At the wedding ceremony Marie and Louis walked down the aisle behind the king holding hands. Marie was confident and smiling, while Louis looked timid and sick with anxiety. The first night the two were married they had celebrations all day. That night the two were left alone and expected to sleep in the same bed. Marie lay in bed and waited for a long time. Finally she realized Louis was asleep.

Marie was innocent and inexperienced but her mother had informed her of what to expect and what to do. Marie knew then that something was wrong. Louis realized all the gossip going on and told Marie he was waiting until his sixteenth birthday. That day came and went without anything new happening. There is a common theory of what was wrong and an uncommon theory of the physical problems between the two. Most all references said that Louis had phimosis, a deformation of the foreskin, which made sex very painful.

Documents show that doctors said he was just too young and not fully developed yet. The other theory is the only one like it. "The king was endowed with a rather large penis and Marie suffered from a narrow vagina. This shatters the myth of a semi-impotent, foppish king, and a sluttish queen". Either theory may or may not be correct, however the couple was not able to get over the physical problems for seven years. Through the whole ordeal the blame was put on the "Austrian Woman".

Even when accused she accepted all the blame and denied that Louis was impotent. Finally, seven years into the marriage Marie became pregnant. The personal relationship between the two was an interesting one. Marie was the dominating one while Louis never learned how to make a decision. It seems obvious that the two of them got along very well.

Marie's feelings seemed to be deep as far as friendship. Louis's feelings were very deep in love and possibly fear of her. He showed great consideration toward her. When her mother became ill Louis threw a ball for her every night to try to make her happy.

Louis built Marie her own small palace called Trianon where she said she could be herself and informal. She had parties there every night when Louis went to bed with her chosen friends. Marie and Louis often ate dinner together but then he left her apartment as soon as dinner was over. One woman who watched them during dinner said they "talked and laughed much". Their relationship was more like a mother with her son. He never knew what to do so she would scold him and even made him cry.

Louis thought that since she loved Trianon where things were not uptight she might want a simpler life. He made her a spinning wheel for her. As soon as Louis left she gave it away to a friend. Louis also attended all the plays Marie was in and enjoyed all of them. After Marie nearly died giving birth to her first child Louis was very upset and stayed by her bed for hours at a time. When Marie became pregnant with the second child rumors went around that it was not Louis' child.

Louis ordered an investigation that he did not pursue and so it did not go anywhere. Marie Antoinette was the target of underground newspapers that made up malicious stories about her. Any royal couple at that time would have been hated because the Revolution was at its peak and the people wanted a republic. "The queen was routinely accused of monstrous sexual appetites, adultery, nymphomania and lesbianism, thus contributing to what historians now call the desacralization of the monarchy". While a guest was staying at the palace he assumed Marie's warm hospitality meant he had a more intimate relation with her. He then asked her indiscreet questions about her relationship with Madame du Barry.

This remark sounds crazy because Marie despised du Barry. Another of the false accusations was related to the scandalous diamond necklace affair. It was rumored that she was having an affair with the Cardinal de Rohan. At first La Motte did not spread rumors, she only told Rohan rumors so that he would give her the necklace. Knowing Rohan's feelings for the queen La Motte tricked him into purchasing the necklace. The necklace, which was supposed to be given to the queen for him, was instead sold in order to make money.

This affair went to court and La Motte stuck to her story and added more rumors to try to win. She accused the queen of having an affair with Rohan and having physical relations with all of her chambermaids. There is quite a bit of real evidence pointing readers to believe that Marie did have a long and intense affair with Count Axel Fersen. There are a lot of letters discovered showing the correspondence between the two. There is also evidence of a master forger making up letters from the queen to certain people to overthrow the royal couple.

The evidence leans toward the fact that the queen and Fersen were in love with each other. The two of them met at a ball and hit it off. Fersen saw the danger and left to go to America for four years to join the military. After he returned the two were inseparable again. The sister even sent a letter to Fersen saying she heard he was seen with another woman and what would the queen think of that. On the day that physical relations are to have started, a letter was written to the king saying that their marital relations had to end.

