Family, virtue and Robespierre

Shin Bok-ryong

The author is a former emeritus professor of history at Konkuk University. 

People may be born with an innate nature, but the character that ultimately shapes their lives is often formed within a loving family. That thought comes to mind when reading about the life of Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794).

Robespierre was born to the son of a middle-class lawyer. His parents married only after his mother became unexpectedly pregnant, and family members reportedly regarded the wedding as a source of embarrassment. According to historical accounts, few relatives attended the ceremony. Robespierre, the eldest of four children, was only 6 when his mother died from complications following the birth of her fourth child. Grief-stricken, his father abandoned the family and became a wanderer, leaving the children to be raised by their maternal grandfather.

As a young man, Robespierre fell in love with a woman named Antoinette Deshorties, who is believed to have been a relative, with some records identifying her as his cousin. Their relationship never led to marriage. The painful memory of his parents' troubled union may have made him reluctant to pursue a relationship that might have also faced family opposition. The couple eventually separated, and Robespierre never married.

There is an old saying that women never forget their last love while men never forget their first. Some historians have speculated that Robespierre's lifelong bachelorhood and the absence of a close family or children may have contributed to the emotional rigidity that later characterized his political life. Whether that interpretation is fair remains open to debate, but it has endured.

After graduating from the prestigious Lycée Louis-le-Grand, Robespierre became a lawyer devoted to defending the rights of ordinary people. Entering public office at 34, he developed a reputation for his uncompromising integrity. He tolerated neither others' corruption nor his own moral failings, earning the nickname "The Incorruptible." He was also known for his austere lifestyle, abstaining from meat, alcohol and tobacco.

However, absolute rigidity can carry its own dangers. Just as the main beam of a traditional Korean house must bend slightly to bear weight, moral inflexibility can become destructive. During Robespierre's time in power, roughly 15,000 people were executed during the Reign of Terror. Eventually, he himself met the guillotine at the age of 36.

One cannot know how history could have unfolded had Robespierre enjoyed a stable and loving family life. Still, his story invites reflection on the relationship between private experience, public virtue and the limits of uncompromising idealism.