The Marquis De Sades Attitude Towards Women

The Marquis de Sade's Attitude Towards Women


     The Marquis de Sade was an author in France in the late 1700s.  His works

were infamous in their time, giving Sade a reputation as an adulterer, a

debaucher, and a sodomite. One of the more common misrepresentations

concerning Sade was his attitude toward women.  His attitude was shown in his

way of life and in two of his literary characters, Justine and Julliette.

     The Marquis de Sade was said to be the first and only philosopher of vice

because of his atheistic and sadistic activities.  He held the common woman in

low regard.  He believed that women dressed provocatively because they feared

men would take no notice of them if they were naked. He cared little for

forced sex.  Rape is not a crime, he explained, and is in fact less than

robbery, for you get what is used back after the deed is done (Bloch 108).

    Opinions about the Marquis de Sade's attitude towards sexual freedom for

women varies from author to author.  A prevalent one, the one held by Carter,

suggests Sade's work concerns sexual freedom and the nature of such,

significant because of his "refusal to see female sexuality in relation to a

reproductive function."

     Sade justified his beliefs through graffiti, playing psychologist on

vandals:


     In the stylization of graffiti, the prick is

     always presented erect, as an alert attitude.

     It points upward, asserts.  The hole is open, as

     an inert space, as a mouth, waiting to be filled.

     This iconography could be derived from the

     metaphysical sexual differences:  man aspires,

     woman serves no function but existence, waiting.


Between her thighs is zero, the symbol of nothingness, that only attains

somethingness when male principle fills it with meaning (Carter 4).

     The Marquis de Sade's way of thought is probably best symbolized in the

missionary position.  The missionary position represents the mythic

relationship between partners.  The woman represents the passive receptiveness,

the fertility, and the richness of soil.  This relationship mythicizes and

elevates intercourse to an unrealistic proportion.  In a more realistic view,

Sade compares married women with prostitutes, saying that prostitutes were

better paid and that they had fewer delusions (Carter 9).

     Most of Sade's opinions of women were geared towards the present, in what

they were in his time.  He held different opinions, however, for how he

envisioned women in the future.  Sade suggests that women don't "fuck in the

passive tense and hence automatically fucked up, done over, undone."  Sade

declares that he is all for the "right of women to fuck."  It is stated as if

the time in which women copulate tyrannously, cruelly, and aggressively will be

a necessary step in the development of the general human conscious concerning

the nature of copulation.  He urges women to copulate as actively as they can,

so that, "powered by their hitherto untapped sexual energy they will be able

to fuck their way into history, and, in doing so, change it" (Carter 27).

     Women see themselves in the reflection form Sade's looking glass of

misanthropy.  Critics say that Sade offers male fantasies about women in great

variety, along with a number of startling insights.  He is said to put

pornography in the service of women (Carter 36).

     The Justine series, consisting of six editions, was one of the most

infamous and well known series written by Sade. While the series had several

editions, the storyline remained basically the same throughout, though becoming

more verbose in each edition.

     Two characters emerge from the Justine novels:  Justine and Juliette, who

are sisters orphaned at an early age. These two characters represent the

opposite poles of womanhood in Sade's mind.  Justine is the innocent, naive

type who gets mistreated throughout her life.  Juliette is Sade's ideal woman,

being uninhibited in her sexual conduct and in her life, murdering and

copulating at whim.  She, naturally, do
This is ONLY a preview of the article. If you would like to view the entire document, you must subscribe to Academic Library. Please register below now!









Subscribe to Academic Library
When you subscribe to the Academic Library, you get 24-hour access to the online database containing full-text articles written by thousands of scholarly students. For only $8.95 per month, you receive unlimited monthly access to view and download all of our 40,000 articles available online. That is less than the price of one textbook!
This price includes:

24-hours-a-day, 7 days a week unlimited access on any computer with Internet access
Complete access to all 40,000 articles, essays, and research papers
Ability to view and download virtually unlimited number of documents
Ability to browse through perfectly arranged catalog of articles
Superior search and relevancy ranking techniques using Google SiteSearch and our local search engine
Instant access to the online database after registration


You can pay by credit card, checking account. You get instant access after registration:


You will be billed $ 8.95 every 30 days (recurring billing) starting on the day you subscribe.

Your credit card will automatically be renewed for your convenience until you cancel.




If you are already registered, please click here to login.