It is not only the heart that should be free!! [The Rose of Versailles #FamousQuotesNote 56]

The famous quote I would like to introduce this time is here!!

Speaker

What kind of person is she?

Oscar François de Jarjayes is a fictional character who appears in Riyoko Ikeda's manga "The Rose of Versailles," and is the other protagonist alongside Marie Antoinette.

She is the youngest daughter of a distinguished noble general's family, but because no son was born, she is a beautiful woman dressed as a man who was raised as a "son." From a young age, she mastered swordsmanship and academics as a man, and at a young age, she served as the commander of the French Royal Guard, protecting Marie Antoinette.

Character and Features

• Beautiful woman dressed as a man: Although she is a woman, she was raised as a man and wears a military uniform. She has a dashing beauty and a charm that makes her an object of romantic interest even for those of the same sex.

• Strong sense of justice and nobility: While she appears calm and composed, she also possesses a short temper inherited from her father. However, she is a person of noble spirit who respects individual freedom and dislikes suppressing people by force. She is also highly respected by her subordinates.

• Inner conflict and growth: Despite her blessed appearance and environment, the story depicts her suffering as a human being, struggling, learning, and growing. In particular, she agonizes over her gender and her heart, which wavers between the monarchy and the people, and ultimately integrates being a woman with her mission as a soldier.

• Involvement in the French Revolution: After resigning from the Royal Guard and transferring to the French Guard, she stands on the side of the people during the French Revolution and participates in the storming of the Bastille. She was shot during the event, witnessed the fall of the fortress, left behind the words "Long live France," and died in battle.

A quote that is famous precisely because it is Oscar

“It is not only the heart that should be free!!” is a famous quote precisely because it is said by Oscar.

The 18th century in which she lived was a society where one's way of life was influenced by one's "birth" to an extent incomparable to the modern day. It was an era where women were drilled in etiquette as a "good wife," and it was considered good to marry into a good family and bear a son.

In the midst of this, she was born as the youngest of six daughters in a distinguished noble general's family. Because no son was born, she was raised as a "son."

Raised as a "son" and becoming a soldier, everyone knows that Oscar is a "woman."

As a daughter of the Jarjayes family who swore loyalty to the French royal family, Oscar was appointed at a young age as the commander of the French Royal Guard, the protector of Marie Antoinette.

For Oscar, protecting Antoinette was an assigned mission and also a source of pride.

Even though she was a woman, she performed her duties as a soldier, was recognized for her abilities by those around her, and was deeply trusted by Queen Marie Antoinette. Oscar's life was glamorous and something everyone envied.

However, as the era moved at breakneck speed toward the historical event known as the 'French Revolution,' Oscar's way of thinking gradually began to change.

Being a woman, an unrequited love, the structure of a society defined by inequality—all these factors surrounding Oscar are depicted as a 'contrast' to her way of life (values) up to that point.

Ultimately, she decides to break away from Marie Antoinette, whom she admired most and whose existence was, it is no exaggeration to say, her reason for living. Born as royalty and reigning as queen, Marie Antoinette was ultimately unable to understand the suffering of the people.

Oscar, who joins the revolution on the side of the people, takes a different stance from Antoinette, the Queen of France, and they part ways. However, until the very end, Oscar continues to hold onto her loyalty to Antoinette and her respect for her as a woman.

This phrase was uttered in the midst of the revolution when Oscar was conveying her thoughts to the subordinates who had followed her way of thinking.

In the first place, Oscar never took a hardline attitude toward her subordinates who were rebellious, and even when they treated her with considerable rudeness despite the difference in status, she never gave up on them.

At that time, she would say, regardless of status or position, “Because the heart is free!!” but as the story approached its climax, she added to the words she had previously told her subordinates, “Because the heart is free!!”, leaving behind the phrase, “It is not only the heart that should be free!!”.

In other words, it is clear that Oscar's message is, “The heart is free! And it is not only the heart that should be free!!”.

That's right. 'The Rose of Versailles' is a work themed around 'What is freedom?,' depicted using Oscar and Marie Antoinette, who were opposites in every way.

Oscar, who abandoned her status and position, joined the revolutionary side, and burned her life in loyalty to her ideology, loses her life in the story during battle. However, it is an undeniable fact that she grasped 'freedom'.

And Marie Antoinette, depicted as her counterpart, was never able to be 'free' even once from the time she was born until she closed her life. What was the difference between these two, Oscar and Marie Antoinette?

