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            Charlotte Corday and Marat 
 
Jules Aviat, Artist 
 
 
 
 
MV       ARIE ANNE CHARLOTTE CORDAY 'DARMANS, usually 
           called simply "Charlotte Corday,' was born of a noble family
of 
           Normandy and was a descendant of the poet Corneille. She was 
 born in 1768, and passed her early years in a convent at Caen, where she

 was noted for her thoughtfulness and piety. At the time of the French 
 Revolution she entered with ardor into all political questions, was an enthu-

 siastic adherent of the Girondists, and deeply distressed at their proscription

 in 1793. As Marat was then at the height of his power, she resolved to 
 imitate Judith, and rid her country of the tyrant. She went to Paris, and

 after many futile attempts to approach Marat, unwillingly resorted to a

 stratagem, and pretending to be a bearer of dispatches from the provinces,

 obtained access to his room when he was in the bath, where she stabbed him

 while he was reading the paper she handed him. For this deed, she was 
 guillotined in July, 1793. 
                              Ponsard's "Charlotte Corday: a tragedy."