This lady though: Marie Antoinette

Today, February 7th, 2016, after almost a year of reading, I finally finish, Antonia Fraser's Marie Antoinette: The Journey.

This book was so long and it involved so many books, including one special film, it can be likened to an actual journey.

I was in the middle of my Sofia Coppola fan-girling stage when I first came to know of the book. I was in such a rush after seeing her movie about Marie-Antoinette starring Kirsten Dunst. I loved it so much that it became one of my favourite films of all time. 
Over the course of internet-geeking and hyperlink-hopping; I discovered that Coppola had to employ a historian as an official consultant for her film. Antonia Fraser guided the production's historical accuracy on Marie-Antoinette's life. And so, her book about the infamous queen of France became the main source material for the movie.

"Like everyone, I am born naked."

After watching the movie, I knew I wanted to know more, to read more, about Marie Antoinette. This began my avid search for Fraser's book. 
I realized it would be quite difficult as, there weren't that many major bookstores in the country I live in. So, I started to use my next best resource for hard to find books--a relative from the States. Surprisingly, my aunt, who lived in New Jersey, also had a difficult time acquiring it. But being a nice and loving aunt, she did her best to get me something close to it anyway. So, for my birthday she gave me 

Sena Jeter Naslund's Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette. 

It is what the genres would call historical fiction. 

With over 500 pages, I was able to finish this first-person, journal-format of a book in two weeks. It wasn't what I asked for but I absolutely enjoyed it.
It wasn't a textbook or a history book but the fiction made it intimate. It felt like I was one of her confidantes. I almost wished I was there to comfort her and give her a hug, because I know it's not going to end well.
She's conventionally portrayed as a inefficient queen or a problem teenager, but in reading "Abundance," I find her not so bad. It made it easier for me to separate the bad actions to the seemingly or generally good woman. I thought Naslund captured her youth and innocence so well. Even during the parts where she was already imprisoned and about to be executed; her young and gentle nature was still very much there. 

That is how I want to remember her, charming, beautiful, and just plain honest. (and strong and courageous)

Marie Antoinette never ceases to both amaze and sadden me.
I rarely, rarely read history books but what can I say? She has completely beguiled me.

It is important to note, first and foremost, that ever since she was born, her whole life has already been set out for her. This is because of her mother, Empress Maria Teresa of Austria. Being the queen of France was never her desire nor was it ever her life ambition. This was just how royalty and marriages worked back then. Her fifteen year old self had no choice but to subject to the ways of her time.
Austria needed to form an alliance with France, and so a marriage was the best and most practical way of achieving this.

Interestingly enough, the struggles of Louise Auguste and Marie Antoinette's marriage was also what greatly affected their reign. If they were any other couple in France, it wouldn't be such a big deal. But, no they weren't, they were the king and queen. And this, entailed expectations exclusive to their state in life.

I feel for them, deeply. I couldn't imagine my teenage self in their shoes. I mean, teenagers nowadays couldn't even get away with a broom to clean their rooms and yet, these very young royals, had the immense responsibility not just to clean but to feed, attend to, and basically cater to an entire country's needs.

In going through this journey, I have realized something fascinating about reading history and reading itself. It is the very important life lesson, empathy. Some people might judge on this by saying, you weren't actually there, you weren't the one who was hungry or scared or had gotten killed. Well to them I say this: Isn't empathy exactly that? 
You are NOT her or him; you had NOT been there yourself but the act of actually trying to put yourself there, that's a whole other thing. Why does one choose to do this? It is not to insult or play pretend but to know; to know how it must've felt like and then maybe in the end, one can acquire some lesson from a time long gone. What does that have to do with the present? Well, it can be of little help but sometimes, a lot too.

Another realization is that literature and history is just so undeniably human. It amazes me beyond belief. I am struck by how there are always two faces to a coin. How there are two sides to a story and how easy it is to judge just one side of it. And there's only two ways it can go for you, either you're wrong or you're right.

We, humans, are such complex creatures. It's always interesting for me to pick at our brains through literature.

I am grateful for history, for books, for my life, and for the inspiration of this post, and this journey, Marie Antoinette, former Dauphine of France. Thank you for being who you are and proving forevermore to me that it takes a lot of courage for some hope to arise in this world.

Actress Kirsten Dunst as the queen herself in Sofia Coppola's Marie-Antoinette