In the foreword to the Mercure de France edition of de Stael. (1996 [1793]. Reflexions sur le proces de la reine. Paris: Mercure de France), Chantal Thomas, French historian and writer, writes that this apology in favor of Marie-Antoinette did not help the queen nor the author herself; on the contrary it only made the latter more unpopular. So why did Germaine de Stael write it? Mme de Stael and Marie-Antoinette did not share many interests; however, at the moment of The Women's March on Versailles in October 1789, the situation had changed. It was at this moment, when Mme de Stael witnessed people's hatred for the Queen, that she for the first time felt that she was on her side. She had the feeling that the Queen would be a victim to a public opinion that had been "manipulated" (Thomas. 1996. Preface. In Reflexions sur le proces de la reine, 7-14. Paris: Mercure de France: 12) in a systematic way, and to which she herself had been a victim. Pursuing some ideas formulated by Reddy (2000, 2001) and (Nussbaum, Martha C. 2001. Upheavals of thought: The intelligence of emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.) in their work on emotion and empathy in history and philosophy respectively, I hope to offer some suggestions, with the aid of cultural semiotics. More specifically I hope to be able to provide some answers to the question whether Mme de Stael's apology might be regarded as an act of compassion.
