The Three Musketeers: Lieutenant of the King's Musketeers (Lecture on Ch. XLII-LXVII)
Added 2025-08-24 21:00:03 +0000 UTC"So I'll have no more friends," said d'Artagnan. "Alas! nothing but bitter memories..." And he let his head drop into his hands, whilst two tears rolled down his cheeks. "You are young," replied Athos, "and your bitter memories have time to turn into sweet one."
Today our sweeping saga reaches its breathtaking climax. We come to the end of The Three Musketeers, but certainly not the end of our loving readerly relationship with Alexandre Dumas.
We're discussing the history of warrior kings, what bravery means, compelling cliffhangers, melodrama, femme fatales, good vs evil, the recipe for an Alexandre Dumas novel, wars of religion, real history vs imaginative literature, the end of the story, and much more.
Timestamps:
0:00 the adventure reaches its climax
2:00 attempts on d’Artagnan’s life
4:00 when rulers were warrior kings
6:00 it’s dangerous being a monarch
8:00 succession following assassination
10:00 Cardinal Richelieu’s political burden
12:00 enemy of your enemy is your friend
13:00 Duke of Buckingham’s expedition
15:00 why did the expedition fail?
16:00 musketeers vs Cardinal Richelieu
19:00 recalling a past chivalric era
21:00 the cardinal schemes with Milady
23:00 artwork of the siege of La Rochelle
24:00 warfare as biblically apocalyptic
26:00 Milady pledges her vengeance
29:00 Athos reunites with his wife
31:00 seeing through biblical paradigms
33:00 great literature comes from music
34:00 stories endure through symbolism
35:00 accusation as evil personified
36:00 Athos warns Milady de Winter
38:00 ‘Monsieur d’Artagnan will die’
40:00 shoot-out at Saint Gervais bastion
42:00 courage is not the absence of fear
44:00 symbiotic protective relationship
46:00 why do we love the femme fatale?
47:00 how fear is a gift that keeps us alive
48:00 the value of living in the middle way
49:00 courage springs from noble aims
50:00 Dumas writing in a circle of stage fire
52:00 Milady’s captivity in an English castle
55:00 the heroine Judith vs Holofernes
57:00 recipe for an Alexandre Dumas novel
59:00 the real life figure of John Felton
1:01:00 why was Buckingham so unpopular?
1:02:00 do you sympathise with Milady?
1:03:00 on the starvation in La Rochelle
1:06:00 St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
1:05:00 on the blockade at La Rochelle
1:09:00 from King Louis XI to Robespierre
1:11:00 development of absolutist power
1:13:00 the meaning of divide and conquer
1:15:00 ‘whose then is this air we breathe?’
1:17:00 abandon all hope, ye who enter here
1:19:00 from the point of view of Milady
1:21:00 ‘Nothing is lost. I’m still beautiful.’
1:23:00 how trauma can cause bloodlust
1:25:00 how Milady manipulates Felton
1:27:00 Milady channels Sheherazade
1:30:00 how our femme fatale escapes
1:31:00 is Milady based on a real person?
1:33:00 public response to Villiers’ death
1:34:00 race against time so save Constance
1:35:00 the poisoning of Mme Bonacieux
1:37:00 the judgement of Milady de Winter
1:39:00 why this is not a children’s book
1:41:00 reading the execution scene together
1:43:00 ‘you are a demon escaped from hell’
1:45:00 Milady de Winter meets her maker
1:49:00 how the siege of La Rochelle ends
1:51:00 appreciating the end of the novel
1:53:00 where to next for reading Dumas?
1:55:00 returning to Homer with the Odyssey
Resources to Explore:
The Count of Monte Cristo: It's been wonderful to see how much love readers have developed for Alexandre Dumas. I know many are keen to explore more of his works. There are so many great avenues to take next. First things first: if you haven't read The Count of Monte Cristo, that is the one to make your next port of call. It's my personal favourite Dumas, one of the best works of the nineteenth century, and a real emotional rollercoaster. We also have a read-through for this phenomenal story.
Exploring Dumas: If you are keen to spend more time with our musketeers, then the d'Artagnan Romances that follow on are excellent. You've got Twenty Years After and The Vicomte de Bragelonne. For a slim standalone option, The Black Tulip is fantastic. If you're looking for deep cuts Dumas, then Georges or Queen Margot (the first of the Valois Romances) might intrigue you. Or, for another interesting option, why not contrast and compare the work of father and son? The Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas fils, which inspired Verdi's La Traviata, is quite a different offering from the adventure novels of his father.
