Timothy Tackett's analysis of the September Massacres highlights how rumors and fear catalyzed violence, providing insight into the volatile nature of revolutionary fervor, within, Rumor and Revolution: The Case of the September Massacres. Pauline Valade explores the early optimism of the Revolution, detailing how public celebrations and joy in its initial years reflected hope for political transformation in her writing of, Public Celebrations and Public Joy at the Beginning of the French Revolution. Meanwhile, Lynn Hunt examines the symbolic representation of Marie Antoinette’s body, demonstrating how her image was politicized to embody both the excesses of the monarchy and the revolutionary drive for justice Marie-Antoinette: Writings on the Body of a Queen.  Within the resources that I’m going to analyze, it is clear that there are various perspectives and evidence of rumors having to do with the matriarch of France during the French Revolution.  Together, these works underscore the interplay of rumor, emotions, and Marie Antonient being thee symbolism of the Old regime which shapes the trajectory of the French Revolution. Some historians would argue that the nobility were attacked during the revolution to undermine their power and rule, but my central focus will be on Marie Antoinette, and the rumors that had been stirred about her name. With the cultural or gender base, the concept of rumors and propaganda to undermine the influence of the Royals became a central theme within the French revolution. The tumultuous events of the French Revolution were shaped by both public sentiment and the manipulation of narratives, as evidenced in scholarly works examining this period. 

          Within Pauline Valade’s piece, “Public Celebrations and Public Joy at the Beginning of Different Revolutions,” she speaks on the history of emotions in relation politics, as well as the mentality of a public rebellion. The recognition of rumors as well as propaganda campaigns to undermine the power of the monarchy. In the earlier years of the aristocratic rule in France, there seemed to be a positive response to the first and second estate until Louis XVI  joined the estate in 1789 and the constitution in 1790 had to re-shaped the emotion of happiness and political harmony. Due to tensions in June 1791 hostility had grown towards the matriarchy which led to the social political strain that we begin to see leading up to the revolution. Valade presents a great argument on why propaganda, emotions and politics go hand in hand while shaping the Republic of France. She states: “The political history of the French Revolution continues to be enriched by new perspectives. The study of the popular experience of politics and the way events were lived has been allied to a new curiosity over the history of emotions.' Choosing emotion as a subject of study implies that it is an inherently rational subject (Valade, 1).” Marie Antoinette is a prime figure who unfortunately had faced plenty of backlash due to her position beside Louis XVI as well as being a woman. She is an example of just how far rumors and speculations can go from the public undermining her significance as a woman with the monarchy. Writer Lynn Hunt within, “The Many Bodies of Marie Antoinette,” speaks of Marie Antoinette’s position as Queen, stating: 

“queens never rule in France, exactly indirectly as regents of underage sons, they were not imagined as having the two bodies associated with kings. According to the “mystic fiction of the ‘king's two bodies” as analyzed by Ernest Kantorowicz, king’s in England and France had both visible, had both a visible, petrol, mortal body, and an invisible, ideal “body politic,” which had never died. As a French churchman Bisseut explained in a sermon he gave with Louis XLV present in 1662: “ you are the gods, even if you die, your authority never dies… The man dies, it is true, but the king, we say, never dies…”  

Based on the point that Hunt makes, the question is the skepticism of the queen‘s mortal body. The reasoning of the rumors may believe that the woman’s body is non-mystical. Hunt argued that it represented many things: The depiction and history of Marie Antoinette’s body has been hydra-like and often, presented in a metaphorical sense: a personification of counterrevolution. For example, Maquart Fidel Dominikus Wocher, Harpie Monstre Amphibie Vivant, 1784 is it depiction of Marie Antoinette as a hybrid human creature who also looks like a dragon with a human face but horns. Marie Antoinette Austrian heritage was not accepted widely by the population in France due to the political and social tensions between French and Austria. During 1748 there was a treaty of Aix La Chapelle and the 1756 Franco Austrian Alliance, which benefited Austria in opposed to France. 

              Furthermore, the hostility towards Marie Antoinette, the disdain towards  her identity, seemed to represent a symbol of the old regime which the revolution firmly opposed. As long as the queen lived, she was a threat, and the popular rumor is that Marie Antoinette was a spy on behalf of the Australian imperial interest to reinstall the monarchy. There is a correlation between Austrian conspiracies and the old regime that seems to loom over the French revolution. 

She had stated in her execution ballad:

“J'avais grande espérance

Que les rois, mes parents, Rétablissent en france

La puissance des grands...'

