The Three Musketeers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see The Three Musketeers (disambiguation).

For the novel's film adaptations, see The Three Musketeers in film.

The Three Musketeers

"D'Artagnan, Athos, Aramis and Porthos"

Image by Maurice Leloir, 1894

Author

Alexandre Dumas
in collaboration with Auguste Maquet

Original title

Les Trois Mousquetaires

Country

France

Language

French

Genre

Historical novel

Publication date

MarchJuly 1844 (serialised)

Followed by

Twenty Years After, The Vicomte of Bragelonne

The Three Musketeers (French: Les Trois Mousquetaires [le twa muskt]) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas.
Set in the 17th century, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel
to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard. D'Artagnan is not one of the musketeers of the title; those being 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"), a motto which is first put forth by d'Artagnan.[1]

In genre, The Three Musketeers is primarily a historical novel and adventure. However Dumas also frequently works
into the plot various injustices, abuses and absurdities of the ancien regime, giving the novel an additional political
aspect at a time when the debate in France between republicans and monarchists was still fierce. The story was first
serialized from March to July 1844, during the July monarchy, four years before the French Revolution of
1848 violently established the second Republic. The author's father,Thomas-Alexandre Dumas had been a wellknown general in France's Republican army during the French revolutionary wars.
Although adaptations tend to portray d'Artagnan and the three musketeers as heroes, the novel portrays less
appealing characters, who are willing to commit violence over slight insults and through unquestioning loyalty to the
king and queen, and treat their servants and supposed social inferiors with contempt and violence.
The story of d'Artagnan is continued in Twenty Years After and The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later. Those
three novels by Dumas are together known as the d'Artagnan Romances.
Contents
[hide]

1 Origin

2 Plot summary

3 Important characters

4 Editions

5 Adaptations

6 Notes

7 References

8 External links

Origin[edit]
In the very first sentences of his preface, Alexandre Dumas indicated as his source Mmoires de Monsieur
d'Artagnan (1700), a historical novel by Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras, which Dumas discovered during his
research for his history of Louis XIV, printed by Pierre Rouge in Amsterdam.[2] It was in this book, he said, that
d'Artagnan relates his first visit to M. de Trville, captain of the Musketeers, where in the antechamber he met three
young men with the names Athos, Porthos and Aramis. This information struck the imagination of Dumas so much
he tells usthat he continued his investigation and finally encountered once more the names of the three
musketeers in a manuscript with the title Mmoire de M. le comte de la Fre, etc.. Elatedso continues his yarn
he asked permission to reprint the manuscript. Permission granted:
Now, this is the first part of this precious manuscript which we offer to our readers, restoring it to the title which
belongs to it, and entering into an engagement that if (of which we have no doubt) this first part should obtain the
success it merits, we will publish the second immediately.
In the meanwhile, since godfathers are second fathers, as it were, we beg the reader to lay to our account, and not
to that of the Comte de la Fre, the pleasure or the ennui he may experience.
This being understood, let us proceed with our story.[3]
The book he referred to was Mmoires de M. d'Artagnan, capitaine lieutenant de la premire 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. [citation needed]

Following Dumas's lead in his preface, Eugne d'Auriac (de la Bibliothque 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.[4]
The Three Musketeers was first published in serial form in the newspaper Le Sicle between March and July 1844.
When Alexandre Dumas wrote The Three Musketeers, he also was a practising fencer and like many other French
gentlemen of his generation he attended the schools forCanne de combat and Savate of Michel Casseux, Charles
Lecour[5] and Joseph Charlemont (who had been a regular fencing instructor in the French army).

Plot summary[edit]
In 1625 France, d'Artagnan a poor young nobleman leaves his family in Gascony and travels to Paris to join
the Musketeers of the Guard. At an inn in Meung-sur-Loire, an older man derides d'Artagnan's horse. Insulted,
d'Artagnan demands a duel. The older man's companions beat d'Artagnan unconscious with a cooking pot and a
metal tong that breaks his sword. His letter of introduction to Monsieur de Trville, the commander of the
Musketeers, is also stolen. D'Artagnan resolves to avenge himself upon the man (who is later revealed to be
the Comte de Rochefort, an agent of Cardinal Richelieu, who is there to pass orders from the Cardinal to Milady de
Winter, another of his agents).

