Psychology question involving Robespierre...

[celine-carol.livejournal.com]

Hola, long time lurker, first time posting...

I've recently been pretty obsessed with the French Revolution (particularly Robespierre), and I've been reading quite a bit on him and his contemporaries, and I've noticed that a lot of people have jumped to diagnose several other revolutionaries and analyze every possible psychological inclination they may have had.  (I've read a lot of theories on what made Marat blister up, and there seems to be something of a consensus that Mirabeau probably had every venereal disease known to mankind, and sexual preferences that would have been considered rather deviant at the time have been attributed to Camille...)

But I've searched the internet rather thoroughly, and I have yet to find any explanation for Robespierre's behavior that really amounts to anything other than "He was a jerk" or "He was weird" or "He was just fanatical".
But a lot of his traits:  Jerky walk, fist clinching, facial twitching/grimacing, head/shoulder rocking, light filtering problems, issues with voice modulation, nervous breakdowns, gastrointestinal issues, social awkwardness, trembling hands, issues with unexpected social calls, not liking to be touched, absentmindedness, odd food preferences, not liking to look people in the face, refusal to change clothing/habits, and his tendency toward obsession ---
Seem to point toward something that could be diagnosed.

I was just curious if anyone else thought that his behavior could have been symptomatic of a disorder (or syndrome)?

Comments

[celine-carol.livejournal.com]

No. My sources were all text and, though the credibility of pretty much anything said about Robespierre is suspect, I tried to find the ones that were mentioned in at least two sources (preferably by both friends and enemies). For example, the facial grimacing was mentioned by several people, among them Mme Roland (before the political tide turned Robespierre against her and her husband) and one of his teachers from LLG. I don't remember precisely who said it, but the same person who mentioned the head/shoulder movement, dislike of touching, fist clenching, and disliking looking others in the face (that last one was actually in several sources which I don't feel like back-checking my internet history to find), was someone else involved in the higher-levels of government: I found it used in at least two books, (One of them was Scurr's Fatal Purity. The title of the other escapes me, but the cover for it was that picture of Robespierre sans-wig leaning on a table) so I assumed the source was partially accurate since the description wasn't too outlandish.

I wasn't particularly fond of 'Danton'... Especially the bit where they have Robespierre posing in a blue toga for some portrait to show imaginary dictatorial ambitions and a god-complex, which as far as I know has no historical accuracy. Also, the portrayals of Eleanor (terrible!) and Saint-Just (he seemed a bit too, idk.. unstable) annoyed me.

[maelicia.livejournal.com]

Did you consider that, if you do find the same trait in at least two sources, it may be because one of the two copied the other? It is a known thing for Thermidorian sources, for example: they all copy/pasted pretty much the same original portrait (dating from 13 thermidor) and put some additions. As for the biographies using these details, I wouldn't give much credibility, since they're also copy/pasting...

disliking looking others in the face (that last one was actually in several sources which I don't feel like back-checking my internet history to find)
If it's difficult to actually say how twitching can be part of a negative portrait, this one is easier, because often they followed it by an explanation: Robespierre disliked looking others in the face because he was hypocritical/double-face, etc., and, to put it simply, a bad person not to be trusted. I could actually look for the part in one of the many pamphlets that mention it, I know I stumbled across it recently. Also, this would seem like going with the portrait that some made of "Robespierre is like a cat" -- think all the attributes given to a cat, and you get more traits to the portrait of Robespierre.


and one of his teachers from LLG.
I'm curious, actually, to know which source this is.

[celine-carol.livejournal.com]

Hm.. Never thought of them copy/pasting those traits. Since they all were personally acquainted with him, I assumed they would have drawn more on their individual recollections.

Ah... I actually meant to say "and one of his classmates from LLG"...
I was referring to Freron's comments (in which he also compares him to a cat).
The only descriptions I've ever seen of him from a teacher/employee of LLG were from Proyart, but those seemed a bit too bitter to be reliable...

[sibylla-oo.livejournal.com]

What a pity, I'd be very interested in the sources to judge their reliability myself.
For the moment, some of the "symptomps" seem to me as a part of the Thermidorian "not a people's man" image (i.e. Robespierre WAS NOT the only one among the jacobins who chose not to give up wearing the powdered wig, however, this detail was widely stressed to question the sincerity of his republicanism), while others shout at me "beware of florid 19th century writers like Carlyle and pseudo-Freudian homophobic 20th century filmmakers like Wajda" :-D BTW, "nervous breakdown" is Ruth Scurr's THEORY, not a proven fact. Many others attributed Robespierre's "absence for illness" to TBC and other diseases. As for the "issues with unexpected social calls" - what exactly are you referring to?
As for the bibliography in Spanish, there is actually quite a lot of stuff translated, including speeches and other primary sources not available in English.

[celine-carol.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I really don't know what sources would be reliable and which ones wouldn't.
I mean, obviously not the ones that pretty much say he was the devil wearing stripes, but the more moderate sounding ones are a bit confusing...

Charlotte's memoirs are actually what gave me impression that he was prone to severe anxiety and stress, which can lead to physical illnesses especially if someone quits eating like she said he would. And most of his long absences from public life were after really stressful decisions. But I guess those could have really been caused by anything.

The "Issues with unexpected social calls" was referring to a couple of accounts I read about his needing to be presentable before taking visitors (as opposed to Danton and Marat's more casual meetings). One thing I read even said he would sometimes ask for advance notice of a visit, preferably in writing? (this for people he wasn't well acquainted with, not his friends)

[maelipstick.livejournal.com]

BTW, "nervous breakdown" is Ruth Scurr's THEORY, not a proven fact. Many others attributed Robespierre's "absence for illness" to TBC and other diseases.

Sorry for butting in with a trivial comment, but what is TBC?