We all act based on our own experiences, so it only makes sense to start out by trying to give a child what you yourself would have enjoyed/did enjoy as a child. However, if the child in question then responds negatively and likes other things more, a parent then is supposed to move on and work with what the child does like (provided it's not something like torturing hedgehogs, of course). And the FW type of parent never gets there, even without being an absolute monarch.
What keeps stunning me is the irony of FW, once he sees all the ways Fritz isn't like him and takes great offense at thta, keeps missing all the ways Fritz is. And I don't just mean the obvious - the terrier like take no prisoners stubbornness - or the negatives (the vengefulness, the capacity for humiliating and abusing people). I wasn't kidding when in my Stratemann writeup noting that FW on SD's sickbed as reported by Stratemann sounds remarkably like Fritz (to be specific, Fritz in the Fredersdorf letters) in his concern for her health, complete with "let me be your doctor".
Even post Küstrin, when FW most of the time sees Fritz as successfully remade in a proper crown prince image, even when uttering "There stands one who will avenge me!" declarations, I don't think he sees that. He thinks he has the new improved version of Fritz who won't ruin the kingdom - except on those occasions when he still thinks Fritz will ruin the kingdom, usually when he's in especially bad health - but I think this is in a "best that could be done under the circumstances" manner, not in a "huh, we're similar after all" manner.
Meanwhile, the "I have to be a mirror" quote felis gave us from the Duhan correspondance is incredibly self aware on Fritz' part.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Re: Early Education
Date: 2020-11-17 06:19 am (UTC)What keeps stunning me is the irony of FW, once he sees all the ways Fritz isn't like him and takes great offense at thta, keeps missing all the ways Fritz is. And I don't just mean the obvious - the terrier like take no prisoners stubbornness - or the negatives (the vengefulness, the capacity for humiliating and abusing people). I wasn't kidding when in my Stratemann writeup noting that FW on SD's sickbed as reported by Stratemann sounds remarkably like Fritz (to be specific, Fritz in the Fredersdorf letters) in his concern for her health, complete with "let me be your doctor".
Even post Küstrin, when FW most of the time sees Fritz as successfully remade in a proper crown prince image, even when uttering "There stands one who will avenge me!" declarations, I don't think he sees that. He thinks he has the new improved version of Fritz who won't ruin the kingdom - except on those occasions when he still thinks Fritz will ruin the kingdom, usually when he's in especially bad health - but I think this is in a "best that could be done under the circumstances" manner, not in a "huh, we're similar after all" manner.
Meanwhile, the "I have to be a mirror" quote