Influence: Rather than exploring more Alexandre Dumas, perhaps you would find it rewarding to dip into some of the influences lurking in his literary DNA. We've mentioned Shakespeare, Homer, Sir Walter Scott, and the Bible, but another strong honourable mention would be the Arabian Nights, or 1,001 Nights. The King of the Cliffhanger learnt his craft from Scheherazade. The best editions I know for this treasure trove are the Penguin Classics editions masterfully translated by Robert Irwin (though Dumas would have read the iconic Antoine Galland work). Further deep influences would be found in the chansons de geste of medieval France and the Arthurian romances of medieval England.
Painting & Music: If you would like to view the 1881 oil painting we discussed, with Cardinal Richelieu inspecting the dikes at La Rochelle, then you can check it out here. I am in complete awe of what Henri-Paul Motte produced. For a musical treat, this album compiles music inspired by Dumas from so many phenomenal classical composers and makes for a lovely soundtrack for rereading some of your favourite passages.
Film Appreciation: Did you check out any of the wonderful film adaptations for The Three Musketeers? From the Richard Lester classic to the BBC series and on to the latest two-parter in French, we are spoiled for choice. If you've been waiting to finish the book before watching a film version, then now is the time to treat yourself. I'll personally be viewing the 1973 and 1974 films again. For another fun option, you might also enjoy The Man in the Iron Mask from 1998, starring Leonard DiCaprio and many more great stars. For another interesting choice, there's also this three-part musical Soviet miniseries adaptation, which is very interesting. Also, for a fun option that one can watch with younger viewers, there's always this direct-to-video musical animated treat.
Thought Exercise: Alexandre Dumas and August Maquet had a mission to recast the sweeping saga of French history in compelling and popular imaginative literature. It's clear that Dumas found great inspiration in the era of the seventeenth century. But what period of history would you choose to write about? Which figures would take centre stage for you? Who would be the heroes of your serialised story?
Our Next Masterpieces: Congratulations on reading Alexandre Dumas' exhilarating adventure novel with so much love. Thank you so much for making this such an amazing experience. For the next exciting leg of our journey, we will be returning to Homer for the homecoming of Odysseus. Reading through The Three Musketeers has given us time to digest the ideas from The Iliad, and now it's time to discover what happens in the epic masterpiece that is The Odyssey. This weekend coming, our discussion will cover the first eight books of The Odyssey. I'll be working primarily from the Lombardo translation to remain consistent with the Iliad lectures. But feel free to use the translation that sings to your soul. We have translation comparisons here and here. I am tremendously excited to share this next appreciation with you and am so grateful that you have made all of our read-throughs this year so meaningful.
Questions to Consider:
1) What did you make of the ending of The Three Musketeers?
2) What will you remember most from your journey through this novel?
3) What area connected with Dumas are you now most keen to explore?
4) How would you persuade another to read The Three Musketeers? And what advice would you give to facilitate a meaningful reading experience?
And please do share with us your impressions and favourite passages from the end of The Three Musketeers.
Congratulations on reading The Three Musketeers! All for one, and one for all!
Comments
This is a great recap of the story, one suggestion would be to try to lead us to infer the inner thoughts of each character. Don't get me wrong, its really good, but personally I would like to see a bit of inner thought lowk
Excitableblizzard
2026-01-09 03:21:09 +0000 UTCI am finally caught up with my reading as of this week, which means I finished the Odyssey and listened to all of the lectures despite my two knee replacements over the course of this reading challenge, but my biggest regret is not keeping up with this comment section. Despite running behind, while reading The Three Musketeers, I took the time to do some fun background research. I enjoyed the time I spent searching for maps of the action, most notably in Paris, e.g., as Dartanian is running to Porthos place, the location of the duel with the Cardinals men, and even mapping travel from the fighting on the coast all the way up to the convent, etc. I saw in the comments here some speculation regarding overlap between this story and The Count of Monte Cristo, so it was very interesting to find in my research that Dumas was writing both in real time and responding to the feedback that he was getting from the public. Both Dumas and his writing partner had some firm plot ideas for The Three Musketeers, but allowed for many changes during the 67 episodes. So the one followed the other in publication, but very closely, and they were also substantially different from each other. It seems to me that Benjamin said something during the lectures about keeping the notion of the episodic release of this story in the back of one's mind. I do find that it colored my view of the story in different ways. First, I'm more forgiving of the wanton killing, much as I am forgiving of the same in so much modern media. Certainly thinking about the grief of everyone's mother is appropriate when reading All Quiet On the Western front, but yes, I give the Three Musketeers a pass in that regard, and Milady as well. It's swashbuckling and villainizing. One thing that makes it special for me is that it's groundbreaking, and I can see now what I couldn't see before - the millions of times that I have been unknowingly exposed to a reference to or imitation of this work that was a sensation in its day and is persistently popular. Also, Dumas' history is so compelling, and I like imagining even as I'm reading, how the father he never knew must have influenced him. On top of all this, the fact that almost every character was drawn from a real person (although many/most of them didn't fit the timeline) had me in the footnotes throughout the read. Now that I think about it, it kind of reminds me of that pulpy John Jakes series so many years ago of American history, the way it incorporated real events and real people. I also checked out several different versions of the Three Musketeers on DVD, although I won't be doing an exhaustive viewing, especially since the first candidate was campy and over the top and not possible to complete. I remember with some fondness the version from the 70s with Michael York and Raquel Welch and I always liked Oliver Reed. I haven't re-watched it yet, but there are scenes from that movie that I never forgot.
