The Three Musketeers
1. D'Artagnan is confronted with the Cardinal's intriguers in
the very first leg of his journey from home to Paris to join the musketeers when he
quarrels with Count Rochefort and sees the mysterious evil Milady. The Count steals his
father's letter to Treville requesting a place for D’Artagnan in the king's guard.
Later it is the Cardinal himself (the Count's boss) who appoints D’Artagnan a
musketeer and finally a lieutenant. When the Cardinal does offer him a lieutenantship it
is in exchange for the Cardinal’s letter of authority which Athos stole from Milady
and the Count is there to witness his appointment (the Count brings D’Artagnan to the
Cardinal).
2. The Count must be a positive character in a
negative position. For it is he that first alerts D’Artagnan about Milady during
their initial encounter. Later in trying to chase the Count in Paris, D’Artagnan runs
into and enrages the three Musketeers which is the beginning of their friendship. The
Count also drops the paper on which Milady has written the name of their final meeting
place where finally the Musketeers catch and execute her. The Count also kidnaps Madame
Bonacieux who later twice escapes him; the first time to meet D’Artagnan and fall in
love which wouldn't have happened otherwise, and as a result D’Artagnan plays a
pivotal role in recovering the Queen's diamonds given to Buckingham. Thus after three
duels, there is sanction for D’Artagnan's final friendship with the Count.
3. Milady obtained
Athos' family ring by falsely representing herself and becoming his wife. Athos is haunted
for years by the memory of this woman he thought he had killed. Later D’Artagnan
regains Athos' ring by another fraud when he impersonates Comte de Wardes in Milady's
bedroom. From that moment on the haunting spell begins to lift from Athos and he regains
his old strength and character. The ring is sold.
4. From the time D’Artagnan first sees her,
Milady's life is on the decline though her evil power continues to express. She succeeds
in stealing the diamonds from Buckingham, but the plot fails when D’Artagnan brings
replacements to the Queen and thereby gains her esteem. When she attempts to seduce De
Wardes and kill her brother-in-law, she is instead seduced by D’Artagnan and exposed
to him and Athos. When she asks the Cardinal for an execution order to kill
D’Artagnan, Athos steals it from her, and later uses it for her execution. Going to
kill Buckingham she is exposed and imprisoned for the first time.
Though she escapes
and succeeds in her mission, she brings down on her the pursuit that finally costs her her
life. The poisoning of Constance Bonacieux is her last evil act which alerts the
Musketeers to her identity and brings on her death. Even at the end her evil is so
powerful, D’Artagnan hesitates before the execution.
5. Because D’Artagnan has fallen prey to
Milady's charms in attempting to court and seduce her, and he has interfered with her
passion for Des Wardes, Milady is able to rob D’Artagnan of his love for Constance
and leave it unsatisfied.
6. The Cardinal's
plot to expose Queen Anne was thwarted by D’Artagnan, while his plot to kill
Buckingham was a success. The Frenchman's loyalty to his Queen does not extend to her
lover who is a national enemy preparing to attack.
7. The 3 Musketeers rose to fame only after
D’Artagnan joined them. Just prior to that they were defeated in a brawl with the
Cardinal's men and Athos was wounded. After D’Artagnan joined them, they rose from
success to greater success. D’Artagnan is courageous, noble, intelligent, innocent,
with enormous youthful energy. Within a few days of his arrival in Paris, D’Artagnan
has an audience with the King. Within a few weeks he is honored by the Queen.
8. Buckingham used
the battle for La Rochelle as an opportunity to fight his personal battle with the
Cardinal who had once been rejected by Anne and was jealous of Buckingham. He employed the
religious opposition of the Huguenots to fight the Cardinal. Their personal quarrel was
ended by Buckingham's assassination and with it the war too ended. As Buckingham employed
religious fanaticism against the Cardinal, Milady employed Fenton's Puritan fanaticism
against Buckingham. Buckingham was killed when he tried to sign the exile order against
Milady. The knife Fenton used to kill Buckingham was the same one Milady used a few hours
earlier to stab herself in a feigned suicide attempt. The knife draws her blood which gave
it the power to draw Buckingham's and also foreshadowed her own death, for killing
Buckingham was something so great it could be paid for only with Milady's life. She was
killed by the executioner's knife a few days later.
9. Milady died in
the countryside where she grew up; it was her return to past dangers, not safety. By
killing Constance, Milady has betrayed the one thing which protected her all her life,
i.e. her beauty. Till then no man could bring himself to kill her. Athos failed years
earlier and then did not even attempt it when he met her at the tavern. De Winter only
attempted to exile her and could not accomplish even that, so great were her charms. But
when she destroyed beautiful Constance, her own mask was finally destroyed and the
protecting aura withdrawn. Even then D’Artagnan was moved by her pleas and only
Athos' intervention assured her execution. By going to the convent, Milady unthinkingly
returns to the village where the executioner lives still seeking vengeance for his
brother's corruption and death which were due to Milady.
10. Constance was living in a dangerous world of intrigues. She was the servant of Queen Anne's romance with Buckingham and as such evoked the revenge of the Cardinal who could not directly touch the Queen. She was married to an unprincipled small man had only led to her twice imprisonment and twice escape. The force of the Queen protecting her was powerful enough for that. Her death rather seems a direct result of her love for D’Artagnan and willingness to die for him. Milady was bent on revenge against D’Artagnan and was powerful enough to make D’Artagnan tremble at the thought of her. In exposing herself to Milady, she actually exposed Milady to the Musketeers who would not have found her at the convent or pursued her to her grave, had it not been for Constance's unconscious sacrifice. In dying, Constance ensured Milady's death and D’Artagnan's life.
11. Whatever the liberality of the day, the story takes place in an age when the belief in good is quite pervasive and religious issues dominate society. In fact, if one law seems to express throughout the story, it is the resistance to illicit love at higher levels of society. Buckingham's advances to Anne lead to his death. Constance's two attempts to unite with D’Artagnan are frustrated, the first by her arrest, the second by her death. Even Milady's passion for de Wardes is frustrated by D’Artagnan. Aramis returns to religion, not to his aristocratic lover. Only Porthos who seeks money, not love, and stoops to the level of the proprietress succeeds, and that too by marriage. There is no instance of illicit love prospering in the story.