While somewhat less disturbing than the content of his writing, Sade’s personal life mirrored the setting and plot of his book. Sade, like the libertines in his writings, was wealthy and powerful, at least at the start of his life. He was born to a noble family and ended up defiling and squandering his name and wealth in favor of being a complete menace to society. He went to an elite military school at the age of 14, was educated alongside princes and other noble families, and was given a great wealth of knowledge and power many people in his time would have been grateful for. Of course, his writing of this filthy book demonstrates the utter lack of impact from those experiences. His exploitation of women for libertine purposes caused the father of one of his victims to attempt to shoot him at point-blank range, and there is also evidence that Sade starved a baby to death that resulted from his vile actions. More strange is that his wife was his accomplice in many of these affairs. She was apparently completely content with these actions. Overall, the content of his life definitely indicates his ability to write something as vile as 120 Days. I hope to never read anything like it again.