Monument to Four Musketeers inCondom, France (by Zurab Tsereteli)

In Paris, d'Artagnan visits de Trville at the headquarters of the Musketeers but without the letter, de Trville politely
refuses his application. He does, however, write a letter of introduction to an academy for young gentlemen which
may prepare him for recruitment at a later time. From de Trville's window, d'Artagnan sees Rochefort passing in the
street below and rushes out of the building to confront him but in doing so, he offends three
Musketeers, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, who each demand satisfaction; D'Artagnan must fight a duel with all of
them that afternoon. As d'Artagnan prepares himself for the first duel, he realizes that Athos' seconds are Porthos
and Aramis, who are astonished that the young Gascon intends to duel them all. As d'Artagnan and Athos begin,
Cardinal Richelieu's guards appear and try to arrest d'Artagnan and the three Musketeers for illegal dueling.
Although outnumbered, the four men win the battle. D'Artagnan seriously wounds Jussac, one of the Cardinal's
officers and a renowned fighter. After learning of this, King Louis XIII appoints d'Artagnan to des Essart's company
of the King's Guards and gives him forty pistoles.
D'Artagnan hires a servant, Planchet; finds lodgings; and reports to Monsieur des Essart. Des Essart's company is a
less prestigious regiment in which he must serve for two years before being considered for the Musketeers. Shortly
after, his landlord speaks to him about his wife's kidnapping, (she is released presently) D'Artagnan falls in love at
first sight with her, Constance Bonacieux. She works for Queen Anne of France, who is secretly conducting an affair
with the Duke of Buckingham. The King, Louis XIII, gave the Queen a gift of diamond studs but she gives them to
her lover as a keepsake. Cardinal Richelieu, who wants war between France and England, plans to expose the tryst
and persuades the King to demand the Queen wear the diamonds to a soire that the Cardinal is sponsoring.
Constance tries to send her husband to London but the man is manipulated by Richelieu and does not go so
D'Artagnan and his friends intercede. En route, the Cardinal's henchmen repeatedly attack them and only
d'Artagnan and Planchet reach London. Before arriving, d'Artagnan is compelled to assault and nearly kill the Comte
de Wardes, a friend of the Cardinal, cousin of Rochefort, and Milady's lover. Although Milady stole two of the
diamond studs, the Duke of Buckingham provide replacements while delaying the thief's return to Paris. D'Artagnan
is thus able to return a complete set of jewels to Queen Anne just in time to save her honour. In gratitude, she gives
him a beautiful ring.

Shortly afterwards, d'Artagnan begins an affair with Madame Bonacieux. Arriving for an assignation, he sees signs
of a struggle and discovers that Rochefort and M. Bonacieux, acting under the orders of the Cardinal, have
assaulted and imprisoned her. D'Artagnan and his friends, now recovered from their injuries, and brings them back
to Paris. D'Artagnan meets Milady de Winter officially, and recognizes her as one of the Cardinal's agents, but
becomes infatuated with her until her maid reveals that Milady is indifferent toward him. Entering her quarters in the
dark, he pretends to be the Comte de Wardes and trysts with her. He finds a fleur-de-lis branded on Milady's
shoulder, marking her as a felon. Discovering his identity, Milady attempts to kill him but d'Artagnan eludes her. He
is ordered to the siege of La Rochelle.
He is informed that the Queen has rescued Constance from prison. In an inn, the musketeers overhear the Cardinal
asking Milady to murder the Duke of Buckingham, a supporter of the Protestant rebels at La Rochelle who has sent
troops to assist them. Richelieu gives her a letter that excuses her actions as under orders from the Cardinal
himself, but Athos takes it. The next morning, Athos bets that he, d'Artagnan, Porthos, and Aramis, and their
servants can hold the recaptured St. Gervais bastion against the rebels for an hour. They resist for an hour and a
half before retreating, killing 22 Rochellese in total. They warn Lord de Winter and the Duke of Buckingham. Milady
is imprisoned on arrival in England but seduces her guard, Felton (a fictionalization of the real John Felton), and
persuades him to allow her escape and to kill Buckingham himself. On her return to France, Milady hides in a
convent where Constance is also staying. The naive Constance clings to Milady, who sees a chance for revenge on
d'Artagnan, and fatally poisons Constance before d'Artagnan can rescue her. The Musketeers arrest Milady before
she reaches Cardinal Richelieu. They bring an official executioner, put her on trial and sentence her to death. After
her execution, the four friends return to the siege of La Rochelle. The Comte de Rochefort arrests d'Artagnan and
takes him straight to the Cardinal. When questioned about Milady's execution, d'Artagnan presents her letter of
pardon as his own. The Cardinal is impressed with d'Artagnan's wilfulness and secretly glad to be rid of her, the
Cardinal destroys the letter and writes a new order, giving the bearer a promotion to lieutenant in de Treville's
company of musketeers, leaving the name blank. D'Artagnan offers the letter to Athos, Porthos, and Aramis in turn
but each refuse it, proclaiming d'Artagnan the most worthy among them.
The siege of La Rochelle ends in 1628. Aramis retires to a monastery, Porthos marries his wealthy mistress and
Athos serves in the Musketeers under D'Artagnan until 1631, when he retires to his mansion in the countryside.
The four Musketeers meet again in Twenty Years After.

