YMMV / Juliette

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Similar to Machiavelli's The Prince, when taken at face value, Juliette seems to be a political handbook for an unabashedly evil lifestyle. The libertines are an aristocracy that preach despotism, and are seemingly a mouthpiece for de Sade's own philosophy. However, it's possible that the libertines are meant to instead be strawmen, and Juliette is actually an exposé forgery of the French aristocracy to fan the flames of the Revolution, similar to how The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was falsely written from the perspective of a fictitious cabal of Jews to turn society against them. However, the fact that de Sade was an actual serial rapist muddies the waters and implies that he was simply evil and had no true beliefs, paradoxically preaching anarchical republicanism in one paragraph and aristocratic despotism in the next.
• Values Resonance: Believe it or not. While the story is absolutely drenched in advocation for pretty much every vice in existence, it does occasionally have glimmers of progressive wisdom that was considered unthinkable radicalism in the time it was written. For example, women are treated equally to men (after all, the protagonist Juliette is one of the first examples of a strong, independent woman in modern literature) and women are encouraged to have abortions and practice safe sex, in a time where feminism and abortion were universally considered evil. Of course, de Sade had ulterior motives for this and certainly wasn't preaching liberalism out of the kindness of his heart. He likely added it purely out of shock value, just like everything else, and supported abortions and contraceptives simply because he was a misanthropic antinatalist. Unsurprising for a French revolutionary, he also advocated for a secular republic, depicting all royals as incompetent spoiled fools and having Juliette cathartically tell them their time is up.

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