Citoyens! How to Laugh in the French Revolution 1792-1794 The Tragic Revolution The period from September 1792 to the fall of the Jacobin government in 1794 has been traditionally presented by historians as the ‘serious’ period of the Revolution. Events, such as the September Massacres, forced revolutionary politicians to justify their authority to the people through a language inspired by theatrical tragedy. Robespierre, Marat and others were in no mood to laugh and their theatrics would lay the rhetorical foundations for the Terror.
‘Robespierre guillotining
the executioner having guillotined the whole of France’, Anonymous, 1794
Why So Serious? Marie Antoinette, The Austrian Chicken: ‘I can stomach gold and silver easily, but the constitution, I can not get down,’ Anonymous Laughter towards the monarchy was encouraged
The theory of a ‘tragic script’ implies that laughter was absent in Paris. In actual fact, the Jacobins’ words and actions were often ridiculed by many disparate groups. The aim of my thesis is to examine these traces of laughter left in a serious world. If we can ascertain how the revolutionaries laughed, then we can uncover a unique aspect of the political culture in the Revolution.
Methodology and Structure 1. Attitudes and Mentalities of Revolutionary Laughter: What were the social rules of laughter? Jacques Le Goff, who argues that culture determines laughter, explained that we need to establish what laughter actually meant to the historical actors. By looking at diaries, memoirs, tracts and other sources, we can outline the etiquette of laughter. 2. Laughter and Representation: Laughter was a popular weapon used by politicians and satirists to undermine a fellow deputies’ right to represent the people. From a joke in the Convention to satirical papers, laughter was a potent strategy in the battle for political authority. 3. Policing Laughter: By 1793 Terror was the order of the day. A misplaced jest could mean the guillotine. How did the Republican government control what people were able to laugh at? Legislation, spy reports, and personal accounts can supplement our understanding on how the government monopolised laughter.
Camille Desmoulins believed that his jokes had sealed his fate
References • Lynn Hunt, Politics, Culture and Class, in the French Revolution, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984). • Jacques Le Goff, ‘Une enquête sur le rire’, Annales HSS, 52, 3, (1997), pp.449-455. • Camille Desmoulins, Le Vieux Cordelier, (Paris: 1834), p.253. Images reproduced with permission from Mary Evans and Gallica (BnF database) .
Jacob Zobkiw Department of Historical Studies
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