The Marquis de Sade was a controversial writer from the Enlightenment period. His works were highly controversial at the time although he did acquire some sort of a cult following. The Marquis de Sade uses a variety of techniques in his writing to great effect. The passage being analysed is an extract from The Philosophy of the Bedroom published in 1795.

Throughout the passage the style of writing comes across as quite argumentative and analytical, yet the content and his ideas, at the time of writing, would have been quite outrageous. He offers to `... analyse modesty...' (p. 131) giving the impression that he will go about the whole business in something of a scientific way. However, the extremeness of his ideas makes one wonder just how serious he was about it.

At another point the Marquis de Sade brings up some objections that people may have and then proceeds...