The Three Musketeers

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The Three Musketeers  

Image by Maurice Leloir, 1894
Author Alexandre Dumas
Original title Les Trois Mousquetaires
Country France
Language French
Genre(s) Historical novel
Publication date March-July 1844 (serialised)
Media type print (hardback)
Followed by Twenty Years After, The Vicomte de Bragelonne
For other uses, see The Three Musketeers (disambiguation).

The Three Musketeers (Les Trois Mousquetaires) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, père. It recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to become a guard of the musketeers. D'Artagnan is not one of the musketeers of the title; those are his friends Athos, Porthos, and Aramis—inseparable friends who live by the motto "all for one, one for all" ("tous pour un, un pour tous").[1]

The story of d'Artagnan is continued in Twenty Years After and The Vicomte de Bragelonne. Those three novels by Dumas are together known as the d'Artagnan Romances.

The Three Musketeers was first published in serial form in the magazine Le Siècle between March and July 1844.

Contents

[edit] Origin

In the very first sentences of his preface Alexandre Dumas indicated as his source Mémoires de Monsieur d'Artagnan, printed by Pierre Rouge in Amsterdam. It was in this book, he said, that d'Artagnan relates his first visit to M. de Tréville, captain of the Musketeers, where in the antichambre he met three young men with the names Athos, Porthos and Aramis. This information struck the imagination of Dumas so much—he tells us—that he continued his investigation and finally encountered once more the names of the three musketeers in a manuscript with the title Mémoire de M. le comte de la Fère, etc. Elated—so continues his yarn—he asked permission to reprint the manuscript. Permission granted:

"Well, it is the first part of this precious manuscript that we offer today to our readers, while giving it back its more convenient title and under the engagement to publish immediately the second part should this first part be successful. In the meantime, as the godfather is as good as a second father, we invite the reader to address himself to us, and not to the Comte de La Fère, about his pleasure or boredom. This being said, let's get on with our story."[2]

The book he referred to was Mémoires de M .d'Artagnan, capitaine lieutenant de la première compagnie des Mousquetaires du Roi (Memoirs of Mister d'Artagnan, Lieutenant Captain of the first company of the King's Musketeers) by Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras (Cologne, 1700). The book was borrowed from the Marseille public library, and the card-index remains to this day; Dumas kept the book when he went back to Paris.

Attention to the extent of Dumas's preface is called for when compared with the recent analysis (2008) of the book's origin by Roger MacDonald in his The Man in the Iron Mask:The True Story of the Most Famous Prisoner in History and the Four Musketeers[3] where the identity of the man in the iron mask is presented as real history.

Following Alexander Dumas's lead in his preface, Eugène d'Auriac (de la Bibliothèque Royale) in 1847 was able to write the biography of d'Artagnan: d'Artagnan, Capitaine-Lieutenant des Mousquetaires - Sa vie aventureuse - Ses duels - etc based on Courtilz de Sandras. This work[4] and especially its introduction with reference to the preface is uncited by MacDonald.

[edit] Plot summary

 The plot summary in this article is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the content. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. (April 2008)

The main character, d'Artagnan, born into an impoverished noble family of Gascony, [1] leaves home for Paris to fulfill his greatest dream: becoming a Musketeer of the Guard. Fortunately, his father knows the Captain of the Company of Musketeers (also a Gascon) and has written a letter of introduction. Assaulted by the servants of an inn where an argument has taken place, d'Artagnan is left broken and bleeding while a mysterious stranger leaves. When d'Artagnan regains consciousness, he realizes that the gentleman has stolen his letter. The innkeeper manages to get his hands on much of d'Artagnan's money as he recuperates.

In Paris, d'Artagnan goes straight to the hangout of the Musketeers, but no longer having his father's letter. The same day, d'Artagnan is challenged to a duel by three musketeers: Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. The four men meet and d'Artagnan begins to fight Athos (the first challenger). They are interrupted by Cardinal Richelieu's guards, who threaten to arrest them because duels are forbidden by royal decree. The three musketeers and d'Artagnan unite to defeat the Cardinal's guards. In this manner, the young Gascon earns the respect and friendship of Athos, Porthos and Aramis, and becomes a soldier in the Royal Guard.