A minister in France, St Priest, even stated that Louis knew of intimate relations between the queen and Fersen. Fersen was devoted to protecting the royal couple. He was the only loyal friend, and probably more, to Marie. Fersen is the one who mortgaged his two homes so he could help the king and queen when they were broke. Fersen also arranged the escape for the royal family to get out of Paris. Fersen deeply loved Marie, but also cared for her whole family.

The king did not sleep in the same place as her, and it is said that Fersen had late visits almost every night to the queen. Fersen wrote to his sister: "I have determined never to marry. It would be unnatural... I cannot belong to the one woman to whom I should like to belong and who loves me, so I will not belong to anyone". Even though Marie's priorities were mixed up in the beginning of her marriage, she had good intents, but bad habits. This has to be mostly because she was fourteen.

What did they expect? She came to the throne a mere child without any idea of how to conduct herself. Her palace in Austria was much less formal than the French throne. Marie was full of life and outgoing.

She did not know how to take Louis at first because he was the opposite. They truly had nothing in common. So, as she grew up and the two of them could not have sex, for whatever reason, she fell in love with someone else. Marie and Fersen would have been the perfect couple. Unfortunately, Marie was married.

Fersen loved Marie, but was not faithful to her. Even after physical relations with him possibly ended they were still good friends. That took a lot for Fersen to not only help Marie, but also the rest of her family in the end. In my opinion, Fersen and Marie were not anything but friends in the beginning and the end of Marie's life. The middle of their relationship may have been different though. Marie had matured very much during her time at the palace.

In the beginning she had been self-centered and cared about nothing but parties. After having her children she became much more focused on her family. Marie even quit having parties all the time. She became a family woman, but it was too late in the public's opinion.

Her first loyalties came to her husband, children, adopted country, and Austria. The queen even said: "If I was wrong in the past it was due to childless and irresponsibility, but now I am more levelheaded". After the royal couple had kids they had something in common for the first time. They both adored the children, and went through a lot of heartache when they became incurably sick.

After their oldest son's death the two were devastated and spent a whole day together mourning. As time went on Marie started to depend on Louis as he did on her. When the two had a fight it was usually over Marie trying to tell Louis what to do. This was only what her brother Joseph wanted. Marie was torn between letting Louis be and letting her family get her to push what they wanted onto her husband. That was a rough spot for Marie.

When the kingdom's state became shaky Marie wrote to her brother saying that Louis came to her room every day crying over how things were falling apart. This proves in my mind that the two did draw closer. While the royal family was being held in Paris, Fersen arranged for Louis and Marie to leave in a fast carriage followed with their children behind. Marie refused though. She wanted a carriage big enough for her whole family to go together. Marie and Louis worked as well as they could together.

As they got to know each other the two trusted and became good friends. That is all I would expect from an arranged marriage. Although I think Louis was more content with Marie than she was with him. Antoinette did fulfill her duties though. She married and had an heir.

Louis confessed to Marie that: "He only loved her and never had sensations toward another woman". Marie probably did not respond with the same intensity. Marie helped make up for Louis' weaknesses. Physically, Louis was too timid to ever be a complete husband.

Mentally, the two seemed to have a very open relationship. Louis told Marie about his concerns and worries, while Marie confided hers to Louis. "Ironically, the woman many viewed as weak and foolish displayed great moral strength and presence of mind during her trial and execution". I believe that this royal couple was no worse than any of the others.

They simply were ruling at a time when the people did not want to be ruled. This made underground papers make up stories about Marie to encourage others to help overthrow the throne. Marie may have had an affair with Fersen, but probably not with all the other dozens she was accused of. Marie definitely had her faults, but they were all exaggerated greatly. I think when it came down to it, she did the best she could with her premature marriage, the husband chosen for her, and all of the bad timing.