Portrayal of The Protagonists in Carolly Erickson's 'The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette' and Kathryn Harrison's 'A Thousand Orange Trees'.

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Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Dalam skripsi ini saya akan menganalisis sifat tokoh utama dari dua novel yang berjudul The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette oleh Carolly Erickson dan A Thousand Orange Trees oleh Kathryn Harrison. Masing-masing novel bertutur tentang ratu yang menikah karena perjodohan dengan tujuan politis. Pernikahan tersebut menyebabkan mereka pindah ke negara yang baru karena suami mereka adalah putra mahkota dari negara lain. Mereka hidup di abad yang berbeda sehingga menimbulkan reaksi berbeda ketika dihadapkan kepada berbagai masalah dalam situasi yang baru.

Marie Antoinette, tokoh utama di The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette, digambarkan mempunyai kehidupan yang mewah tetapi ia mempunyai sisi gelap dalam hidupnya. Selain itu, novel ini menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama dalam bentuk buku harian untuk menceritakan kehidupan pribadi Marie Antoinette.

Tokoh utama dalam A Thousand Orange Trees, Maria Luisa, adalah seseorang yang penurut tetapi dalam keadaan terpaksa ia menjadi orang yang cerdik dalam menghadapi masalahnya. Novel ini disajikan dengan menggunakan sudut pandang orang ketiga.

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Maranatha Christian University

APPENDICES

Synopsis of The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette writes a diary which tells about her life. She is an archduchess of Austria and becomes the queen of France because she is married to King Louis XVI, King of France. Their marriage is arranged because of political reasons, so there is no love between them. Because of that, Marie has an affair with

two men, Eric, her horse’s groom and Count Axel Fersen, a Swedish man.

As a queen, Marie Antoinette wishes to have an heir as soon as possible. For a long time, there is no baby in their marriage as King Louis never touches her. Of course in this case, Marie Antoinette is blamed by the society, although it is not her

fault but her husband’s. But finally King Louis wants to make love with Marie

Antoinette. Later, a baby girl is born. After that she gives birth to a baby boy. Everybody worships him as if he were a god because one day he will be a successor to the throne. However, the baby is weak and he dies in the end. It makes Marie feel sorrowful. Soon, she is pregnant again and has a son, a healthy boy.

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33 spending, but she is still blamed and chased by society. In the end, she is caught and sentenced to death under the blade of guillotines.

Synopsis of A Thousand Orange Trees

The novel tells about the lives of two women, who are born on the same day, but they have very different backgrounds, and they do not know each other. They are Marie Louise de Bourbon, a niece of King Louis XIV and Francisca de Luarca, the daughter of a Castilian silk grower.

Marie Louise is a princess from Paris who is put into an arranged marriage to King Carlos, King of Spain. After her arrival in Spain, her name is changed into Maria Luisa. She seems to lose her freedom after her marriage to King Carlos. Every single aspect of her life is dictated, such as the food that she eats daily, her hair arrangement, and the dress that she has to wear. She becomes more depressed when she finds out that actually her husband, King Carlos is impotent. This fact really makes her feel more frustrated because as a queen, one of her jobs is to produce an heir, which she cannot fulfill due to her husband’s impotence. Because of that, she is blamed by the society. Moreover, her mother-in-law really hates her. Maria feels alone and miserable in Spain. She misses everything in France. She always wants to come home and dreams about a thousand orange trees that grow in Versailles. After her long struggle in Spain, at last, she is poisoned by her mother-in-law and dies.

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34 Biography of Carolly Erickson

Carolly Erickson was born in 1943. She lives in Hawaii. She is a historical fiction and nonfiction author. Even when she was still an undergraduate, she had a feeling that she would be a historical writer. She received her double B.A. degree from the University of Washington in 1963. In 1969, she had her history doctorate, a Ph.D. in medieval history from Columbia University. It has led Erickson to a six-year experience as a professor in a college, then as a full-time writer. Erickson mainly writes biographies of famous people in European history. She has also taught history for several years.She is also a distinguished historical biographer and author of The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette, and several other historical books, as well as many other prize-winning fiction and nonfiction books.

Her novels include The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette (2005), The Last Wife of Henry VIII (2006), and The Tsarina's Daughter (2008), while her non-fiction works include Alexandra: The Last Tsarina (2001), The Girl from Botany Bay (2004) and Brief Lives of the English Monarchs (2007).