After obtaining lodging and hiring a servant (Planchet), he meets his aging landlord's pretty young wife, Constance Bonacieux, with whom he falls instantly in love. Unhappy in her marriage with Louis XIII, queen Anne (the former Anne of Austria) flirts with the Duke of Buckingham. Constance and d'Artagnan help the two meet, and the Queen presents her lover some diamond jewels originally given to her by her husband the King. However, Cardinal de Richelieu, informed by his spies of the gift, persuades the King to invite the Queen to a ball where she would be expected to wear the diamonds.

D'Artagnan and his friends leave for London to get the diamonds back from Buckingham. They retrieve the jewels and return them to Queen Anne, just in time to save her façade of honour.

The Cardinal's revenge comes swiftly: the next evening, Constance is kidnapped. D'Artagnan brings his friends back to Paris and tries to find her, but fails. Meanwhile, he befriends the Count de Winter, an English nobleman who introduces him to his sister-in-law, Milady de Winter. Despite his love for Constance and his suspicions that Milady is the Cardinal's spy, d'Artagnan finds it very hard to resist her charms. He almost falls into the trap, believing Milady is in love with him, but accidentally finds a letter of hers to the one she really loves, the Count de Wardes. Helped by Milady's chambermaid Kitty, who is infatuated with him, d'Artagnan has his revenge: he spends a night with Milady, pretending to be M. de Wardes in the darkened room, and Milady gives him a sapphire ring as a token of her love. He admits the truth though, and she tries to slay him with a dagger. In the struggle, d'Artagnan discovers that Milady has a fleur-de-lis burned into her shoulder, marking her as a felon. Remembering a story that Athos had once told him, d'Artagnan suddenly realizes with horror that Milady is not—as he had thought—an English noble lady, but in fact Athos' wife, whom everyone thought dead. He now knows that Milady will never forgive him for having insulted her so dearly, and is relieved when all the King's Guards are ordered to La Rochelle where a siege of the Protestant-held town is taking place.

Milady makes several attempts to kill d'Artagnan in and around La Rochelle, but fails. At the same time, d'Artagnan finds out that the Queen has managed to save Constance from the prison where the Cardinal and Milady had thrown her, and that his beloved is now hidden somewhere safe. One of the would-be assassins drops a valuable tip: the name of an inn where Milady was to pay him for his crime.

When the four friends are reunited, Athos presents d'Artagnan the pardon issued by the Cardinal to Milady and urges them to keep it. Because of the war between France and England, any attempt by the musketeers to travel to England and warn the Duke of Buckingham would be considered treason.

Imprisoned in England, Milady seduces the hard-hearted Felton and convinces him not only to help her escape, but also to assassinate the Duke of Buckingham. While the naive Felton knifes the Prime Minister, Milady sails to France. She writes the Cardinal to announce that his orders have been fulfilled and that she will be in a safe place until she receives payment for the crime. As Fate would have it, Milady hides in the same monastery where Constance had been sent by the Queen. Not knowing who this stranger really is, the trusting Constance bares her soul to Milady. The scheming Milady realizes that her enemy d'Artagnan is expected to arrive at the monastery at any moment. She escapes just before his arrival, but not before taking her revenge: she poisons Constance, who dies minutes later in the arms of her beloved d'Artagnan.

The five of them arrange to track down the whereabouts of Milady to exact punishment. Athos leaves to fetch a mysterious man in a red cloak. The party track down the Countess's location: an isolated house on the banks of the Lys river near Flanders. She is trapped. The six noblemen try the Countess on numerous charges: the poisoning of Madame Bonacieux; the assassination attempts on d'Artagnan; accomplice to the assassination of the Duke of Buckingham; the corruption of the Lord de Winter's servant, Felton; and the assassination of her late husband Count de Winter (the brother of the current Lord de Winter). The most damning charge comes when Athos states that Milady, his wife, is a marked criminal with a brand on her shoulder. When the Countess demands that Athos present the one who branded her, the man in the red cloak steps forward. She immediately recognizes him as the executioner of Lille. The executioner then recounts Milady's early history.

