Why is it that we look at Marquis DeSade as a monster? I tended to view him with a fair bit of disdain until I saw the movie, Quills. After that, I began to think about the assumptions we make about other people we have never met, or in all fairness, given a fair reflection to.

The movie did a fantastic job of portraying the Marquis as a man facing life long imprisonment for 'perversity' in a mental institution. Further, it explored him as a man and not a monster.

After a time of reflection, the only answer that surfaces for why the dislike and, in many cases, abhorence of the Marquis stems from an uneducated view of his writings. Additionally, not that the writings could be called wholesome, the writings hold up a mirror to our inner monsters and demons.... the fascination of sex and ecstacy and pain that are linked in every human heart, to one extent or another... forcing us to see ourselves as we are, possibly not monsters but the possibility of that monstrous becoming that seperates a person from society and acceptance and brings them in touch with the beast. The mirror would be an amazingly poignant stab at the heart of American culture... especially as reflected in the concept of the virgin-whore.... a misogynstic view that predominates the sexual fantasies of many men, utilized by the media, and indoctrinated into the unfortunate children of each succeeding generation... helping to propagate the cycle of abuse, physical, mental and sexual, of women by society.

Perhaps the most succinct analysis would be, society shoots the messenger of bad tidings, just like the kings of eld. Only instead of literal arrows, we result to misinformation, lies, and avoidance.