Jean Rousset de Missy: Life of Peter the Great
You only have to read the excerpt from Rousset de Missy about Peter. Be sure to click the link for this document only.
What do we learn about Peter the Great from this document? Is he a politique? What is the point of view of the writer? Does he see Peter as "great" or otherwise? Support your position.
Due: MIDNIGHT, Thursday, Oct. 5
What do we learn about Peter the Great from this document? Is he a politique? What is the point of view of the writer? Does he see Peter as "great" or otherwise? Support your position.
Due: MIDNIGHT, Thursday, Oct. 5
posted by RJS at
11:03 AM
7 Comments:
This article, taken by itself, focuses on rather the wrong things about Peter the Great's reign. Yes, the change in dress and appearance is a good indicator of Peter's mindset, but surely a better indicator is the change in government, military, church, and politics. The over-emphasis on trivial changes diminishes Peter's status as a hugely powerful figure in history.
However, the document does offer one clear insight- the readiness with which Peter abandoned Russian traditions and embraced Western Europe. The book made a reference to his travels abroad in which he educated himself in the "ways of the world." The first thought which occured to me was the completelly opposite reaction that the Ottomans displayed towards change- and their respective fates.
This piece has an almost patonizing tone- as one would speak about a beaten dog trying to imitate its masters. I have already mentioned the skewed nature of this document, and I conclude again the information was not the primary reason this was written. Perhaps an eighteenth century editorial. We learn nothing of Peter's greater reforms and resounding foreign adventures. Peter definitely was not a politique- he reformed everything, down to the church, to fit a style more like that of Western Europe. True, he cared about the state more than religion- but he regarded religion as an inseparable component and was determined to change EVERYTHING.
I will say that Peter seemed to very easily forget his Russian roots, as it were. Part of the reason for reforming his garments were the jokes made about them in Western Europe. This is the ruler of a huge nation, not a child running home from elementary school crying because girls laugh at his haircut. Yet the two mindsets are the same- if I am not the same as everyone else, the everyone else is seemingly better, then I must become them. It would never occur to either that they would do some things better too.
By
ThomasBatson, at Thursday, October 05, 2006 5:44:00 PM
Peter the Great, coming from this particular person, seems like one of those central and eastern European leaders that tries to shape his region's culture to be as that of the western regions; but he goes about it the wrong way. It reminds me of a parent looking at their "emo" teenager dressed (sorry) like a retard and telling him that he's going to cut his hair and wear decent, good fitting, gender-appropriate clothing. This particular document tells events in the reign of Peter the Great that show him in a light of being an ultra-conservative, even anti-politique(such as he goes so far to tell his people they have to wear certain types of clothing). It's Not that Rousset de Missy is one sided, because he seems to be stating only facts, but more that this is only information on one small detail of taxes and laws of the entire reign of Peter the Great; therefore, it comes off as a little one sided. From this article, my first impression of Peter the Great is that he had good intentions for his people, but went a little crazy with his bad self. I couldn't say whether he was "great" or not.
By
TeganLove, at Thursday, October 05, 2006 7:30:00 PM
Peter the Great was a little bit silly in these moves, but there was a definite purpose to them. He wanted Russia to be viewed as a European power, as they weren't especially considered that up to this point. Eventually, Russia would seem more like Europe than Hungary and Romania would, though they're just west of Russia. Peter wanted Europeans to view Russians as one of them, thereby opening up diplomacy to western Europe for the first time. The writer doesn't really voice an opinion or put much of a spin on the material, for it's only on this particular piece of history, I don't think the writer was voicing any opinion on Peter as Thomas said, though it reads as slightly against Peter's initiatives, though still through the voice of Russians, not the writer. If the writer had only decided to write about this and nothing else about Peter, then it would be skewed. I suppose Peter would count as a politique, though these moves weren't to unify the country, for the country had no real religious separation issues, but rather to make Russia seem closer to western Europe, improving their international situation, not domestic. Peter's new doctrines weren't likely because of any hate of Russian traditions but only a need to join the European powers, which would be impossible if the Russians seemed too foreign. Again, I don't think the writer was really saying anything positive or negative about Peter, (he does refer to him as "His Majesty" after all), as he provides the opinions of different groups of Russians, some for and many against. It was a somewhat radical reform for Peter to attempt to undergo with his country, but it worked, as Russia is definitely today considered part of Europe and Russia would continue to be allied with one power or another in western Europe for the remainder of its history so far.