The revolution in the public depicted, Marie Antoinette, as an overindulgent individual well the nation was struggling with famine and poverty. Although these rumors had gone around to stir up anger, as well as frustration towards the civilization of Marie Antoinette being a part of the Old Regime, it also depicted Antoinette, as an unfeeling aristocrat who continuously stole from the French people, despite their lack. Timothy Tackett within his article On Rumor in Revolution, The Case of the September Massacres, stated, “be fearful of prisons and of the prisoners they housed undoubtedly existed under the Old Regime. Several state and municipal prisons were to be found in the ery heart of the city, a presence that invariably gave rise to speculations about who was detained there and whether the inmates might be able to escape. Yet there is evidence that such anxiety intensified during the Revolution (Tackett, 59).” Hackett uses the word anxiety, which goes back to the perception of emotion by Valade, within the Revolution. In French, emotions are seen as a psychological phenomenon of the body rather than a feeling. One could argue that emotion could be publicly charged or the implication of social dissonance within tensions or political upheaval. The concept of studying emotions within separate categories is important to understand changes in popular attitudes specifically within the revolution. This can help historians better understand the social and political tensions that formed around Marie Antoinette’s identity and what it represented. Tackett uses, “joy,” as the factor of, “the omnipresent feeling of anguish, of traumatic events. Even when these were later celebrated in gaiety, they remained dramas (Valade, 2).”  Through hunts writing I can see the correlation between Marie Antoinette and the ruthless dehumanization projected onto her, due to the rising tensions within France. Hunt had written, (based off the public’s perception of Antoinette), “ in short, Marie Antoinette had used her sexual body to corrupt the body of politics, either through legends or intimacy with criminal politicians, or through her ability to act sexually upon the king, his ministers, or his soldiers (Hunt, 120).” Marie Antoinette was seen as a tone of revolt against the sovereignty of the French people. The citizens of France were driven by their emotions through propaganda, rumors and the scrutiny of her character. 

               Emotions are similar to the concept of transparency, which is what the public would’ve wanted during the French revolution. As the heart of the counter-revolution, conspiracy and rumor were used to undermine the future of the French Republic. The psychological concept of emotion in the concept of Valade’s perspective, can be correlated with a grand delusion or the manifestation of politicized tensions—but, at what cost? Valade writes, 

“From June 1791, public celebrations took on a somber mood. In the autumn of 1791, celebrations for co-sovereignty reflected public skepticism, if not hostility. Now, official or non-official joy was expressed for an untried polit-ical regime. Joy translated a certain feeling of confidence in the unknown. This 'anomaly' called into question the political meaning of demonstrations of joy. This article asks why people rejoiced. When and in what circumstances was public joy manifested? How does politicized joy manifest itself? What, in the short term, does joy reveal about political sentiments that exist over a longer timescale (Valade, 3).” 

I believe that such emotions like joy and happiness, celebrate a break within the old regime thaat opposed and the former Republic of France and transitioning into the newfound hope, through excessive celebration. It is about revolt at the expense of those who keep the old regime enforced. “Joy!” may be accompanied by flames of anger and as Valade states, “ these bends full of demonstrations of joy, celebrating the reparation of injustice, and the promise of tempered monarchy (Valade, 4).”  Furthering that point, Tackett expresses the obsession of conspires between the elites amongst the masses, 

“The rumors in circulation metamorphosed in such a way as to reflect and justify the already widespread attitudes of hatred and mistrust towards nobles and priests, justifying the desire for revenge by demonizing these opponents. The anxiety and uncertainty were so intense and widely experienced throughout the society that a common rumor consensus was able to form and move across class and cultural boundaries. It was in this context, I would argue, that a large body of Parisians sympathized with the idea that "one must kill the devil before he kills us" (as Guittard had put it). It was in this context that a substantial number of elites - who in other situations would almost certainly have been skeptical of the rumor and morally outraged by the popular actions that followed - came to accept or even openly to support and facilitate the September Massacres - where common prisoners were now metamorphosed into "brigands" in the pay of the counterrevolution. The obsession with a prison conspiracy, the desire for revenge..(64.)”  

Attacks on Marie Antoinette morality had begun in 1774, some years after she had arrived in France. That is when newspapers were detailed with sexual impotence and sexual affairs. Music, as well as other published pamphlets, depict various perverted scandals on Antoinette. Hunt had expressed, “The official incest charge against the queen has to be set in the context provided by the longer history of pornographic and semi-pornographic pamphlets about the queen's private life discussed in several essays in this volume. Although the charge itself was based on presumed activities that took place only after the incarceration of the royal family in the Temple prison, it was made more plausible by the scores of pamphlets that had appeared since the earliest days of the Revolution and that had, in fact, had their origins in the political pornography of the Old Regime itself (Hunt, 127).” This was the response to the heightened political tensions, as well as the Republic of France collapsing. The French revolution reveals what was at stake with the central figures of the revolution during those times and how the public responded. The central focus on Antoinnette, despite King Louis being the honorary king of France, shows how quickly the Republic had turned against anyone who stood away right towards equality, justice, and a new Republic.

           Through the various resources I have read, the depictions of Marie Antoinette were scrutinized through the French people within the French revolution. Not only did Marie Antoinette represent the old regime of France (which the people of France did not want to see rise again) but, she also was a woman from Austria, as well as a symbol of political and social threats that stimulated various emotions and rumors to arise towards her. Nowadays, I can see the impact Marie Antoinette has within social media and movies and Halloween costumes. The famous phrase, “let them eat cake“ is popular with Marie Antoinette, even though it wasn’t said by her. It goes to show how powerful emotions are in the heat of the France revolution and just how deep things could be turned through propaganda, the threat of the old regime as well as a woman’s body becoming the main cause of discussion. 

Works cited 

Tackett, Timothy. “Rumor and Revolution: The Case of the September Massacres.”

French History and Civilization 4 (2011): 54-64.

Valade, Pauline. “Public Celebrations and Public Joy at the Beginning of the French Revolution

(1788-1791).” French History 29 no. 2 (2015): 182-203.

Hunt, Lynn. “The Many Bodies of Marie Antoinette,” in

Marie-Antoinette: Writings on the Body of a Queen, ed. Dena Goodman, New York: Routledge, 2003