ABSTRACT
Perhaps one of the best examples of the symbol of defeat perfected in death is Bossuet’s text in the Oraison Funèbre on Marie Thérése, Queen of Louis XIV. An unfortunate nonentity, overshadowed by his mistresses, Louis mourned her with ‘she never gave me a moment’s trouble.’ And Bossuet chose for his text ‘A lamb without stain.’ She was an ineffectual, good, simple woman, whose significance could not be seen till her death, when the completed pattern of a life of patience emerged: the pathos that it would have been insulting to dwell on in her life placed her far above the splendid court, and should have shamed them all.