By
Unknown, at Thursday, October 05, 2006 7:39:00 PM
Taken at face value, this article focuses on the seemingly silly and trivial matter of how people were told to dress and the apparent necessity of a beard to get into heaven. However, I think that perhaps Peter the Great meant the sudden change in the very traditional dress as more symbolic than anything. Whereas many leaders governed how their people thought and acted, this was one of the first instances where a leader dictated how his people should look. To me it seemed he wanted to show the rest of Europe that Russia can easily march onward with the flow of time not only in thought and actions, but in appearance. After all, is not showing a thing the easiest way to let the rest of the world know it exists?
Peter the Great was most definitely not a politique. He demanded others follow and obey him, whether they liked it or not.
The writers point of view seems to be that of a slightly confused and interested by stander. Also, his tone seems to hedge slightly on the mocking side, as he mentions the priests considering the loss of facial hair blasphemy. While describing the various methods of which Peter the Great used to advertise the new way to dress, the writer mainly takes the detached factual tone of an obeserver, but one can gather a slight sense of amazment. A beard tax is just weird, any way you slice it.
I don't think the writer truly thinks of Peter the Great as 'the Great'. Peter the Beard Obsessed or Peter the Eccentric, perhaps. By focusing on such a grain of dust in the whirlwind of reforms Peter the Great made, the writer seems to trivialize his decisions as a whole.
By
laura, at Thursday, October 05, 2006 8:03:00 PM
The document shows Peter the Great's changes to Russia and his quest for a more modern empire. As a ruler, he realizes Western Europe is far ahead of Russia and he wants to meet their standards.
Considering the ridiculous changes Peter made to Russia and how he went about performing them, I would say he is NOT a politique. He is more concerned about changing to meet Western Europe's modern lifestyle than keeping with Russia's traditional roots.
Jean Rousset de Missy probably viewed Peter the Great as a ruler who cared nothing for the traditions of his people and was willing to sacrifice most anything for the recognition as a great power. Judging from Rousset's tone, he does not particularly favor Peter. "...and there were many old Russians who, after having their beards shaved off, saved them preciously, in order to have them placed in their coffins, fearing that they would not be allowed to enter heaven without their beards." Rousset feels as if Peter is going too far away from Russia's traditional beliefs and is not focusing on what is important to his people.
By
taylor, at Thursday, October 05, 2006 8:07:00 PM
The author of this article seems just to be stating the facts, he really isn't saying that Peter was great or not. It seemed as though he was a little humored by the actions of Peter or the Russian people when he mentions "appear more agreeable to the fair sex" or "not be allowed to enter heaven without their beards" but it may just be my personal bias that reads an ever so slightly satirical tone in that.
We don't learn much about Peter as a person, but more generalizations about him as a ruler. This shows his eagerness to disassociate himself from the old ways and jump on the western european band wagon. Obviously an easy way to be like other people is to look like them first, he thought that if he could get the Russian people to start off dressing differently then following other western european traditions would be easier. He could be considered a politique since there was nothing about religion in this article, and he was only trying to unify his country. Rulers usualy are concerned for their countries, and Peter wanted them to be successful in the way that western european was. I agree with Nate when he says that Peter wanted to seem more european to the western cultures. that was where the power was, so associating with them would be the best thing to do.
By
manxomefoe, at Thursday, October 05, 2006 8:13:00 PM
Peter the Great, as we can learn from this piece, seemed quite taken with the cultural knowledge he gained while visiting Western Europe. The writing shows his reign on a social level: the well-enforced changes to the traditional Russian way of life, and on a superficial sort of religious level. It's an odd case, as he wasn't trying to put down the Russian Orthodox Church (although he did impose secular rule). What seemed to bother him the most was the beard itself and not much more. There's definitely some bias to the writing, but on a grander scale, the loyalty of the church to Aleksei might just have disturbed him enough to do such a thing. He was a strange man....on one hand he builds a fantastic navy and takes control of the Baltic, and then you find him pissing people off by taxing their beards. It makes it difficult to distinguish his politiqueness. The writer of this piece degrades Peter throughout by highlighting these, as Thomas said, "trival changes", and nothing else, and when phrases such as "His Majesty" are used, one can almost hear the sneer in it. But conclusively, I would say he is a politique with a curious fancy for style. He only wanted to embrace Western hierarchy, bureaucracy and military, which worked out fine for the other European powers. The fashion just came with the package.
By
Victoria, at Thursday, October 05, 2006 10:30:00 PM
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