Mark Conaway
2025-09-17 22:16:57 +0000 UTCThe action was fun, but this narrative seemed very disjointed to me, the second half feeling like a completely different novel from the first. I was thrown particularly by how the character conflicts shifted. We had such a strong opening setting up the man of meung, and even the cardinal, as the mortal enemies of D’Artagnan. But at the end they just… became friends? And halfway through Milady became the real villain. Treville faded out of the story awkwardly, as did the queen. I contrast this with something like a Dickens novel, where even over long periods of time and space with many characters, everything wraps up so cleanly. This certainly reflects on both the reading and writing process of serialized fiction. The reader is more in the moment of the story and willing to follow the writer new places, since those opening pages were so long ago in the mind. This gives the writer more freedom to take the plot further away from where it began, but also less freedom as he has already committed himself to the parts of the story he already wrote. What a challenge it must have been to bring this tale back “full circle.”
Alexander Najarian
2025-09-07 18:17:18 +0000 UTCHi Serena, This is an excellent analysis, and I agree with much of what you’ve said. Most of my posts in this section have essentially made the same points, though you’ve expressed them far better than I have.
Vida
2025-09-05 01:32:00 +0000 UTCI like Aramis best besides D'Artagnan. Athos... I can't forgive him for hanging his wife without a trial or anything, not even asking her for an explanation.
Serena J Cavanaugh
2025-09-04 05:07:31 +0000 UTCThis was my first read of The Three Musketeers. I read The Count of Monte Cristo twice in school and really disliked it. I thought it was plodding and boring and I hated the end. I enjoyed this book. I loved the fun of it, even though it was jarring at times to read about the bravado and honor of these men in a light hearted telling right after the Illiad where it was anything but light hearted. It was like the characters were still following the rules of Homer's heros, but our narrator was asking us to fund it charming rather frightening and tragic. Dumas and his characters don't value human life. Men are stabbed and killed without any thought at all, without any ceremony, and for no cause, other than ego. And yet we smile and laugh for the musketeers... Fun, but troubling. I do think D'Artagnan would do fine on the plains of Troy. And so would his buddies. And Milady. Oh wow. What a character. I see that Steinbeck just about lifted Milady from these pages and placed her in California as Cathy for East of Eden. They are almost the same character. However Steinbeck did a better job at making us hate Cathy. I can't hate Milady and I think that was intentional. Her story has troubled me extensively and I've pondered why. I haven't yet read through all the comments and I'm late to the lecture, so do forgive me if I make points already made. So here are my thoughts on this amazing character: 1. Milady was ruthless, true, but I don't think she deserved her judgment and punishment from these particular men. Athos especially had no right to hold anything against her. He killed her ( or thought he did) without even knowing her crime, without ever asking her. At that point, she was nothing more than a thief. Hardly that. Why did she deserve the death penalty? For his honor? Excuse me? There's some Achilles here but even Achilles didn't go ahead and kill Briseis when she became a weapon against his honor. The man in the red cape assumed that it was her fault that his brother stole, but how so? How could he not be responsible for his own decisions? This smacks of Adam and all mankind blaming Eve without ever being accountable for their own choices. She didn't deserve the brand that the man in the red cape gave her and without the brand she would have had a better life. She didn't deserve to be hung by Athos. De Winter, imprisons her based on hearsay. He never asks for her side of the story. It's almost like he, like Athos, was a little to eager to punish her. D'Artagnan redeems himself amazingly by asking for forgiveness. If he hadn't done that I wouldn't like the book. It was his own selfishness, his own schemes, that catapulted Milady to her death. He should rightfully be sorry for that! 2. The entire novel sets us up to fully accept murderer as a natural and honorable outcome to offenses to one's honor and ego. So, Milady had every right to kill D'Artagnan for humiliating her so much-a double humiliation to be sure! He violated a woman's ego and sense of honor! And he manipulated Kitty horribly just to get to Milady, which is colored as funny and charming, while her crimes of manipulation against men are colored as demonic. The double standards are too many to list. 3. Athos says he'll let her defend herself at their makeshift trial, but he never does. As soon as they make their accusations, they condemn her to death. 4. Her biggest crime, at least we are led to believe, is her beauty and how she leverages it. To me, this is just too much of a patriarchal warning, harking back to the Greek myths. There's "danger in beauty, beware!" Is the message to men. A beautiful woman can make you make bad decisions. Adam and Eve. Knowing how talented you are will get you punished. Arachne and Niobe. Being beautiful gets you in trouble. Persephone etc ... Is irritating. It's a long lived fallacy, turned into a trope, that beauty had any power at all over men. It doesn't. But it's the one and only power that patriarchal societies want women to have... Sigh. 5. I will say that Dumas intentionally makes the execution a scene that's not fulfilling, nor satisfying. ( Although it's unforgettable and beautifully written) It's haunting. And really it's D'Artagnan's response to it that drives that point. After all, here's our carefree rogue of hero, blustering with inflated ego and a sense of honor, careless about life and death, his own or others, careless about love, eager and willing to use the hearts and desires of women to get his way... and he feels guilty, covers his ears, almost fights to free Milady, who is being executed for the very same crimes. At least he sees how unfair it is. And because of that, we see it too. Plus, he must see that the death of his love, Mdme B is really his fault. So in the end, D'Artagnan, like Achilles, learns to respect and value life a little more.
