WHO WAS JEAN-PAUL
MARAT?
BIOGRAPHY
Jean-Paul Marat was born in Boudry, Switzerland in 1743 to a French expatriate father and a Swiss mother. Until 1774 he worked as a medical doctor in France, Holland, and England. During this period he devoted significant time to philosophical thought and writing, which served as a transition to his political life.
Leaving the medical profession in 1788, he became an integral leader in the French Revolution. Known as ami du peuple (friend of the people), after the newsletter he published at intervals, he oversaw many executions of the nobility in the nation’s prisons. Opposed by both royalist and the rival revolutionary Girondins, he was forced into hiding in 1790. Seeking refuge in the sewers of Paris, he contracted a skin disorder that would come to characterize the rest of his short life.
The many factions of the rebellion warred with one another, which led to his assassination by Girodin operative Charlotte Corday.
MARAT’S SKIN DISEASE
Art, since ancient times, has portrayed the human spirit in a mediated sense. In this manner, one can find parallels between art and theorizing. Although artistic mediums vary, the complexity of the human spirit, its multidimensionality and its contradictions, is difficult if not impossible to accurately portray. […] In David's 1793 painting The Death of Marat, the painter chooses to portray the murdered French hero lying peacefully in his bathtub. In his painting, the hero who had suffered from skin disease and who had been constantly plagued by scabs and boils lies in his bathtub with perfectly white skin—cleansed through death.—Kohli, Wendy, et al. “2001 American Educational Studies Presidential Address Situated Knowing: Mind, Body, and Soul My Disrupted Situation” Educational Studies. 33.3 (Sep 2002): 261-270+.
Though Marat spent his final moments in a bath,
cleanliness was hardly his aim. Rather, the sabat filled with warm water
in which he was murdered served as a mere palliative to his dermatitis. The
root cause of his affliction, in fact, may have been the prevailing lack of
hygiene in the 18th century. J.E. Jelinek, M.D. has speculated
that during Marat’s subterranean interlude it is likely that he acquired what
is known today as seborrheic herpetiformis.
Jelinek, publishing his differential diagnosis in The American Journal of Dermatopathology in 1979, has noted that, though atypical, this disease process best fits the symptoms and onset described by historical documents, including Marat’s own writings. Of significance are: 1) the fact that Marat’s ailment was not fatal during the 2-3 year infection; 2) the malady’s pruritic (itchy) nature; 3) the visual manifestation of boils, vesicles, and inflammation; and, 4) the area of onset, which is normally the perianal region.
According to Jelinek, notables such as Charles Darwin
and Thomas Carlye have speculated as to Marat’s ailment, indicating diagnoses
including syphilitic dermatitis, eczamatized dermatitides, scabies, diabetic
candidiasis, and pemphigus vulgaris. However, none of these fit the
indications that have been recorded, as each is either too simple (easily
recognized, self-limiting, or curable) or too severe (generally meaning
terminal in very short order).
Seborrheic herpetiformis is most often the result of autoimmune disease; although, Marat’s could also have been some form of contact dermatitis picked up from the unclean living conditions of the Paris sewers. Pathologist and Internet Renaissance man Dr. Ed Friedlander has noted that many who suffer with this problem today also exhibit “subclinical gluten (gliadin) enteropathy,” adding “if you want the dermatitis herpetiformis to go away, you need to prescribe a gluten-free diet.”
The physical manifestations of the disease may be witnessed in the accompanying photographs.
MARAT AND SADE
In 1793, the Marquis de Sade, at that time was
imprisoned in the hospital at Charenton, wrote a eulogy for Marat. Sade did
this despite the fact that, just before the politician’s murder by Corday, he
had condemned Sade to the guillotine for the notorious nobleman’s aristocratic
background and immoral sexual activities. In fact, this was the second
declaration of death Marat had written for Sade, as clerical error during the
first had resulted in the death of a lord named de la Salle.
It is well known that Sade was not only an on-again-off-again leader and supporter of the French Revolution, but also a frequent enemy and detainee of various blocs during the struggle. He both believed in the revolution and scoffed at it. He was firmly caught in the middle. As a hedonistic nihilist, he admired the freedom and cruelty (perhaps the freedom to be cruel) of the Reign of Terror. As a landed aristocrat, he was a sometime-target of the brutal reforms that Robespierre and Marat mandated.
