Wednesday 3 April 2013

Book: 'The Three Musketeers' by Alexandre Dumas (1844)

I read this book when I was little, for I was precocious, and now I have read it again in preparation for the Film Bin commentaries on the Salkind movie adaptations and there are certain aspects of it that are truly classic. It is an adaptation of Dumas's serialised version which progressively overcomes its origins as the narrative moves on. It's a comedy that lapses into romance and then tragic vengeance with a glint of hope. It's a metaphor for growing up as the tone changes. It's a Catholic metaphor for how women are ultimately a bit evil and treacherous while in the coolness of their intellect, and men in the grip of their passions. It's also a peek into historical attitudes to infidelity, marriage and cultural norms in fifteenth century Paris, and the power struggles rippling through the nation between King Louis and the Cardinal Richelieu, who was his first minister. It's also a lesson in having caddish protagonists who are both good and bad, noble by any standard but also immoral by our own contemporary thinking. It's all those things.

The core of the novel, at least at the beginning, is the story of the young Gascon called d'Artagnan and his adventures in Paris whilst waiting and hoping to be commissioned as a Musketeer of the King. After initially trying to sequentially duel the three Inseparables, the eponymous musketeers of the title, he becomes their fourth cohort and eventually their comrade in arms. d'Artagnan and the musketeers are characterised in their actions far more than their words - except perhaps for Athos - and that is quite reasonable considering their status as cavaliers. They are, however, cavaliers who serve under assumed names and for unknown reasons. If there's one thing that's never fully exploited, it's the mystery behind the Inseparables, again except for Athos. Athos is the lynch pin to the whole story in many ways, and as the narrative continues it becomes plain that it has become the continuation of his story, and his infamous ex-wife's, entangled as they are with d'Artagnan's travails. Aramis and Porthos are, in comparison, sketchy at best.

Interestingly, the fictional narrative is intertwined with the semi-fictional story around King Louis, his mistrusted and abused Queen Anne, the Cardinal Richelieu who was rejected by Anne, and her star-crossed love with the Prime Minster and de facto leader of Britain, the Duke of Buckingham. That higher narrative, along with the siege of La Rochelle and international politics really drives or complicates the action in the personal narrative when complication is needed and allows for the introduction of the first antagonist into the direct narrative, the Cardinal. The Cardinal is a rather interesting antagonist, as his machinations are mostly directly for the glory of France rather than himself, but also indirectly but deliberately for vengeance against the Queen and weakening of the King. He is at once selfless and selfish, complicating and solving some of the problems that propound in the story. As the first villain he is icily efficient but pales in comparison to his agent Milady, and is even grateful to be rid of her.

The latterly revealed drama of the novel is in the interaction of the mercenary beauty Milady, and her previous effects on Athos and present and ultimate effects on d'Artagnan and his mistress Constance, his landlord's wife. Mistresses are rife in this piece. Rife! It's as if it were a different country, and indeed it was, being France and not the United Kingdom, and six hundred years ago. The final chapters of this book are hard to read if you're of a sensitive disposition, they being where Milady effectively hijacks the story and revels in her villainous ways before making the final insult and meeting her end. It's actually quite traumatic and not to be spoilt, but an incredible denouement when you consider how little of the subtext is spoken. On the surface it is a truly superficial work and yet the wheels turn and the beans spin and the evil spreads until it is cut away at the root leaving only its devastation as proof of its existence, and a mass of emotion slurping over the floor sucking at d'Artagnan's feet and soul.

I firmly believe that enjoyment of this novel is dependent on finding the best translation, or on reading it in its original French. The one I read and enjoyed is probably quite bowdlerised but very enjoyable while more modern translations might be more explicit, although to what extend I truly could not say. I have wittered on at length now and should stop, being aware that I have rendered no firm guidance on the novel and only a precis or summary of its salient points.

'The Three Musketeers' is a deeply held classic, an epic adventure, and a novel everyone should read or at least every boy and man, whether they be precocious or not. Never have lackeys been so well defined, nor heroes shown with so many caddish tendencies. It's interesting to note that Athos's past is actually quite morally murky in many ways but we end up on his side anyway. It's an excellent historical adventure, with a mass of detail and a deeply sad ending. It is also very, very long.

O.

PS The Quirky Muffin will be taking a break next week as I must go to a conference next week and visit a dear and distant friend thereafter. Normal service will be resumed eventually in mid-April.

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