She was a beautiful teenage nun who seduced the priest of her church—the executioner's own brother. Desperate for money to flee to another part of the country, the priest stole sacred vessels and sold them, but the two were caught and held in jail. Milady seduced the jailer's son to escape. The priest was condemned to be branded with a Fleur de Lys and to a prison term. The executioner of Lille—the man who had to brand the priest—was the priest's own brother, and decided to track down Milady so as to give her the same punishment. While the executioner did this, his brother escaped from the prison and rejoined Milady. They fled to the province where the Count of la Fère was lord, pretending to be brother and sister. She then abandoned the priest to become Athos' wife. The priest, thus ruined and abandoned, learned that his brother the executioner was being held in prison in lieu of himself. He surrendered to free his brother and then committed suicide.

After Milady is beheaded the musketeers return to La Rochelle. On their way, they encounter the Count of Rochefort, the Cardinal's close advisor and d'Artagnan's old nemesis, who was traveling to Milady to pay her. Rochefort also has an order to arrest d'Artagnan if he happens to find him. As they are near La Rochelle, he decides to postpone his trip to Milady in order to take d'Artagnan directly to the Cardinal. When d'Artagnan is presented before him, the Cardinal tells the young man his charges: mostly trumped-up ones intended to provide an excuse for Milady's desire to see d'Artagnan dead. The young musketeer tells Richelieu the truth and recounts the entire story about Milady—her assassination attempts against him, her poisoning of Madame Bonacieux, etc.. The Cardinal states that if Milady is indeed guilty, the courts will deal harshly with her. d'Artagnan frankly admits that they have already dealt with this evil woman. d'Artagnan then presents him the pardon that Athos forced from Milady, making his actions legitimate in the eyes of the Law. The Cardinal, impressed by d'Artagnan's bravery and having already used Milady's services to eliminate France's arch-rival Buckingham, offers the young man a lieutenant's commission with the Musketeers—with the name left blank. The Cardinal then presents Rochefort and asks both men to be on good terms.

Their lives, however, will cross once again, in Twenty Years After.

[edit] Important characters

[edit] The Musketeers

[edit] The Musketeers' servants

  • Planchet (d'Artagnan) -- A clever fellow Porthos found to serve d'Artagnan.
  • Grimaud (Athos) -- A Breton, trained to speak only in emergencies. Mostly communicates through sign language.
  • Mousqueton (Porthos) -- A would-be dandy, just as vain as his master, whose only pay is his master's old clothes
  • Bazin — (Aramis) -- Waits for the day his Master will join the Church, as Bazin has always dreamed to serve a clergyman.

[edit] The others

[edit] Rate of exchange

for the relative value of écus, pistoles and livres see Pistole

[edit] Editions

Les Trois Mousquetaires was translated into three English versions by 1846. One of these, by William Barrow, is still in print and fairly faithful to the original, available in the Oxford World's Classics 1999 edition. However, all of the explicit and many of the implicit references to sexuality had been removed to conform to 19th-century English standards, thereby making the scenes between d'Artagnan and Milady, for example, confusing and strange. The most recent and now standard English translation is by Richard Pevear (2006), who in his introduction notes that most of the modern translations available today are "textbook examples of bad translation practices" which "give their readers an extremely distorted notion of Dumas' writing."

[edit] Adaptations

[edit] Musical theatre

The Three Musketeers is a musical with a book by William Anthony McGuire, lyrics by Clifford Grey and P. G. Wodehouse, and music by Rudolf Friml. The original 1928 production ran on Broadway for 318 performances. A 1984 revival ran for 15 previews and 9 performances. In 2003 a Dutch musical 3 Musketiers premiered, which went on to open in Germany (starring Pia Douwes as Milady De Winter) and Hungary. Composer George Stiles, lyricist Paul Leigh and playwright Peter Raby have produced another version, which opened at the American Musical Theatre of Santa José on 10 March 2001.

