A Study Of Marie Antoinette’s Historical Image

The eighteenth century was a period of great change in European history.Not only did the relationship between European royalty change,but the transition from old to new system began in the second half of the century.After the Habsburg War and the Seven Years’ War,France and Austria,two major monarchies in Europe,gradually moved towards alliance.The historical figures living in this period experienced the collapse of the old system and the birth of the new system,and in this process they either went to a new life or to a poor way.This paper chooses the image of Marie Antoinette,the queen of Bourbon dynasty,to analyze and explore her multifaceted personal image.The image of historical figures is the impression left by the individual to the world and later generations.Historical figures have different identities and positions in different fields during their lives,so they have different images,and all kinds of images are interdependent.The exploration of historical image does not require the exploration of historical truth,but through the image analysis of historical figures to think about the reasons behind its creation,through this process to know how to look at historical figures in a comprehensive way.Antoinette was born in the Habsburg dynasty of Austria,became queen of the Bourbon dynasty of France through a political marriage,and ended her controversial life on the guillotine.It’s hard to imagine Antoinette’s life ended so tragically in her position because of the Revolution.Before the Great Revolution,Antoinette was above everyone and had different identities in terms of family,society and politics.Socially,Antoinette was a fashion-leading darling of The Times,a passionate romantic lover,and a woman who liked to socialize widely.In politics,Antoinette’s status ranged from archduchess of Austria to crown princess and queen of Bourbon dynasty.Antoinette showed different images to the world with different identities,and thus got different evaluations.The reasons behind the various images were profound and complex,which was not only the result of his personal behavior causing public impression on him,but also the reason of deliberately creating specific images to the public.At the same time,it was closely related to the political background at that time.In addition,the description of Antoinette exists in many literary works,so the role of literature in shaping the image of Antoinette cannot be ignored.In the alternating period of stability and turbulence,Antoinette showed a unique political,family and social image.To explore her multi-faceted image,to a certain extent,we can objectively and comprehensively evaluate her actions under the historical conditions at that time,and enrich the perspective of the study of historical figures.