Versailles The first thing you can see arriving Versailles is an impressive gate decorated with gold. The question is: the walls and gates surrounding Versailles were built to keep outside the common people or to keep inside the monarchy? Why being outside Paris made them more vulnerable than staying? The more important character in the story is Louis XIV and his paranoia. Louis XIV was so afraid of losing his power that he used to control art because art was a way of communication. Monarchy was in alliance with church as a monopoly. Visiting the gardens of Versailles is like visiting a little town but more than that is like being in a bubble of happiness. Imagine Marie Antoinette lying down in the grass watching the sunset or sleeping in the Petit Trianon, which is an easy way to lose the track of what is going on in the real world. The King and Queen and everyone living in Versailles were living in a world of fantasy and they forgot that any king needs subjects to rule. While Louis XIV was paranoid about a coup d’état, he forgot to be afraid of enlighten. Common people well educated that spread the word of critical thinking, added anger to those who were hungry of food and freedom. It is easily to agreeing with those French citizens who were protesting outside Versailles. We can compare Versailles with the Vatican. I know it is a strong comparison but any monarch or ruler who is treated like a God and lives inside a luxury fortress are going to lose perspective of the rest of the world. Compared to our reality I believe some of us have his mind living in a Versailles. Close-minded people who only think in themselves are struggling in a changing world. In contrast, those who choose to be enlightened are going to progress in life and hopefully to spread the word. |
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