Sources: “Carolly Erickson (Cyclopedia of World Author)”

“Carolly Erickson, Macmillan.”

“Carolly Erickson, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.”

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Harrison received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Art History from Stanford University in 1982. Later, she graduated from the University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop in 1987 with a Master of Fine Arts degree.

Harrison has published six novels, three memoirs, a travelogue, a biography, and a book of true crime. She frequently publishes reviews in The New York Times Book Review. She also wrote her personal essays, which appeared in Harper’s Magazine, More Magazine, The New Yorker, O Magazine , and Vogue

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1 Maranatha Christian University

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The life of a queen is not so easy as what people have in mind. Most people deem that a queen undergoes a peaceful, happy and beautiful life. However, a queen is also a human being who has problems like an ordinary person, even though she is rich and has a high position in a country. Her life is not far from temptations and problems which are also encountered by common people. Moreover, some of them even have to experience an arranged marriage.

Arranged marriage is “a marriage arranged by someone other than the couple

getting wedded, curtailing or avoiding the process of courtship. Such marriages had

deep roots in royal and aristocratic families around the world, including Europe”

(“Arranged Marriage”). Arranged marriage in a royal and aristocratic family is often

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couple’s marriage is arranged, it is possible that there is no love between them

because they never meet each other until they get married.

I find that there are two novels which discuss about the human side of a queen. Both queens in the novels also experience a political marriage. The marriage causes them to move to other countries, because their husbands are crown princes of the other countries. They also have to face their problems there. The issue can be found in

Carolly Erickson’s The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette and Kathryn Harrison’s A

Thousand Orange Trees.

Carolly Erickson is an American author of the twentieth century. Most of

Erickson’s novels are historical novels. The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette is one

example. It tells about Marie Antoinette, the archduchess of Austria. Marie Antoinette, the protagonist of the novel, is married to Louis, the crown prince of France. Marie always writes about her life in her diary; thus, I can learn about her private life through her writings since the novel is written in a form of a diary.

I will also analyse Kathryn Harrison’s novel, entitled A Thousand Orange Trees. “Harrison is a twentieth century American author who is completely at ease

with the historical material” (Davis). Harrison creates a protagonist, Maria Luisa. She

is a princess of France who is married to Carlos, the crown prince of Spain. Maria experiences a lot of hardships in her marriage.

The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette and A Thousand Orange Trees deliver the same idea about a queen who shows not only her positive sides but also her negative ones, so I choose to analyse the protagonists in both novels. A protagonist is

“the leading character of a drama, novel, or other literary work…a person is not

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3 Maranatha Christian University 305). Both protagonists get married to the crown princes of other countries, move abroad because of their marriage and they have to deal with a rigid set of new rules in the new countries.

Despite the similar issue, both protagonists are actually rather different from each other. Marie Antoinette in The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette lives in the eighteenth century. She comes from Vienna and moves to France and she is fourteen years old when she is married to Louis. While Maria Luisa, who is the protagonist in A Thousand Orange Trees, lives in the seventeenth century. She moves to Spain from France and she is eighteen years old when she is married to Carlos. The two protagonists react differently to the oppressive rules and situation in the new countries. These will help me analyse the portrayal of both protagonists.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The statements of the problem are as follows: 1. How are the protagonists portrayed in both novels?

2. What are the purposes of the authors in portraying such characters?

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

Based on the statement of the problems above, this study is done: 1. To show how the protagonists are portrayed in both novels.

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4 Maranatha Christian University METHOD OF RESEARCH

The method of this research is library research. I read Carolly Erickson’s The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette and Kathryn Harrison’s A Thousand Oranges Trees as primary texts. I also read several reference books and find some references and information from the Internet. Then, I analyse the novels and draw some conclusion of my analysis.

ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

After analysing Carolly Erickson’s The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette and Kathryn Harrison’s A Thousand Orange Trees, I will end my analysis by comparing the two of them. This conclusion consists of the similarities and differences of the two novels. Both novels talk about a queen who acts as the protagonist of each novel. The two of them, Marie Antoinette and Maria Luisa, experience political marriage. This political marriage causes both of them to move to different countries. Both authors, Erickson and Harrison, want to show the human side of Marie and Maria. The authors also want to say that wealth and power cannot guarantee a queen to be happy as both queens undergo difficult situations, in which they have to adapt and struggle.

