And as you say, Wilhelmine in 1730 doesn’t have to have the same beliefs (or lack of same) she has in the 1740s and 50s.
Yes, it's quite normal for people raised in a religion to take until their twenties (or later) to fully give it up.
he finds it striking that Wilhelmine despite her powerful resentment against both her parents (which btw is one of the way she differs from Fritz who I don’t think resented his mother) also never quite manages not to long for their approval and affection
Yep, that's extremely striking just from her memoirs. Standard child abuse stuff, comparable to adult Fritz badly wanting FW's approval decades after he died.
which btw is one of the way she differs from Fritz who I don’t think resented his mother
Agreed, I haven't seen any signs of him resenting her. I also haven't seen many signs of her mistreating him, but that could go either way. Either he didn't record the verbal abuse and Wilhelmine did because Wilhelmine resented it and Fritz was just so grateful to have an ally against his main enemy that he didn't feel the need to complain about it, or SD focused all of her verbal abuse on her daughter and Fritz got off light from her.
Wilhelmine presents herself as someone caught in the middle trying to achieve the impossible task of pleasing both her parents; Fritz comes across as someone locked in a non-stop battle of wills with his father; while both of them were trying to be true to themselves and loyal to each other in the face of parental resistance.
Man, it really, really sucked to be either of them.
This to me sounds like she’s a deist
Oh, yeah. That's 18th century Lucretian-informed deism right there. Interesting!
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Re: Wilhelmine
Date: 2019-11-09 01:39 am (UTC)Yes, it's quite normal for people raised in a religion to take until their twenties (or later) to fully give it up.
he finds it striking that Wilhelmine despite her powerful resentment against both her parents (which btw is one of the way she differs from Fritz who I don’t think resented his mother) also never quite manages not to long for their approval and affection
Yep, that's extremely striking just from her memoirs. Standard child abuse stuff, comparable to adult Fritz badly wanting FW's approval decades after he died.
which btw is one of the way she differs from Fritz who I don’t think resented his mother
Agreed, I haven't seen any signs of him resenting her. I also haven't seen many signs of her mistreating him, but that could go either way. Either he didn't record the verbal abuse and Wilhelmine did because Wilhelmine resented it and Fritz was just so grateful to have an ally against his main enemy that he didn't feel the need to complain about it, or SD focused all of her verbal abuse on her daughter and Fritz got off light from her.
Wilhelmine presents herself as someone caught in the middle trying to achieve the impossible task of pleasing both her parents; Fritz comes across as someone locked in a non-stop battle of wills with his father; while both of them were trying to be true to themselves and loyal to each other in the face of parental resistance.
Man, it really, really sucked to be either of them.
This to me sounds like she’s a deist
Oh, yeah. That's 18th century Lucretian-informed deism right there. Interesting!