Jean Paul Marat: Target and Martyr of Liberty Essay -- Jean Paul Marat

Jean Paul Marat Target and Martyr of Liberty The French change produced countless influential politicians byout its tumultuous course. As a semipolitical figure in the French Revolution, Jean Paul Marat began as a nonentity and became a martyr to the revolutionary patriots of France. His captivate is often misconstrued, and sometimes overlooked. Although he was non a political leader like Robespierre, his influence was substantial in that he motivated many people through his writings and powerful personality. Through his involvement with the Cordeliers Club and his journal Ami du peuple, started family 1789, Marat was able to express the indignation of the bourgeois class through his hopes for companionable revolution. His conspiracy theories and alleged prophetic outlook on the Revolution created an atmospheric state of mystery and intrigue around him, as well as detestation. Because he often stood alone behind his radical ideas, Marat became marked as the scapegoat fo r various controversial events of the period, and was several times forced into hiding to ring the law. Targeting Marat was an easy and effective way for the warring factions in the National throng to assert their political dominance. It is curious how a virtual unknown and entrant to government could become so crucial to the politics of the French Revolution, exclusively to be murdered by another unknown in a seemingly isolated event. Marats assassination played a bang-up part in what became the cycle of the Terror. Even though he was not a preeminent leader, both his life and death had an impact on the course of the Revolution. Because of his incendiary political beliefs and bold nature, the government targeted Marat, however, his assassination by the outsid... ...manities Press, 1997.Germani, Ian. Jean Paul Marat Hero and Anti-hero of the French Revolution. LewistonThe Edwin Mellen Press, 1992.Gottschalk, Louis R. Jean Paul Marat A Study in Radicalism. New York Benj amin Blom, 1927.Gough, Hugh. The Newspaper Press in the French Revolution. London Routledge, 1988.Marat, Jean Paul. Polish Letters. Bibliophile Society, 1905.Miller, Stephen. Three Deaths and prudence Thought. Lewisburg BucknellUniversity Press, 2001. Popkin, Jeremy D. Revolutionary News The Press in France 1789-1799. Durham Duke University Press, 1990.Scherr, Marie. Charlotte Corday and Certain manpower of the Revolutionary Torment. New York AMS Press, 1929.Sydenham, M.J. The Girondins. London The Athlone Press, 1961.Walzer, Michael. Regicide and Revolution. New York Columbia University Press, 1992.