Charlotte Corday’s « project » as resistance against political impotence

Charlotte Corday’s “project” to murder Marat grew out of her intolerance of political cowardice. She feared the ousted Girondins would do nothing to quench the bloodshed resulting from Jacobin radicalism, so she aimed to save the republic she loved by “killing one man to save one hundred thousand.” Inspired by ancient Roman civic virtue, Greek heroes both real and mythological, and lofty ideals featured in plays by her ancestor Corneille, she believed she could be useful by silencing the « Ami du peuple » and thus his eponymous newspaper which roused to violence a broad public. Action was needed! Her strengthening resolve can be seen in her own words: the manifesto written the night before committing “tyrannicide,” her letters from jail, her proud replies at interrogations and at her trial. From the 2-day journey to Paris, purchasing the knife, modifying her plan once she learned that Marat was too ill to attend the Convention, standing tall as she rode to her death, she never wavered.