Lexi Grubbs

Mr. Cian
21 March 2016
French II
Marie Antoinette
The French Revolution plagued through Europe from the late 1780s to late 1790s,
changing the country of France forever. What happened is as follows: King Louis XV spent the
countrys money irresponsibly, putting the country into a considerable amount of debt. This lead
to the countrys Third Estate, a primarily poverty-stricken group, to be taxed to solve the deficit.
Prices on common goods sky-rocketed to make up for the issue.
Around this time, the Enlightenment time period had just ended, leaving people with new
found sense of empowerment and curiosity. Why should they have to follow rules that dont even
affect the other two estates? Why were they being punished for something in which they had no
power? They began to question the decisions that their superiors made. However, at this point in
time, King Louis XV had fallen gravely ill. Within weeks, he had died. This left his son, Louis
XVI in charge of Frances future. At Louiss side was his wonderful wife, Marie Antoinette.
Born in Vienna, Austria, on November 5, 1755, Maria Antonia Josepha Joanna was born
an empress. At the time, France and Austria were pitted against each other in battle. When she
was around the age of fourteen years old, a young Marie Antoinette was shipped off you to
France. This was because both countries decided to enter into a contract that bound the two as
allies; Marie Antoinette was considered to be the gift from Austria to France, thanking them for
allying with them.

However, Marie was not the original idea for a gift during this time. As it would be, the
French were looking for a potential wife for Prince Louis XVI, the heir to the French throne.
They sent a tutor over to find her, and the tutor stumbled upon Marie Antoinette. Biography.com
said the following about the topic, In 1768, Louis XV dispatched a tutor to Austria to instruct
his grandson's future wife. The tutor found Marie Antoinette more intelligent than has been
generally supposed, but added that since she is rather lazy and extremely frivolous, she is hard
to teach. [] In May 1770, she set out for France to be married, escorted by fifty-seven
carriages, one hundred and seventeen footmen and three hundred and seventy-six horses.
At the time of her arrival, Marie Antoinette was only fifteen years old, while her husband,
Louis XVI, was at the tenderly young age of sixteen. Once married, the couple was expected to
produce an heir soon after. In their case, the two were pitted into a celebration on the night of
their wedding in which theyd attempted convincing a child together for the first time. Much to
the dismay of the people, Marie Antoinette did not conceive.
She was plagued with many hardships during her time in France, including her inability
to conceive an heir and the fact she took the throne at a time when France was weak and poor.
Marie Antoinette became a figure of conversation when she had not yet produced an heir for
years after the couples marriage; the media often dragged her through the mud for this, stating it
was all her fault that there was not a child to take the throne from King Louis XVI.
Also, during this time, she was known for her partying antics and her spending.
Biography.com says, she was vivacious, outgoing and bold, a social butterfly who loved
gambling, partying and extravagant fashions. When the king went to bed before midnight, Marie
Antoinette's nights of partying and carousing had yet to begin. [] Beginning in 1780, Marie
Antoinette began spending more and more time at the Petit Trianon, her private castle on the

grounds of the Palace of Versailles, almost always without the king. Some believe that the
partying was her means of escaping the ridicule the public threw on her. Others believe it was
just her personality; Marie Antoinette was a free-spirited, energetic woman who enjoyed
indulging in the lavish lifestyle presented to her. Case in point, she did not make many friends
with the French citizens during this time. The country was still struggling in debt, and the
citizens were unhappy with the taxation that was bestowed on them to pay for the King and
Queens spending.
The media often had a lot to say about her. She took the throne when France was in the
middle of a serious financial crisis. Many people blamed her for further the countrys debt, and
her spending was well documented during this years. Biography.com states, Marie Antoinette's
fabulously extravagant lifestyle increasingly became the subject of popular ire. Countless
pamphlets accused the queen of ignorance, extravagance and adultery, some featuring salacious
cartoons and others dubbing her Madame Deficit.
Finally, and what could be considered the cherry on the cake, her reputation was
completely ruined following a scandal in which a person matching her description stole an
expensive diamond necklace. A thief posing as Marie obtained a diamond necklace with 647
diamonds encrusted into it and smuggled it to London to be sold off. Marie Antoinette was
proven innocent of any involvement, she was guilty in the eyes of the people. They had one of
their final reasons to hate the queen. Media outlets stirred the pot, always jumping to the
conclusion that it was Marie who was causing the problem.
Soon after, Marie Antoinette, her husband, King Louis XVI, and their children were all
taken to Paris, where theyd spend the remainder of their lives. After arriving, both were put on
trial by the French people, who were ready to punish the people that they felt were responsible

for all of their problems. Louis was executed first, receiving a grand carriage to take him to the
guillotine. Next up for trial, Marie Antoinette.
Marie Antoinette didnt truly have anything that the people could use to ensure her
persecution, besides the fact that she was married to the King during the time in question, King
Louis XVI. Knowing this, the people added the false charge of incesting her own child to seal the
deal. Not to long later, she was put to death.
The life of Marie Antoinette was a tale of great sadness. She was a victim of the media.
Marie Antoinette was the quirky, fun loving queen of France during the French Revolution, a
young woman, trying to only live a full and happy life. She admired her privileged and
extravagant life, wanting to live it out to the fullest. However, she was never well received due to
the media. She was portrayed as an ignorant, selfish woman who did not care about the citizens
of France. For this reason, Marie Antoinette was executed. Had the media presented her as the
woman that she really was, who know what could have happened? Would France, or even the
world, be the same as it is now? We may never truly know what could have been.

Works Cited
History.com Staff. French Revolution. History.com. History.com. A&E Networks.2009. Web.
18 March 2016.
http://www.history.com/topics/french-revolution
Marie Antoinette. Biograpy.com. A&E Television Networks. 2016. Web. 14 March 2016.
http://www.biography.com/people/marie-antoinette-9398996
History.com Staff. Marie Antoinette. History.com. A&E Networks.2009. Web. 16 March
2016.
http://www.history.com/topics/marie-antoinette