The difference between the two. I believe it comes down to this one point: 'Whether they chose it themselves'.

Was Marie Antoinette happy?

Even in a situation that would generally be considered enviable for being so wealthy, perhaps one cannot be happy if one is not free. Marie Antoinette is the prime example of someone who lived such a life.

I think many people know her name even if they don't know much about her.

Political marriage at 14

As the wife of Louis XVI, who was the King of France, despite being in the position of Queen (the King's wife), she was swallowed by the waves of the French Revolution, put on trial, and as a result, her life vanished like dew on the guillotine.

She lived a dramatic life, but when she married from her home country of Austria to France, she was still an innocent girl in her early teens. She married (or rather, was made to marry) the Dauphin of France (later Louis XVI) at the age of 14. This is what is known as a political marriage.

Her husband, King Louis XVI, was a completely different type of person from Marie Antoinette.

In contrast to Marie Antoinette, who possessed a sociable and glamorous personality and captivated many as the center of the court, Louis XVI is said to have been introverted and cautious, despite being the King.

He lived with a sense of loneliness from a young age, and his hobbies included hunting and lock-making; he was the type of person who was also interested in mechanical engineering and clockmaking.

He was more of a brilliant engineer type than a king, and if he had been born in the modern era, he surely would have liked things like Gundam. (I am not making fun of Gundam; I like it too!)

By the way, Louis XVI was forced into a political marriage with Marie Antoinette when he was 15 years old. The sociable and glamorous 14-year-old Marie Antoinette and the introverted and serious 15-year-old Louis XVI were forced to marry due to adult circumstances.

Imagine the prettiest girl in school who reigns at the top of the school caste, and a serious but plain and reserved boy who prefers to immerse himself in his own hobbies rather than expanding his social circle... These two, like oil and water, were suddenly told, 'Yes, get married. Oh, and by the way, when the current king dies, you two will be the next king and queen.'

Was there any 'freedom of choice' in their situation? There surely was not.

Using up tax money to escape reality

Incidentally, when Marie Antoinette was young, she spent her days indulging in luxury and entertainment as if to fill the dissatisfaction in her married life and the void in her heart. She was also fond of gambling, and it seems there were times when the King had to pay for her losses after she fell victim to cheating.

Feeling suffocated by the extravagant and formal life at the Palace of Versailles, Marie Antoinette became obsessed with creating the Petit Trianon, a detached palace, into 'her own world.' Private social gatherings, the pursuit of pastoral hobbies, a hub for fashion and art... she neglected her public duties and poured enough tax money into the Petit Trianon to tilt the nation. (Although, since Marie Antoinette was not paying directly, she did not accurately grasp the expenditures.)

Marie Antoinette indulged in such luxury, but if you ask me whether she was 'happy,' I don't think she was at all. After all, she had no 'freedom of choice.' She must have been dwelling on memories of her childhood in her home country of Austria, and worrying about the future as the national politics of France continued to deteriorate.

It is a negative spiral where 'because you cannot choose your own life, you are trapped in the past or the future and cannot live in this very moment. That is why you become obsessed with escapism like the Petit Trianon.'

A tragic heroine?

Tragic heroine... that might sound nice, but from the perspective of the French people at the time, it was unbearable. Even though there was a shortage of food just to survive the day, a life of luxury and splendor was being carried out night after night at the Palace of Versailles. By the way, French society before the French Revolution was an unequal society based on a class system called the 'Ancien Régime.' The people were broadly divided into the following three estates. France had the First Estate (clergy), the Second Estate (nobility), and the Third Estate (commoners). Of the three estates, the only ones paying taxes were the Third Estate (commoners).

The commoners, who had the hardest lives, paid taxes, while those in the estates that indulged in luxury did not pay taxes. The complaints and dissatisfaction of those commoners would eventually converge on Marie Antoinette.

The French Revolution broke out because dissatisfaction with the royalty and nobility reached its peak. Amidst this, the royal family, who gathered the most hate, especially Marie Antoinette, would end their lives in the form of execution by guillotine.

Marie Antoinette, who married into France from Austria at the age of 14, was truly a beautiful girl with an innocent and bright personality, so she was welcomed with open arms not only by the royalty and nobility but by all of France. However, just 23 years later, at the age of 37, Marie Antoinette was labeled as the symbol of the corruption of the royalty and nobility, and she ended her life while being showered with resentment from all over France.