Important characters[edit]
Musketeers
Although adaptations tend to portray d'Artagnan and the three musketeers as heroes, the novel portrays less
appealing characters, who are willing to commit violence over slight insults and through unquestioning loyalty to the
king and queen, and treat their servants with contempt and violence.

Athos Armand de Sillgue d'Athos d'Autevielle: The last Musketeer to be introduced. He seems immune
to romantic feeling. To an extent, he becomes a father figure to d'Artagnan, but troubles d'Artagnan with the
revelation that in his earlier life, he murdered his teenage wife.

Aramis Henry d'Aramitz: A deeply religious younger Musketeer.

Porthos : Isaac de Portau: A dandy, fond of fashionable clothes.

d'Artagnan Charles de Batz de Castelmore d'Artagnan: He is not one of the "Three Musketeers" in the
sense that although he is in fact a musketeer, he is attached to des Essarts' company instead of de Treville's.
The novel is about his becoming one of the musketeers. When his servant tries to leave employment because
d'Artagnan cannot pay him, d'Artagnan beats him, to the approval of the musketeers.
Musketeers' servants

Planchet a young man from Picardy, he is seen by Porthos on the Pont de la Tournelle spitting into the
river below. Porthos takes this as a sign of good character and hires him on the spot to serve d'Artagnan. He
turns out to be a brave, intelligent and loyal servant.

Grimaud a Breton. Athos is a strict master, and only permits his servant to speak in emergencies; he
mostly communicates through sign language.

Mousqueton originally a Norman named Boniface; Porthos, however changes his name to one that sounds
better. He is a would-be dandy, just as vain as his master. In lieu of pay, he is clothed and lodged in a manner
superior to that usual for servants, dressing grandly in his master's old clothes.

Bazin from the province of Berry, Bazin is a pious man who waits for the day his master (Aramis) will join
the church, as he has always dreamed of serving a priest. Also, he enchants many ladies.
Others

Milady de Winter A beautiful but evil spy of the Cardinal and Athos's ex-wife. D'Artagnan has a brief
relationship with her, but comes to his senses about her demise.

Rochefort is essential to the plot. Following their duel on the road to Paris, d'Artagnan swears to have his
revenge. He loses several opportunities, but their paths finally cross again towards the end of the novel.

Queen Anne of Austria The unhappy Queen of France.

M. de Trville Captain of The Musketeers, and something of a mentor to d'Artagnan, though he has only a
minor role.

Constance Bonacieux The Queen's seamstress and confidante. After d'Artagnan rescues her from the
Cardinal's guard, he immediately falls in love with her. She appreciates his protection, but the relationship is
never consummated.

George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham

Monsieur Bonacieux Constance's husband. He initially enlists d'Artagnan's help to rescue his wife from the
Cardinal's guards, but when he himself is arrested, he and the Cardinal discover they have an understanding.
Richelieu turns Monsieur Bonancieux against his wife, and he goes on to play a role in her abduction.
Kitty A servant of Milady de Winter. She dislikes her mistress, and pities d'Artagnan.
John Felton Assigned to guard Milady. However, she makes him fall in love with her, and he helps her
escape.

