McKenna - French Monarchs - Victims or villains?

Many people could argue that Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI were either villains or victims; not both.

I argue that they were both. At the beginning before the revolution started they were villains because they were treating every French citizen of the third class like they didn’t matter.  However the 2 years leading up to their execution during the war they were very much victims.  However they got victimized for the reason that they were huge villains at the beginning.  For the most part they were villains but they did eventually get to experience both sides of the story.

 Most people world argue that they were villains through and through because of the way they spent their money lavishly or by the way they treated the third estate people.  Also because of the way they didn’t send money to the people of France when they were starving.  However instead chose to send money to America to aid in their revolution not knowing that one was brewing on their soil.

On the other hand they were victims because they were treated badly by the revolutionaries and the people that kept them hostage.  They were forced to sign documents that otherwise would have been disregarded.  They tried to escape but that only made things worse for them. When Louis decided to reach out for help from Prussia, it was seen as an act of treason and he was executed.  Although they were treated badly they also sort of deserved what they got for letting the people of France live in poverty.  What goes around, comes around.  Don’t you think?