Let them eat cake

While the phrase is commonly attributed to Marie Antoinette, she did not originate it and she probably never said it.Fraser, Antonia (2002). Marie Antoinette: The Journey. Anchor. pp. xviii, 160. ISBN 978-0385489492.Lever, Évelyne; Temerson, Catherine (2000). Marie-Antoinette: The Last Queen of France. St. Martin's Griffin. pp. 63–65. ISBN 978-0312283339.Lanser, Susan S. (2003). "Eating Cake: The (Ab)uses of Marie-Antoinette". In Goodman, Dena; Kaiser, Thomas E. (eds.). Marie Antoinette: Writings on the Body of a Queen. Routledge. pp. 273–290. ISBN 978-0415933957.
"Let them eat cake" is the traditional translation of the French phrase "'Qu'ils mangent de la brioche'""Yandex.Translate – EN-FR "Let them eat brioche"". translate.yandex.com. Retrieved 2019-12-20., said to have been spoken in the 17th or 18th century by "a great princess" upon being told that the peasants had no bread. The French phrase mentions brioche, a bread enriched with butter and eggs, considered a luxury food. The quotation is taken to reflect either the princess's frivolous disregard for the starving peasants or her poor understanding of their plight.
== Origins ==
The phrase originates from Jean-Jacques Rousseaus's Confessions and was likely invented by him. The book was written in 1765 and published in 1782, while Marie Antoinette supposedly said the phrase in 1789.At length I remembered the last resort of a great princess who, when told that the peasants had no bread, replied: "Then let them eat brioches."— Jean-Jacques Rousseau, ConfessionsMarie Antoinette was very unpopular due to her perceived frivolousness and very real extravagance. Her rich status along with her Austrian birth and gender were all attributes hated by contemporary society. It was common for exaggerations, fictitious anecdotes, and outright lies to be spread about her.
The phrase was attributed to Marie Antoinette by Alphonse Karr in Les Guêpes of March 1843Campion-Vincent, Véronique & Shojaei Kawan, Christine, "Marie-Antoinette et son célèbre dire : deux scénographies et deux siècles de désordres, trois niveaux de communication et trois modes accusatoires", Annales historiques de la Révolution française, 2002, full text (50 years after her death).
== Discussion ==
Was Marie Antoinette as bad as she was portrayed? Read in this article, to sum she wasn't any worse then any other aristocrat. She ended up becoming the symbol of the contemporary anti-monarchist ideology, simply because she was born rich and open about it. 
Her last words were before she was guillotined by the revolutionaries for treason were recorded as, "Pardonnez-moi, monsieur. Je ne l’ai pas fait exprès" or "Pardon me, sir, I did not do it on purpose", after accidentally stepping on her executioner's shoe."Famous Last Words". 23 May 2012.
== References ==