Marat’s “Other” Diagnosis
In the true tradition of the “play-within-a-play,” Peter Weiss’s script calls for an actor to play a mental patient who plays Marat. In order to put on this “antic disposition,” the Marat actor must understand, in modern terms, the signs and symptoms of what was known then as the “paranoiac.” The following description is taken from the DSM-IV:
301.0 Diagnostic Criteria for Paranoid Personality Disorder
A pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of others such that their motives are interpreted as malevolent, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following:
· suspects, without sufficient basis, that others are exploiting, harming, or deceiving him or her
· is preoccupied with unjustified doubts about the loyalty or trustworthiness of friends or associates
· is reluctant to confide in others because of unwarranted fear that the information will be used maliciously against him or her
· reads hidden demeaning or threatening meanings into benign remarks or events
· persistently bears grudges, i.e., is unforgiving of insults, injuries, or slights
· perceives attacks on his or her character or reputation that are not apparent to others and is quick to react angrily or to counterattack
· has recurrent suspicions, without justification, regarding fidelity of spouse or sexual partner
Does not occur exclusively during the course of Schizophrenia, a Mood Disorder With Psychotic Features, or another Psychotic Disorder and is not due to the direct physiological effects of a general medical condition.
Note: If criteria are met prior to the onset of Schizophrenia, add "Premorbid," e.g., "Paranoid Personality Disorder (Premorbid)."
A Paranoid Personality Disorder Case Study
A professor of dermatology at University Hospital, dr. Shatzky had never consulted a mental health professional. But he was well known to the staff at the medical center and nototious among his colleagues. One of them, Dr. Cohn, provided most of the inofmration for this vignette.
Schatzky had had been around for several years. He was known as a solid researcher and an excellent clinician. A hard worker, he supervised fellows working on two grants and did more than his share of teaching.
One of his trainees working in the lab was a physician by the name of Masters. He was a bright, capable young man whose career in academic dermatology seemed destined to soar. When Dr. Masters got an offer from Boston of an assistant professorship and his own lab space, he told Schatzky that he was sorry, but he would leave at the end of the semester. Furthermore, he wanted to use some of their data.
Schatzky was more than upset. He responded by telling Dr. Cohn that the data belonged to the lab and must stay in the lab. He wouldn’t allow anyone to “rip him off,” and he told Dr. Masters that he would be blackballed if he tried to publish papers based on their findings. Furthermore, Schatzky told him to keep away from the students until he left. This outraged the other dermatologists. Dr. Masters was one of the most popular young teachers in the department, and the notion that he shouldn’t have any contact with the students seemed punitive and little short of an assault on academic freedom.
The other dermatologists discussed the situation in a department meeting when Schatzky was out of town. One of the older professors had volunteered to try to persuade him to let dr. Masters teach anyway. Schatzky refused with the response, “What have I done to you?” He seemed to think the other professor had it in for him.
This professor told Dr. Cohn that he wasn’t really surprised. He’d known Schatzky since college , and he’d always been a suspicious type. “He won’t confide in anyone without a signed loyalty oath,” was how the other professor put it. Schatzky seemed to think that if he said anything nice, it would somehow be turned against him. The only person he seemed to trust completely was his wife, a rabbity little creature who had probably never disagreed with him in her life.
At the meeting, someone else suggested that the department chairman should talk to him and try to “jolly him along a bit.” But Schatsky had little sense of humor and “the longest memory for a grudge of anyone on the face of the planet.”
In the collective memories of all the staff, Schatzky had never had mood swings or psychosis. “Never out of touch with reality, only nasty,” said Dr. Cohen. And at department dinners, he never drank.
Differential Diagnosis
Below are other related and similar diagnoses that could apply to a paranoid personality disorder. These are known as differential diagnoses and are important, as mental illness is unique in all people. Please look at these terms closely and do further research as needed for your character:
Delusional Disorder, Persecutory Type; Schizophrenia, Paranoid Type; Mood Disorder With Psychotic Features; Personality Change Due to a General Medical Condition; symptoms that may develop in association with chronic substance use; paranoid traits associated with the development of physical handicaps; Schizotypal Personality Disorder; Schizoid Personality Disorder; Borderline and Histrionic Personality Disorders; Avoidant Personality Disorder; Antisocial Personality Disorder; Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
