McDonogh: Head. Desk. I mean, SD is certainly introduced sympathetically as a young crown princess, then queen, doing her best while her husband's needless jealousy is stoked by evil courtiers, but as the saga goes on and we see her described as a mother, good lord. But yeah, it's like with bad fanfic writers, who think if they don't add physical violence, it can't have been abuse.
Question, though: if Wilhelmine had still been alive at the great sibling reunion in the 1770s when Ulrike was visiting and they were making that ill advised trip to Dear Old Wusterhausen, which parent would she have regarded as better and worse? I mean, if she hadn't wisely stayed in Potsdam with Fritz, which I totally think she would have done. But say she was along when the sibs - mostly but not exclusively Heinrich vs Amalie - were going at it? Mom or Dad? Because on the one hand, Wilhelmine did have a different experience with FW than the younger sibs (I assume if Heinrich could recall FW's homecoming in the August of 1730, Amalie would have been able, too, but other than that she wouldn't have been exposed to the worst of FW at all, and her own issues with Mom were not related to her not marrying SD's prefered candidate. (That I know of.))
Hmmm. Honestly, I think Wilhelmine might have refused to get sucked into the argument. This is the woman who wrote:
One day, when (SD) had maltreated me again and I cried in a corner of my room, (Charlotte) adressed me: "What's the matter with you?" "I'm desperate", I said, "because the Queen can't stand me anymore; and if this continues, I'll die of grief." Charlotte then replies: "How silly you are! (...) I only laugh when she scolds, and that's the best way to handle it." "Then you don't love her," I said, "for if one loves someone, one can't be indifferent to their opinion."
And you summarized an essay writer's comments on the passage thus:
Jarzebowski deduces mixed feelings from narrator Wilhelmine - on the one hand, there's (barely concealed) envy for the more distant relationship the younger sibs have towards their parents, on the other, there's the need to believe that this is solely possible because they love (and are loved) less, that the sisters have given up the ability to love in order to achieve this immunity.
Wilhelmine might also have believed that if one loved two parents, one did not get into an argument with one's siblings about which parent was worse. And Wilhelmine was desperate to believe she loved and was loved by both her parents. So I see her as the one scolding Heinrich and Amalie for obviously not loving both their parents.
I could be wrong! But I could see her side-stepping the whole thing (assuming she went to Wusterhausen at all, which, yeah, I doubt it).
Good points all around. I agree, she'd most likely not go to Wusterhausen at all or if she did for some reason scolding Heinrich and Amalie for having such an argument at all.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Gundling historiography
Date: 2024-11-24 07:37 am (UTC)Question, though: if Wilhelmine had still been alive at the great sibling reunion in the 1770s when Ulrike was visiting and they were making that ill advised trip to Dear Old Wusterhausen, which parent would she have regarded as better and worse? I mean, if she hadn't wisely stayed in Potsdam with Fritz, which I totally think she would have done. But say she was along when the sibs - mostly but not exclusively Heinrich vs Amalie - were going at it? Mom or Dad? Because on the one hand, Wilhelmine did have a different experience with FW than the younger sibs (I assume if Heinrich could recall FW's homecoming in the August of 1730, Amalie would have been able, too, but other than that she wouldn't have been exposed to the worst of FW at all, and her own issues with Mom were not related to her not marrying SD's prefered candidate. (That I know of.))
Re: Gundling historiography
Date: 2024-11-24 04:26 pm (UTC)One day, when (SD) had maltreated me again and I cried in a corner of my room, (Charlotte) adressed me: "What's the matter with you?" "I'm desperate", I said, "because the Queen can't stand me anymore; and if this continues, I'll die of grief." Charlotte then replies: "How silly you are! (...) I only laugh when she scolds, and that's the best way to handle it." "Then you don't love her," I said, "for if one loves someone, one can't be indifferent to their opinion."
And you summarized an essay writer's comments on the passage thus:
Jarzebowski deduces mixed feelings from narrator Wilhelmine - on the one hand, there's (barely concealed) envy for the more distant relationship the younger sibs have towards their parents, on the other, there's the need to believe that this is solely possible because they love (and are loved) less, that the sisters have given up the ability to love in order to achieve this immunity.
Wilhelmine might also have believed that if one loved two parents, one did not get into an argument with one's siblings about which parent was worse. And Wilhelmine was desperate to believe she loved and was loved by both her parents. So I see her as the one scolding Heinrich and Amalie for obviously not loving both their parents.
I could be wrong! But I could see her side-stepping the whole thing (assuming she went to Wusterhausen at all, which, yeah, I doubt it).
Re: Gundling historiography
Date: 2024-11-25 08:40 am (UTC)