Whether you are happy depends on whether you have chosen

Do you think Marie Antoinette was happy? I certainly do not think so. No matter how many moments she was able to live a luxurious life, throughout her entire life, there was far too little 'room for choice'.

To choose is to decide and cut off everything other than what you have chosen. By the way, the word for 'decision' (ketsudan) in Japanese is written with the characters for 'decide' and 'cut off.' A life where you do not make decisions, or cannot make decisions, is unhappy...

Living for your own reasons

This time, I would like to introduce a famous quote from the masterpiece "The Rose of Versailles".

I have always enjoyed thinking about "what is happiness", and "The Rose of Versailles" is a work that truly shows one answer to that question.

Personally, I believe that "happiness" equals "a state of being able to live in this moment without regretting the past or fearing the future. A state where one has choices and is walking a path one has chosen for oneself", and reading "The Rose of Versailles" gave me confirmation that "Yes, that's right."

I think it is fair to say that The Rose of Versailles is a story of contrast between Oscar and Marie Antoinette. And, as an extreme view, I think it is fine to say that Oscar was happy and Marie Antoinette was unhappy.

This is because Oscar walked a path she chose herself, and lived in this moment without regretting the past or fearing the future.

Conversely, Marie Antoinette was never allowed to choose for herself, and her life was one of constantly regretting the past and fearing the future.

Looking at the environments the two were placed in, at first glance, Oscar seems very unfree and Marie Antoinette seems free. Although Oscar is a woman, she was raised as a man, and because of her family lineage, she is not permitted to live as a woman.

Conversely, Marie Antoinette was royalty from birth and ascended to the throne in her mid-teens. She had inexhaustible wealth to spend as she pleased, and there was no one who could defy her.

However, throughout the work, Oscar is "happy" and Marie Antoinette is "unhappy". To repeat, I think the major factor is whether or not they were able to walk a path they chose themselves.

"Freedom" can be interpreted as "living by one's own reasons".

In order to live one's life freely and happily, earning a living to maintain one's life is necessary, but perhaps there is no need to be obsessed only with earning money indiscriminately.

This is because modern Japan provides us, the general public, with a "right to choose" that is incomparable to France in the 18th century when the French Revolution occurred.

Like Marie Antoinette, one can always lament one's situation and be pessimistic about one's life. However, even if you do that, you will not obtain a "happy and free life".

Precisely because it deals with universal themes such as "happiness" and "freedom", I believe Oscar's words, "It is not only the heart that should be free!!", will continue to be supported by many people in the future.

The super masterpiece "The Rose of Versailles"

"The Rose of Versailles" is so famous by title that even before reading it, I vaguely knew the information that there was a character named Oscar who was incredibly handsome but actually a woman, but I did not know that she did not hide the fact that she was a woman at all.

I imagined a story depicting the struggles of a protagonist who hides the fact that she is a woman from those around her and lives socially as a man... but such drama is not depicted at all.

In the first place, "The Rose of Versailles" is too large in scale to be contained within the framework of "girls' manga". Let's see... for example, Osamu Dazai's "No Longer Human" is no longer just a novel, it's "No Longer Human", isn't it? If you say "No Longer Human", even people who haven't read it will say, "Ah, that famous novel?" The same goes for "The Rose of Versailles"; if you say "The Rose of Versailles", even people who haven't read it will say, "Ah, that famous girls' manga, right?"

The fact that the title is known to so many people like common knowledge, transcending genre boundaries, is proof that it has been read across generations for many years.

In fact, "The Rose of Versailles" is a masterpiece among masterpieces. Actually, the serialization was not that long, and the collected volumes consist of only 9 books. It is a volume that fits into 5 books if they are paperback editions. However, that does not mean the content is thin; it follows the half-lives of Marie Antoinette and Oscar from their meeting in their mid-teens until they reach their 30s, and ultimately depicts the peak of the French Revolution. It is practically a historical epic.

I am a man in my late 30s as of 2025, and I just finished reading all of "The Rose of Versailles" recently. Since it is a work from 50 years ago, there are scenes where the art style feels old (especially the gag scenes), but that did not bother me at all, and I read it all the way to the end in one go. It is a work I wish I had encountered sooner, back when I was a student. (If I had, I might have liked world history more.)

Used paperback copies offer the best value for money, but be careful because the bindings are a mix of old and new versions. (Although, if you are lucky, it seems the bindings might be uniform.)

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