Review on To the Scaffold: The Life of Marie Antoinette By: Carolly Erickson - Book Report/Review Example

She is sure to provide a free flowing history that moves the writer and brings back the historical intrigues that are common with historical narratives and biographies. Erickson initially discourses the birth of Marie Antoinette by her mother who was an Austrian ruler amid intense labor pains. She was originally named Maria Antonia Josephina and her mother was a hardworking, reasonable and intelligent person. Her mother made sure to educate her in the best means possible together with her siblings.

It was within the lessons of the curriculum that young girls be groomed to become religious, moral and respectable. Therefore, their sexual curiosity was suppressed and their religious devotions highly encouraged (Erickson 13). Due to engagement of war with France, Marie’s mother was not very much involved in her upbringing. She would send messages to her daughter even when she was married to maladroit who was an ill-mannered dauphin in France. They entailed behavioral advice for her young married daughter.

A notable thing is that Marie lacked the essential things in her mother. As a youth, she had the will to discover herself in many aspects yet she did not have the intelligence like that of her mother in handling things. A good chunk of the book highlights Marie’s transformation on arrival in France. She was naïve and young at arrival but somehow, the dazzling court of France, which was known for its extravagance was instrumental in her unexpected transformation. She may have found it different from her abode in Austria.

She was a dauphin and was most powerful in a court that had weak male members of the royal family. She was responsible for the plight of France, but she did not handle it very well. She was a failure and a disappointment in reference to her mother. The book dwells on how she was overwhelmed by the power she wielded, made wrong decisions, failed to be alert and finally was blamed for being the architect of the demise that