Yup. And yeah, we've seen people complaining about this trait of Fritz's since at least the 1730s, maybe the 1720s.
I meant to say when in the other post you reported young Fritz having a go at Gundling as well instead of seeing him as a fellow victim: I think what happened is a classic case of Fritz (and for that matter, Wilhelmine, in a slightly lesser degree but still) developing sarcasm and humor as a defense mechanism. And also because they enjoy it, of course, but it's still something that happened under pressure and became a weapon.
Now, on the one hand they grew up in an abuse situation. (Several of them.) But on the other, they're also near the top of the social order in their world, and once Fritz gets to the top, he never, ever seems to grasp there's a difference between punching up and punching down as far as humor is concerned. Not least because if you're King and you're not talking about your fellow monarchs, you're always punching down. Voltaire is a bit of an exception in that Fritz certainly sees him as the superior writer and wit, and Voltaire himself certainly doesn't see himself as lower in any type of hierarchy, but when things go from bad to worse, it's still Fritz who has the power to burn Voltaire's writings (twice) and get him arrested in neutral territory. After that, I doubt any intellectual would have dared to seriously argue with Fritz.
(Gottsched excepted. You were a brave man, Gottsched.)
But to go back to Crown Prince Fritz: it would have been great if he'd felt some empathy with the non family member who'd become his father's other favourite punching bag. But I didn't really expect it. The odds were too much staked against poor Gundling here: German scholar, FW made him President of the Academy precisely to mock it, not to encourage the arts, FW keeps him around all the time, and lastly, he's the one person FW will even approve young Fritz mocking. I'm so sorry, Gundling. Having a street named after you in Potsdam these days is no compensation for what must have been a hellish life, though I hope Stade and the others were right and you managed to carve out some safe private space with your wife.
What was true for King Fritz is of course doubly true for Archduke and then Emperor Joseph, who outranks even other monarchs at least in theory: any joke at someone else's expense is by necessity punching down. Relieving pressure via humor is something that's understandable on the one hand, but on the other given his social situation just not possible in a way that doesn't end up in him hurting people who can't talk back. And I think that's why visitors like De Lyunes put such an emphasis on MT being "gracious to everyone" however she feels about them in their reports. It sounds like a pretty meaningless social courtesy but in this kind of world, it's really not.
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Re: Messages from the Empress
Date: 2020-03-01 06:26 am (UTC)Yup. And yeah, we've seen people complaining about this trait of Fritz's since at least the 1730s, maybe the 1720s.
I meant to say when in the other post you reported young Fritz having a go at Gundling as well instead of seeing him as a fellow victim: I think what happened is a classic case of Fritz (and for that matter, Wilhelmine, in a slightly lesser degree but still) developing sarcasm and humor as a defense mechanism. And also because they enjoy it, of course, but it's still something that happened under pressure and became a weapon.
Now, on the one hand they grew up in an abuse situation. (Several of them.) But on the other, they're also near the top of the social order in their world, and once Fritz gets to the top, he never, ever seems to grasp there's a difference between punching up and punching down as far as humor is concerned. Not least because if you're King and you're not talking about your fellow monarchs, you're always punching down. Voltaire is a bit of an exception in that Fritz certainly sees him as the superior writer and wit, and Voltaire himself certainly doesn't see himself as lower in any type of hierarchy, but when things go from bad to worse, it's still Fritz who has the power to burn Voltaire's writings (twice) and get him arrested in neutral territory. After that, I doubt any intellectual would have dared to seriously argue with Fritz.
(Gottsched excepted. You were a brave man, Gottsched.)
But to go back to Crown Prince Fritz: it would have been great if he'd felt some empathy with the non family member who'd become his father's other favourite punching bag. But I didn't really expect it. The odds were too much staked against poor Gundling here: German scholar, FW made him President of the Academy precisely to mock it, not to encourage the arts, FW keeps him around all the time, and lastly, he's the one person FW will even approve young Fritz mocking. I'm so sorry, Gundling. Having a street named after you in Potsdam these days is no compensation for what must have been a hellish life, though I hope Stade and the others were right and you managed to carve out some safe private space with your wife.
What was true for King Fritz is of course doubly true for Archduke and then Emperor Joseph, who outranks even other monarchs at least in theory: any joke at someone else's expense is by necessity punching down. Relieving pressure via humor is something that's understandable on the one hand, but on the other given his social situation just not possible in a way that doesn't end up in him hurting people who can't talk back. And I think that's why visitors like De Lyunes put such an emphasis on MT being "gracious to everyone" however she feels about them in their reports. It sounds like a pretty meaningless social courtesy but in this kind of world, it's really not.