As I sat down to write today’s review, it dawned on me that I had never covered Volume 3 of The Rose of Versailles. So today, we will nod towards it, as we stride past headed for the last volume to deal with the Revolution and it’s aftermath.

In Volume 3 of The Rose of Versailles, Oscar’s choices come piling down upon her head. In a complete reversal of everything she had been asked to do with her life, her father barters her hand in marriage to her rival since she was young, Captain de Girodelle. Unsurprisingly, this puts Oscar into a very uncomfortable place. Of course she does not want to be married off without her consent, and also she believed that acting as a son, her father would not just treat her as collateral. To find that she had accomplished so much, only to have it be treated as irrelevant is, obviously, enraging. To young feminists of the 1970s this would reflect the exact situation they were – and, let’s be real, still are –  facing in the workplace.

Oscar has a new uniform made for herself, and at last attends the balls of Paris, to seduce women and show herself supremely uninterested in Girodelle or marriage. Meanwhile, Andre’s eyesight is deteriorating and Oscar begins to think of him more as a man, rather than a servant. Andre tries to force himself on her, but they withdraw from one another. Pushed to her limits, Oscar dedicates her life to war, and leaves to visit the Queen one last time.

The story, then, becomes a kind of slow avalanche of horrible decisions made in the worst way for the worst reasons. The Dauphin dies and Marie holes up in the Petit Trianon, refusing to deal with the people of France at all. The commons try to meet and are locked out of the building, the army starts to split at the seams and Oscar sides with the common people. She learns the truth about her Gardes members, how family and friends are being killed or starved and she becomes enraged, demanding answers of people who don’t care. Alain and the Gardes help Andre cover his failing sight, but they all know that death is waiting, Andre ends the book wishing that Oscar and he might be lovers, even knowing that his wish cannot come true.

There are a lot of tears. We’re given more space here to sympathize with Marie Antoinette than we have before, but it’s still hard to see her as  a victim of anything except her own selfishness. Oscar will stress for many pages about her gender and sex. Had she been a man, Rosalie would have ended the conversation, but she is not and she is neither transgender nor a lesbian. She’s embraced her fate to live a man’s life as a woman, but in the end her father never respected that, even though it was his wish that she do so.

Ratings:

Art –  Sublime and Oscar in bell-bottoms.
Story –  Grim, but magnificent
Character – Everyone has a moment when it is impossible to like them.
Yuri – One almost feels bad for any woman Oscar pretends to seduces to show up Girodelle
Service – Shirtless Andre, attempted rape, Oscar in new uniform

Overall  – Hard to read, but absolutely compelling

If I were going to sum up this volume with one emotion, I’d say “anger.” It’s not a righteous anger, not yet, but the signs are all there.  In a sense it’s good that the end is on the way in the next volume. After the last few years of anger and inequality and the same kinds of violence and deadly economics as we see in this story, reading this volume feels too much like reading the news sometimes. Something has to break, and we all hope like hell that it’s not us.

Kudos to UDON for another glorious volume of this epic story. It was my very sincere pleasure to be part of that team.

Volume 4 and Volume 5 are now available for you to read and experience!