The French Revolution marks a period when everything was beginning to change in Europe. This revolution, however, does not mirror the American Revolution. The French uproot one of the long-standing monarchies and replace it with a republic (until the Terror begins and later Napoleon crowns himself Emperor). Still, the French Revolution showcases the power of the people to overthrow the only form of government they have ever known and establish a new system. They rise up against the corrupt principles and in turn create a government for the people.
English contemporaries such as Edmund Burke, however, looked down upon the French Revolution. Burke chose to focus on the people of the revolution and not the principles. His focus being on the King and Queen.
"A band of cruel ruffians and assassins, reeking with his blood, rushed into the chamber of the queen, and pierced with a hundred strokes of bayonets and poniards the bed, from whence the persecuted woman had but just time to fly almost naked, and, through ways unknown to the murderers, had escaped to seek refuge at the feet of a king and husband, not secure of his own life for a moment" (51).
Burke feels compassion for the French monarchy and tries to get others to feel the same through his human portrayal of the royals. He humanizes the monarchy through his identification of the King and Queen as husband and wife, as man and woman. They have no control over their fate. They are the same as any other human being. The monarchy has made mistakes, but then so have their murderers. No one person can be blamed for the problems in France. The death of the King does not resolve the problems France is experiencing. It just deprives a family of their father, of their husband. Instead of teaching "liberty, equality, fraternity" the French are forsaking their idea of brotherhood by killing their own. A true revolution would not deem necessary the murder of those who have already lost. The French have lost sight of the importance of people in favor for trying to achieve their ideal society. A society that cannot exist because they are building their new government on innocent blood instead of diplomacy.
Lauren,
ReplyDeleteGood job in your first post! I like the way you focus your attention on a single author in this section, and moreover on a single section of his writing. I appreciate your quoting a long enough passage to demonstrate the meaning in context, and I very much like the way you analyze that quotation in depth and detail. Good strategy!