“The important thing is to pull yourself up by your own hair. To turn yourself inside out and see the whole world with fresh eyes.”
Marat/Sade (full title: The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade) is a play within a play, set in the early 19th century at the Charenton Asylum. The inmates, under the supervision of the Marquis de Sade, perform a dramatization of the murder of revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat by Charlotte Corday. The performance is chaotic, blending historical events with the inmates’ madness, while Sade and Marat engage in philosophical debates about revolution, violence, and human nature.
Act 1: The Asylum Performance Begins
The play opens with the asylum director introducing the performance, assuring the audience (wealthy patrons) that the inmates’ acting is therapeutic. The patients, dressed in ragged costumes, take their places. The Herald, a stuttering inmate, narrates the events leading to Marat’s assassination. The setting is Marat’s bathtub (where he spent much of his time due to a skin condition), surrounded by revolutionaries and asylum patients playing various roles.
Act 2: Marat and Sade’s Debate
As the play progresses, Marat (played by a paranoiac) argues for continued revolution and the necessity of violence to achieve justice. Sade (played by himself, as he was a real inmate at Charenton) counters that revolution is cyclical and ultimately meaningless, as power corrupts all systems. Their debate is interrupted by the inmates’ erratic behavior, blurring the line between performance and reality.
Act 3: Corday’s Arrival and the Assassination
Charlotte Corday (played by a melancholic inmate) arrives, claiming she wants to help the revolution but is secretly plotting to kill Marat. The asylum patients enact chaotic scenes of revolutionary fervor, with singing, screaming, and physical outbursts. Corday finally stabs Marat, leading to a frenzied climax where the inmates lose control, forcing the asylum staff to intervene.
Finale: Chaos and Reflection
The performance collapses into madness as the inmates revolt against their keepers. Sade watches calmly, suggesting that violence is inherent in human nature. The play ends ambiguously, leaving the audience to question whether revolution brings change or merely repeats history’s cycles of oppression.
Key Ideas
- The nature of revolution and whether it leads to real change.
- The conflict between individual freedom and societal control.
- The thin line between sanity and madness in political extremism.
- Theatricality as a means of exposing societal hypocrisy.
- The cyclical nature of violence throughout history.
Who should read this book?
- Readers interested in avant-garde theater and experimental drama.
- Those exploring political philosophy and revolutionary history.
- Fans of dark, absurdist literature that challenges conventional narratives.