Throughout the play, Gar frequently uses the 18th-century philosopher Edmund Burke’s nostalgic speech about the Queen of France to keep himself from romanticizing the past. As a result, Burke’s overly sentimental words about Marie Antoinette (the Queen of France) come to stand for the ways in which people often idealize the past. Delivered shortly after Marie Antoinette was beheaded during the French Revolution, Burke’s speech praises a bygone era, using the Queen’s beauty as a young woman to represent an age of innocence that Burke thinks Europe has forever lost because of the Revolution. By fixating on this idea, he ignores the cultural and political necessity of the French Revolution, failing to recognize the many benefits of the war. Similarly, Gar often finds himself pining for the past, wishing he could either recapture the happiness he had when he was still with Kate or somehow experience what it would have been like to meet his mother. However, he’s also aware that it’s impossible to change what has already happened, which is why he recites Burke’s speech about the Queen of France, holding it up as an example of what it might look like to dwell in vain on the past.
The Queen of France Quotes in Philadelphia, Here I Come!
Private: Yeah. You mentioned that your father was a businessman. What’s his line?
Public: Well, Sir, he has—what you would call—his finger in many pies—retail mostly—general dry goods—assorted patent drugs—hardware—ah—ah—dehydrated fish—men’s king-size hose—snuffs from the exotic East . . . of Donegal—a confection for gourmets, known as Peggy’s Leg—weedkiller—(Suddenly breaking off: in his normal accent: rolling on the bed.) Yahoooooo! It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the Queen of France, then the Dauphiness, at Versailles—
Private: Let’s git packin’, boy.
The Queen of France Symbol Timeline in Philadelphia, Here I Come!
