Maris Tiller
FSEM – Forbidden Texts
09/08/2021
Marquis de Sade, to me, seems like a contradictory figure to me. He is an enigma wrapped in a riddle which we can only barely begin to understand as a person.
The thing is, when I first read 120 Days of Sodom, the message I took away from it was that powerful figures/men will use that power and their money to exploit those they consider lower than them because they can. I still hold that belief, but after being reminded of some of the exploits of the author himself, I wonder if he would say the same thing. After all, de Sade often took part in the same sort of sexual acts that he portrays in the book. In fact, he kidnapped several young girls and kept them for sexual things much like the Libertines in the book do. He was also rich, much like the Libertines, and no doubt was able to use his wealth to find ways to get out of prison each time he was arrested. I almost want to say that in the book he is speaking from experience, that perhaps he is trying to be critical about his own behavior. But this does not seem to be the case. De Sade never seemed to learn anything, no matter how many people he hurt and no matter how many times he was put in prison.
To know who de Sade was is to be endlessly confused. One could have an interpretation of his work and be completely contradicted by how he was. Does he have a point or doesn’t he? Did he want to commentate on society or did he just want to provoke? His actions definitely point to the latter, but some of the things in his work point to the former. So, the question is: which do we believe?