[edit] Films

See The Three Musketeers (film) for a list of film adaptations.

[edit] Video games

In 1995, game developers Clipper Software and publisher U.S. Gold produced Touché: The Adventures of the Fifth Musketeer, a classic point-and-click adventure game using the SCUMM engine.[5]

In 2005, Swedish game developer Legendo Entertainment published The Three Musketeers for Windows XP and Windows Vista. In 2009, they will publish a version for Nintendo Wii.[citation needed]

[edit] Television

[edit] Influence on later works

In 1939, American author Tiffany Thayer published a book entitled Three Musketeers (Thayer, 1939). This is a re-telling of the story in Thayer's words, true to the original plot but told in a different order and with different points of view and emphasis from the original. For example, the book opens with the scene of Milady's youth and how she came to be branded, and more development of her early character, making her later scheming more believable and understandable. Thayer's treatment of sex and sexual politics is more explicit than typical English translations of the original, occasionally leading to consternation when this book found its way to library children's sections and school libraries.

In Danny Boyle's Academy Award winning film, Slumdog Millionaire, a main theme running through the movie, is that brothers Jamal and Salim describe themselves as Athos and Porthos, and Latika as Aramis, however they do not know his name. Also, the final answer to make Jamal a millionaire is referring to the name of the third musketeer, but Jamal guesses because he never learned it.

The Man In The Iron Mask involves the three musketeers as important characters.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Dumas, Alexandre. The Three Musketeers, chapter 9. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Three_Musketeers/Chapter_9. 
  2. ^ Dumas, Alexandre. The Three Musketeers, Author's Preface. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Three_Musketeers/Author%27s_Preface. 
  3. ^ MacDonald, Roger. The Man in the Iron Mask:The True Story of the Most Famous Prisoner in History and the Four Musketeers. ISBN 978-1-84529-300-0. 
  4. ^ Editions de La Table Ronde, Paris, 1993 ISBN 2-7103-0559-3
  5. ^ Touché: The Adventures of the Fifth Musketeer

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Cooper, Barbara T., "Alexandre Dumas, père," in Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 119: Nineteenth-Century French Fiction Writers: Romanticism and Realism, 1800-1860, edited by Catharine Savage Brosman, Gale Research, 1992, pp. 98–119.
  • Hemmings, F. W. J., "Alexandre Dumas Père," in European Writers: The Romantic Century, Vol. 6, edited by Jacques Barzun and George Stade, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1985, pp. 719–43.
  • Foote-Greenwell, Victoria, "The Life and Resurrection of Alexandre Dumas," in Smithsonian, July 1996, p. 110.
  • Thayer, Tiffany, "Three Musketeers," New York: Citadel Press, 1939. (On the hard cover, the title is printed as "Tiffany Thayer's Three Musketeers.")
  • Discussion of the work, bibliography and links
  • Bibliography and references for The Three Musketeers

[edit] External links

Editions

Wikisource
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Misc
v • d • e
Alexandre Dumas, père
Novels:
Characters:
Films:
The Count of Monte Cristo (1934)  • The Count of Monte Cristo (1956)  • The Count of Monte Cristo (1975)  • The Count of Monte Cristo (1998)  • The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)  • D'Artagnan and Three Musketeers  • The Fifth Musketeer  • The Four Musketeers (film)  • The Iron Mask  • The Man in the Iron Mask (1939)  • The Man in the Iron Mask (1977)  • The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)  • The Man in the Iron Mask (film)  • Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers  • The Musketeer  • La Reine Margot (1994)  • The Return of the Musketeers  • Les Trois Mousquetaires  • The Three Musketeers (1921)  • The Three Musketeers (1969)  • The Three Musketeers (1973)  • The Three Musketeers (1993 animated) The Three Musketeers (1933)  • Touché, Pussy Cat!  • The Two Mouseketeers
TV programs:
v • d • e
d'Artagnan Romances
of Alexandre Dumas
Major characters
Historical counterparts
Other characters
Books
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