OMG, that's an awesome parallel! Friedrich had veeeery strong words about Catholicism and the Inquisition. And in the words of one of his biographers, "Frederick cannot have been the first nominally Christian European sovereign not to have believed in Christian doctrine, but he was surely the first to parade his skepticism so brazenly."
Although the parallel fails in the sense that a) Philip is kind of fascinated with Posa anyway, and b) Posa never recants, he just doubles down on presenting himself as the villain, heh
Yeah, the Philip+Posa dynamic seems to be wildly different from the Friedrich Wilhelm+Katte dynamic. I guess you can't copy your sources exactly, have to be creative somewhere. ;)
Also, I'm guessing Posa never recants because he's never condemned to death? Atheism (or Deism) is not a philosophy that lends itself well to martyrdom. The pagan Roman emperors had no trouble getting their atheist subjects to sacrifice to the state gods while mocking the whole affair; when they tried to get Christians to do the same...well, that's where most of the early saints come from.
Also also, Katte's recantation took the form of claiming that he only pretended to be atheist because he moved in circles where that was fashionable and made your conversation seem sparkling and brilliant. I am reminded of Katherine Parr, Henry VIII's sixth wife, about to be arrested by Henry's order for having said one too many things that made it sound like she supported Protestantism. Fortunately for her head, she happened to be walking with Henry when the official came to arrest her, and she talked fast. Specifically, she said that she only said these controversial things in Henry's presence to distract him from the pain of his ulcers, as well as to be instructed by his wise counterarguments. He totally fell for it, chased off the guy who was trying to arrest his wife, and stayed on good terms with her until his death. She was the "lived" in "divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, lived."
I wish Friedrich Wilhelm I had been as gullible as Henry VIII. :( Instead, he said things to Katte's grandfather like, "Look, I'm being nice to you and *only* beheading your grandson, because I like you and your son so much. *Really* what he deserves is to be torn apart with red-hot pincers, but I'm merciful."
Also also, go back to the bit where the King taps Posa with the sword as he makes him a duke: you can see this Posa tense up and wince at that point.
I don't have to go back, I noticed it the first time! And again the second time. That is one sad panda. :(
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Date: 2019-08-10 05:46 am (UTC)Although the parallel fails in the sense that a) Philip is kind of fascinated with Posa anyway, and b) Posa never recants, he just doubles down on presenting himself as the villain, heh
Yeah, the Philip+Posa dynamic seems to be wildly different from the Friedrich Wilhelm+Katte dynamic. I guess you can't copy your sources exactly, have to be creative somewhere. ;)
Also, I'm guessing Posa never recants because he's never condemned to death? Atheism (or Deism) is not a philosophy that lends itself well to martyrdom. The pagan Roman emperors had no trouble getting their atheist subjects to sacrifice to the state gods while mocking the whole affair; when they tried to get Christians to do the same...well, that's where most of the early saints come from.
Also also, Katte's recantation took the form of claiming that he only pretended to be atheist because he moved in circles where that was fashionable and made your conversation seem sparkling and brilliant. I am reminded of Katherine Parr, Henry VIII's sixth wife, about to be arrested by Henry's order for having said one too many things that made it sound like she supported Protestantism. Fortunately for her head, she happened to be walking with Henry when the official came to arrest her, and she talked fast. Specifically, she said that she only said these controversial things in Henry's presence to distract him from the pain of his ulcers, as well as to be instructed by his wise counterarguments. He totally fell for it, chased off the guy who was trying to arrest his wife, and stayed on good terms with her until his death. She was the "lived" in "divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, lived."
I wish Friedrich Wilhelm I had been as gullible as Henry VIII. :( Instead, he said things to Katte's grandfather like, "Look, I'm being nice to you and *only* beheading your grandson, because I like you and your son so much. *Really* what he deserves is to be torn apart with red-hot pincers, but I'm merciful."
Also also, go back to the bit where the King taps Posa with the sword as he makes him a duke: you can see this Posa tense up and wince at that point.
I don't have to go back, I noticed it the first time! And again the second time. That is one sad panda. :(
Please ramble on about your fandom, it's fun!