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Capet and the Widow Capet

Capet; veuve Capet

Capet names Louis XVI in the soldier Henry’s republican speech; the Widow Capet names Marie-Antoinette.

From the book

The Gods Are Athirst

Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Meaning

Related words and phrases.

Capet names Louis XVI in the soldier Henry’s republican speech; the Widow Capet names Marie-Antoinette. These forms strip royal persons of their titles and place them within a changed political language. Henry’s reference to plots and orgies is his accusation in a speech deploring the legislators’ use of royal rooms, not a neutral report proving those acts.

Places to read

  1. Chapter VIII, paragraph 27Frenchles complots de Capet et les orgies d’Antoinette: Capet’s plots and Antoinette’s orgies. Henry interprets the Tuileries as a morally contaminated setting.
  2. Chapter IX, paragraph 25Frenchla veuve Capet: the Widow Capet. Dupont asks about the former queen’s case.