Headless Queen - A Dual Tragedy of Revolution and Marriage (Sigmund Freud Biography Series)

Author: Stefan Zweig
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-12-01
Features: She is the charming Austrian princess, she is the exquisite Rococo queen, she is the delicate flower of the 18th century. She is Marie Antoinette on the guillotine. This book is one of the most acclaimed works in Zweig's character biographies, which caused a sensation in Europe after its publication. Marie Antoinette was naturally beautiful but became a pawn on her mother's political chessboard. At the age of 15, she was sent to France in marriage and wed the then crown prince, Louis XVI. Louis XVI was weak-willed, and due to physiological reasons, he could not fulfill his marital duties, so he allowed Antoinette's willfulness as compensation. Before the outbreak of the French Revolution, Antoinette, to escape the bitterness of her unhappy marriage, indulged in dressing up, dancing, gambling, and spent enormous sums of money building palaces. She interfered with the king and the government, earning the nickname "the deficit queen." At that time, France was in turmoil both internally and externally, and Antoinette's recklessness and political naivety placed her at the peak of the storm during the French Revolution, ultimately making it impossible for her to escape her fate. Zweig shows deep sympathy for this tragic beauty's tumultuous life, striving to portray her as an "ordinary woman," which makes her tragedy even more moving and touching.