18th-Century Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 36

[cahn]

Starting a couple of comments earlier than usual to mention there are a couple of new salon fics! These probably both need canon knowledge.

felis ficlets on siblings!

Siblings (541 words) by felisnocturna
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great, Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf, August Wilhelm von Preußen | Augustus William of Prussia (1722-1758), Wilhelmine von Preußen | Wilhelmine of Prussia (1709-1758)
Summary:

Three Fills for the 2022 Three Sentence Ficathon.

Chapter One: Protective Action / Babysitting at Rheinsberg (Frederick/Fredersdorf, William+Henry+Ferdinand)
Chapter Two: Here Be Lions (Wilhelmine)

Unsent Letters fic by me:

Letters for a Dead King (1981 words) by raspberryhunter
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great & Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen (1726-1802)
Characters: Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen | Henry of Prussia (1726-1802)
Additional Tags: Epistolary, Love/Hate, Talking To Dead People, Canonical Character Death, Dysfunctional Family
Summary:

Just because one's king and brother is dead doesn't mean one has to stop writing to him.

Comments

Re: Mary Ann Costello

[selenak]

That is super weird!

Isn't it just? In a way, the reverse of what the Thenardiers are doing to Fantine in Les Miserables - they're fleecing her by constantly pretending Cosette is at death's door and they're having all these expenses, when really they're exploiting her as child labor. Whereas the Smiths forego the financial benefit - because Melchior Guy-Dickens paid for his daughter's upkeep, of course, when he still thought she was alive - so they can keep her.

She sounds extremely resilient and possibly with a really bad guy picker.

Seriously. It's as if she had an unerring instinct for picking Mr. Wrongs. (Which alas played into the narrative George was told as to why she couldn't be trusted with raising him.) She must have felt at some points as if it was her lot in life to clean up after incompetent men. Which was probably yet another reason why George was her favourite - he was super competent! (And even if not providing just what she wanted from him, did help her for a change.)

Although I think the frustrations make it really fascinating! A lot of people with good intentions often doing things that might be good in some ways but also hurting each other (except, again, for Mary Ann's guys, the jerks).

That's true, and it's to the biographer's credit that she doesn't take the easy route of, say, vilifying Stratty and Merihabel but lays out their reasons for acting as they did as well.

I THINK I SEE YOUR PROBLEM, Mary Ann's children! (I suppose George was also the only one who got out, due to Merihabel and Stratty, and who's to say that another of her children might not have done at least marginally better than they actually did, under the same circumstances? But...)

Quite. Youngest son's Frederick's wife Emma blamed Mary Ann's preference as well as George himself for Frederick developing lots of hang-ups never getting quite the career in the navy he thought he could have had, but Frederick (the one who at age 12 had sent George an obscene letter) did get a commission and then managed to piss off a lot of people, and when he expected George to bail him out of this, George refused, which makes it sound like Frederick's fault to me. Otoh, daughter Mary wanted to become an actress, which had the predictable result of:

Mary Ann: NO WAY.
George: NO WAY. Even if I have to pay for her wedding to a respectable citizen.
Mary Ann: You're getting married to a respectable guy instead.
Mary the younger: FINE. But I just know I could have had a great career and will blame Mom and George for not having it.

Meanwhile, Lord Grey, whom the tea is named after, the first time it dawned on him George might actually make PM:

the son of an actress is, ipso facto, disqualified from becoming Prime Minister".

George: Watch me.

That makes a lot of sense, and I'm glad at least that she got to live on her own terms.

That's how I feel. Of course there's much in her life which she would have wanted to have happened differently. But within all the lemons she was dealt, she did manage some lemonade, and she never gave up.

Re: Mary Ann Costello

[cahn]

Which was probably yet another reason why George was her favourite - he was super competent! (And even if not providing just what she wanted from him, did help her for a change.)

I mean -- yeah! I'm not a fan of parents playing favorites, but when one of your kids is super competent and helps you out, and the others are all dependent on you, then, uh, i can hardly blame you.

That's true, and it's to the biographer's credit that she doesn't take the easy route of, say, vilifying Stratty and Merihabel but lays out their reasons for acting as they did as well.

Yay! I'm glad to hear that.

did get a commission and then managed to piss off a lot of people, and when he expected George to bail him out of this, George refused, which makes it sound like Frederick's fault to me.

Ooooof. Yeah. *facepalm*