The author of The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette, Erickson wants to show the human aspect of Marie Antoinette, as well as the dark side of her. She is still a human being who has flaws and strong sexual desire in her life. Erickson reveals

Marie’s characteristic through her reaction. One of the examples is when she

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27 Maranatha Christian University Since the novel is written in the form of a diary, which is in the first person point of view, the readers will know exactly Marie’s true personal feelings, as it is written by the first hand source. Therefore, there is no gap between the readers and the characters in the novel, in this case Marie Antoinette, who is the protagonist and the narrator of the diary in the novel.

Kathryn Harrison, the author of A Thousand Orange Trees, presents Maria Luisa as a queen who suffers. As a queen, she is presented to lead an oppressive and monotonous life. One of the examples is when Maria is not allowed to do things that she likes. She lives in a cheerful and colorful life in France; on the other hand, she feels oppressed when she moves to Spain. Besides, Maria’s life as a queen is not as glamorous as what people think about a queen in general. This proves that Harrison wants to show the human side of Maria Luisa.

One of the similarities is the characteristics of the protagonists in both novels are told in indirect presentation. This means both authors show the readers about the protagonist’s characteristic indirectly through their reaction, their speech and their

thought.

Another similarity is that both Marie Antoinette and Maria Luisa are round characters. Marie is presented as a complex character seen from her positive traits namely rebellious, brave and caring, and negative traits namely unfaithful and extravagant. Maria Luisa is also a complex character. She is presented as a submissive and melancholic person. However, when forced by oppressive situation, she becomes sly.

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28 Maranatha Christian University gradually and becomes not as extravagant as she was. Different from Marie Antoinette, Maria Luisa is a static character. I notice that her true characteristics do not truly change as basically she remains submissive. This is the first difference between Marie Antoinette and Maria Luisa.

The second difference is seen in Marie Antoinette’s and Maria Luisa’s characteristics and their actions in facing their problems. Both queens have opposite characteristics. This can be seen when they face their problems. Marie Antoinette does not really care about the social norm. She does things that she considers good for herself as she appreciates herself as an individual. She dares to oppose not only her mother-in-law but also morality by committing adultery. Marie Antoinette is portrayed as a rebellious queen. When Marie breaks the rules by visiting her ill sister, the author, Erickson, shows the reader that Marie is not only a rebellious person but also a caring sister. Marie is also portrayed as a brave woman. She is first known as an extravagant queen, but at the end of the story she realizes that she cannot live in spree and changes her attitude gradually and becomes not as extravagant as she used to be. On the other hand, Maria Luisa is a submissive queen who does not dare to oppose the social norm. She just accepts and obeys it, although she has sly ideas because she is under pressure. She does not dare to be against her mother-in-law, either. She is also portrayed as a melancholic person. Even though she is a sly woman, she seldom uses her cleverness to solve her problems because she is oppressed by the rules. She is tied by the rules so she gradually becomes more and more submissive and abandons her intelligence.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

References:

Hornby, A.S., A.P. Cowie, and A.C. Gimson. Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1974.

Perrine, Laurence. Story and Structure. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, inc., 1959.

Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1972.

Internet Websites:

“Arranged Marriage.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2010. 22 Feb 2010.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arranged_marriage>

“Carolly Erickson (Cyclopedia ofWorld Author).” eNotes.com. 2009. 26 Aug 2009.

<http://www.enotes.com/carolly-erickson-salem/carolly-erickson>

“Carolly Erickson.” Macmillan. 2008. 16 May 2009.

<http://us.macmillan.com/author/carollyerickson>

“Carolly Erickson.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2009. 7 May 2009.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolly_Erickson>

“Corset.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2010. 25 Aug 2010.

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Davis, Holly. “Kathryn Harrison, A Thousand Orange Trees. (Fourth Estate, 1995). Reviewed by Holly Davis.” 1997. 17 Aug 2009.

<http://www.otago.ac.nz/DeepSouth/vol3no1/davis.html>

“Kathryn Harrison.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2009. 7 May 2009.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathryn_Harrison>

Oliver, Kathy E. “Body Shaping Corsets.” EzineArticles.com. 2010. 14 Jan 2011.

<http://ezinearticles.com/?Body-Shaping-Corsets&id=5541830>

“To the Scaffold: The Life of Marie Antoinette.” Barnes&Noble. 2004. 23 Aug

2009.

<http://search.barnesandnoble.com/To-the-Scaffold/Carolly-Erickson/e/9780312322052>

Primary Texts:

Erickson, Carolly. The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2005.