Editions[edit]
Les Trois Mousquetaires was translated into three English versions by 1846. One of these, by William Barrow
(18171877), is still in print and fairly faithful to the original, available in the Oxford World's Classics 1999 edition. To
conform to 19th-century English standards, all of the explicit and many of the implicit references to sexuality were
removed, adversely affecting the readability of several scenes, such as the scenes between d'Artagnan and Milady.
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." [6]

Adaptations[edit]
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 (both the Dutch and German production starring Pia Douwes as Milady De Winter) and
Hungary.
1995 saw the release by publisher U.S. Gold of Touch: The Adventures of the Fifth Musketeer by video game
developers Clipper Software, a classic point-and-click adventure game.[7] In 2005, Swedish developer Legendo
Entertainment published the side-scrolling platform game The Three Musketeers for Windows XP and Windows
Vista. In July 2009, a version of the game was released for WiiWare in North America and Europe under the
title The Three Musketeers: One for All!.[8] In 2009, Canadian developer Dingo Gamesself-published The Three
Musketeers: The Game for Windows and Mac OS X. It is the first game to be truly based on the novel (in that it
closely follows the novel's story).[9] 2009 also saw the publication of the asymmetric team board game The Three
Musketeers "The Queen's Pendants" ( " ") from French designer Pascal
Bernard[10] by the Russian publisher Zvezda.[11]

Three Musketeers, Issue No. 1,Classic Comics, published 1941

The Young Blades television series is a sequel to the novels, centered on the son of d'Artagnan; similarly, Albert the
Fifth Musketeer is an animated sequel. Three Musketeers is an anime series adaption, while The Three
Musketeers was an animated adaption that aired as part of Hanna-Barbera's The Banana Splits Comedy-Adventure
Hour & The Banana Splits & Friends show.
The Three Musketeers was adapted as a serial by the BBC in 1954 and 1966. The Musketeers, a 2014 series
by Adrian Hodges, is another BBC adaptation.[12]
Publisher Albert Lewis Kanter (18971973), created Classic Comics for Elliot Publishing Company in 1941 with its
debut issues being The Three Musketeers. The Three Mouseketeers was the title of two separate series produced
by DC Comics; the first series was a loose parody of The Three Musketeers.
In 1939, American author Tiffany Thayer published a book entitled Three Musketeers (Thayer, 1939). This is a retelling 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. TheKhaavren Romances by Steven Brust are fantasy (or science-fiction)
novels heavily influenced by The Three Musketeers and its sequels; the characters and social background are
closer to Dumas's than the plots.
See The Three Musketeers in film for the numerous appearance of the characters in film.
In 2010, Anuman Interactive launched The Three Musketeers, a hidden object game on PC and MAC. Players
follow d'Artagnan in his quest to become a king's musketeer.[13]

Notes[edit]

1.
2.

Jump up^ Dumas, Alexandre. The Three Musketeers, chapter 9.

Jump up^ "Les Trois Mousquetaires by Alexandre Dumas Free Ebook : Author's Preface". Gutenberg.org. 4
November 2004. Retrieved 2014-02-26.

3.

Jump up^ Dumas, Alexandre. The Three Musketeers, Author's Preface.

4.

Jump up^ Editions de La Table Ronde, Paris, 1993 ISBN 2-7103-0559-3

5.

Jump up^ "They held public demonstrations and their classes included nobility, aristocrats and personalities
such as Eugene Sue, Alphose Karr, Theophile Gautier and the author of The Three Musketeers, Alexander Dumas.".
Retrieved 2011-08-27.

6.

Jump up^ Dumas, Alexandre The Three Musketeers, Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition, "A Note on the
Translation", page xxi

7.

Jump up^ Touch: The Adventures of the Fifth Musketeer, Moby Games

8.

Jump up^ "The Three Musketeers: One for All! (WiiWare)". Nintendo Life. Retrieved 18 January2010.

9.

Jump up^ The Three Musketeers: The Game, Moby Games

10.

Jump up^ "Pascal Bernard Board Game Designer". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved 18 January2010.

11.

Jump up^ . . . (in Russian). Zvezda. Retrieved 18

January 2010.

12.

Jump up^ Strecker, Erin (1 August 2012). "One for all: BBC announces new show 'The
Musketeers'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 1 August 2012.

13.

Jump up^ "HdO Adventure series | GamesIndustry International". Gamesindustry.biz. 18 March 2010.
Retrieved 2014-06-29.

References[edit]
Novels portal

Cooper, Barbara T., "Alexandre Dumas, pre", in Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 119: NineteenthCentury French Fiction Writers: Romanticism and Realism, 18001860, edited by Catharine Savage Brosman,
Gale Research, 1992, pp. 98119.

Hemmings, F. W. J., "Alexandre Dumas Pre", in European Writers: The Romantic Century, Vol. 6, edited by
Jacques Barzun and George Stade, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1985, pp. 71943.

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