Marie Antoinette: The Journey

During the 18th century, royal women were given somewhat contradictory messages about their roles at court and in political life. Fraser focuses on how Marie Antoinette navigated these competing expectations, fulfilling some better than others.

When Marie Antoinette was a child, her mother, Maria Theresa, impressed upon her the importance of obedience to the men in her life, particularly her future husband: “The necessity for total obedience from her daughters was something about which Maria Theresa was quite unequivocal” (21). Royal women were expected to be primarily decorative, performing skills that displayed their grace and dexterity, such as singing, dancing, and embroidery. Marie Antoinette largely excelled at adhering to these expectations. She was a gifted dancer and sewer. She also enjoyed taking part in amateur theater productions throughout her life.

Despite this overt messaging, Maria Theresa modeled a very different role for women at court. The empress was and is widely recognized as a gifted political operator who used her political savvy and influence to arrange advantageous marriages for her children that strengthened her empire. When Marie Antoinette joined the French court, she was expected to act with similar political alacrity, to garner her own political influence, and to lobby her husband to act in Austria’s favor.