He spent 30 years of his 74-year life in prisons and 13 years in a mental hospital. He was literally antisocial and had extreme tastes. So what brings it together with the concept of sadism? What did he do to get him to go to jail over and over?
French man of letters, philosopher, and politician, whose real name is Donatien Alphonse François de Sade and known as Marquis de Sade, was born on June 2, 1740, in the Condé Castle in Paris. The author, who has an aristocratic family, chooses the title of marquis, which his grandfather had used until then, from his family's titles of comte and marquis. Until the age of 10, he grew up with his uncle, a Catholic abbot, who lived outside of Paris. Even if no one knew at the time, the life he would live in his adulthood would result in his uncle being imprisoned for raising such a terrible person, despite his title of the abbot (1762).
Returning to his home in Paris at the age of 10, the Marquis de Sade is educated at Louis-le-Grand, a high school famous for its strict control and severe punishments. After his graduation in 1754, he received military training. Thus, Sade, who received both religious and military education, participated in the Seven Years' War in 1757. He returns from the war in 1763, but as it was known before, he is no longer a human being. Maybe the war changed him, maybe it just revealed what was inside him, that is, it liberated him, made him fearless, and on this occasion gave him the courage to live even his darkest desires without any hesitation. Whatever the reason may be, there is a visible difference. Despite the religious and military education he received, he has anti-social, unruly, immoral attitudes, and this characteristic change will show itself more clearly day by day.
After returning from the war, he first moves to his family's castle in Vaucluse, Lacoste. In 1763, he falls in love with the little daughter of a wealthy statesman. However, this union is rejected by the girl's father. Because the father approves the marriage of Sade with the elder sister Renée-Pélagie de Montreuil. Your father's wishes come true and his life full of exuberance officially begins.
A Life Lived on the Edges
Having fulfilled all his responsibilities and duties as an aristocratic son worthy of his family after the years of war and after his marriage, Sade has stepped into a life where he can only think of himself and go to the end for pleasure.
He quickly adapts to his new life. Organizing crowded and unruly sex parties are Sade's most important pastime from now on. At these parties, all kinds of madness, excesses, and fantasies come to life that people are afraid to even mention. Now Sade has only one purpose; to satisfy even their deepest pleasures, at any cost. This immoral and sinful life of his, of course, receives reactions from society. But Sade is an aristocrat. It is not possible to have him imprisoned on a common pretext. Therefore, even if people want to complain about him, they do not get any concrete evidence. However, it is soon heard that Sade used religious elements at these parties, mocking religion and even uttering insulting words during these parties. This allegation is sufficient for him to be complained about and punished. Thus, he received his first prison sentence in 1763, an average of 5 months after his marriage.
Although this punishment, which lasts for about 1 month, is discussed in terms of deterrence, it will of course not be enough to stop a person like Sade. The accusation made in 1768 becomes the most important scandal of his life. This time, he is on the agenda of forcibly detaining a woman named Rose Keller in his castle in Arcueil, making her serve him, with sexual and physical violence and insult. The owner of the allegations is Rose Keller herself, who escaped from the castle and went to the police. However, Sade is not brought to court as a result of her mother-in-law, who did not want to give an opportunity to such a scandal, intervened and received a sealed order paper (lettre de cachet) from the king. He is fined for being a marquis and is released again after about 6 months in prison.
After his release from prison, he returns to his old life, but this life can only remain uneventful until 1772. When two of the prostitutes to whom he gave pills containing aphrodisiacs fell ill during a sex party he organized with his servant in 1772; In the court that he did not attend, he is tried for poison dealing, flogging, and homosexual intercourse crimes, and as a result, he is sentenced to death. After this decision, Sade is caught and arrested again, but he manages to escape. Then he is caught once again and realizes that just not getting caught is not enough, so this time he escapes to Italy, taking his first love, his sister-in-law, with him. Taking her sister-in-law with her will cause her mother-in-law to withdraw completely. Her mother-in-law uses the letter she used to save him from various troubles, this time to get him caught.
Sade, who was arrested in Paris when it was noticed that he had returned to France shortly after, managed to escape again and this time took refuge with his wife, in the Lacoste castle. Despite everything, his wife, who embraces him, suddenly becomes an accomplice. In their partnership; They imprison workers and servant girls in the castle, using them as tools for their own pleasure at orgies. However, as a result of their complaints, the way to prison appears again. Thus, he is forced to flee to Italy once again.
Returning to the country in 1776 and taking refuge in the Lacoste castle again, Sade does not give up despite what happened to him and continues this life that led him to disaster. He was finally arrested in 1777, but the death sentence turned into a conviction. This conviction process, which will continue first in the Vincennes Prison and then in the Bastille Prison, proceeds as usual until 1789.
On July 2, 1789, after the French Revolution had broken out, he was sent to the Chareton Mental Hospital in just a few days after his provocative words that he hurled into the crowd in front of the Bastille Prison, that the prisoners were murdered in the prison. Only 12 days after this event, the Bastille Raid, which went down in history on July 14, 1789, took place and the prisoners, who were convicted by the king's decision and did not even have the right to appeal, were released by the people.
In 1790, many victims of sealed letters like himself were released by the revolutionaries.
During his long imprisonment, Sade devoted himself to writing in order to relieve his boredom. However, his writings, like his, are not ordinary. He begins to write erotic works, unlike the usual stories and classical novels. The desire for sex and violence, which dominates his life, will also show itself in his books.
In 1790, things didn't go well for Sade after he was finally freed from conviction. During the revolution, he was abandoned by his wife, and also during this revolution, all his possessions were plundered. He suddenly finds himself in misery. He writes various anonymous works and plays in order to survive. Despite this misery, his lifelong chance reappears and he meets Marie-Constance Quesnet, a former actress. After this meeting, he will live with her until the end of his life, even in a mental hospital.
Sade, who started a different phase in his life after the French Revolution, goes into politics. It takes the side of the revolutionaries and supports the republic against the monarchy. Despite his aristocratic origin, which was contrary to the spirit of the revolution, he was deemed worthy of many important posts. Sade, who also wrote works supporting and proposing democracy in this process, was imprisoned in 1793, this time because of his political life. When he was released from prison in 1794, he devoted himself entirely to writing.
However, no matter how much he stopped, the price of his passions, which he could never give up, still haunts him. In 1801, he was arrested once again for pornographic content and violent elements in his writings. This conviction continues in the mental hospital, Chareton, to which he was accustomed before, after the administrative decision. The author, who wrote his last novels in the hospital, cannot convince anyone that he is not crazy and dies in Chareton at the age of 74.
Marquis de Sade, who has an extraordinary command of the French language, in addition to the subjects that make transitions between pornography and philosophy in his works, as well as the very prominent themes of sadism, perversion, and murder; He is also an unusual writer with his social analyzes and anti-authoritarian, rebellious discourses. He cannot avoid being exposed to reactions because he conveys the fiction he has created in his mind in a completely bare language, as it is. And again, many of his works are banned for these reasons. Moreover, these prohibitions have preserved their existence from those days until the 20th century.
The Concept of Sadism in Psychology
Sadism: Personality disorder marked by the way of life of sexual gratification or tormenting and inflicting pain on others.
It is accepted that the term sadism in psychology is named after the Marquis de Sade (fr. sadisme). Sadism, which is seen as a kind of mental disorder, also comes up with the terms Sadist or Sadistic Personality Disorder.