Serena J Cavanaugh
2025-09-04 04:58:30 +0000 UTCI enjoyed it a lot too. I'm bummed that I was delayed and couldn't partake in the conversation while it was hot.
Serena J Cavanaugh
2025-09-04 03:59:53 +0000 UTCFinally finished this one. Wow! What a great read. I actually preferred it to TCOMC. I had no idea that I liked a swashbuckler so much. I really enjoyed all the characters, from the antics and adventures of the musketeers to the evil of Milady and the complexity of the Count and Lord de Winter. This reminded me of adventure stories I loved as a child, like Johnnie Tremayne where you lose yourself in the action and adventure.
Anne M
2025-09-02 17:11:50 +0000 UTCDumas really knows how to stick the landing. I won’t spoil anything for The Count of Monte Cristo, but I was fascinated by how different the ending of that novel feels compared to The Three Musketeers. For me, Monte Cristo is the stronger story, mostly because of the many directions it branches into. Maybe if I read the rest of the Musketeer books I’ll feel differently, but I still had a great time with this one. Also, Dumas definitely seems to have a thing for potions and poisons, which adds a fun little layer across his works.
William Califf
2025-09-01 01:25:18 +0000 UTCI very much appreciate your reading Towhee! I especially like your drawing attention to the cardinal's machinations about extra-judicial murder. The difference between him and Milady? He never let his impulses get the better of him, always being one step ahead of them, seeking to see how he could turn his frustrations and defeats to his advantage. He didn't want to murder d'Artagnan, for example, the way Milady did. Richilieu wanted to recruit him instead.
Thomas Davidson
2025-08-31 02:08:14 +0000 UTCSaw the new version of the novel with Eva Green and Vincent Cassel. C'est une bonne pratique pour le français. However, this story barely resembles the novel. It is entirely different in many ways. Perhaps the cheers at Cannes were for the Notre Dame de Paris scene?
Peter F
2025-08-30 23:22:29 +0000 UTCI enjoyed reading The Three Musketeers (first read) and the discussions here have been quite interesting as well! I’ve been thinking about the book since I finished it last week. Yet, I don’t have an overall feeling about it or take-away from it. Some of this comes from the shift in mood from light and jovial to a darker haunting feeling. I do like how it transitioned from getting to know the characters slowing to a collision of past lives and deeds. I’m still thinking…. The character who keeps coming to mind is Milady. D’Artagnan is slowly maturing throughout the book and is our “hero” (depending on what one thinks of him). But Milady become the main focus about a third of the way into the book. And, remains the focus through the end. Everything begins to revolve around her, rather than d’Artagnan. Yes he is the main character, but without Milady there is no story. There are about 10 chapters devoted to her captivity by Lord de Winter and her escape. Here she is the star of the show. Milady was also a character without family or friends. Or, rather, she had a son, mentioned twice in reference to being de Winter’s heir if he did not marry and have children. The loss of this inheritance being the reason she was so upset about d’Artagnan not killing de Winter in their dual. The son is never mentioned at any other time. She does not ever mention any friends. We do not know anything about her family except she was raised near (at?) the convent and thus knew her way around the surrounding area. An interesting character with many mysteries still hidden. I wonder if any information will come out in the sequels? They are on my to read list. Regarding the change in mood from the start to end. As the tone became darker, I kept thinking of The Count of Monte Cristo, especially when she was kept in the castle and the ocean escape. I wondered how the writing of the two books overlapped. From what I could find, the Three Musketeers was out in serial format from March to July 1844 while The Count of Monte Cristo came out in serial form from August 1844 to January 1846 (these dates may not be correct, as I had a hard time finding them and couldn't cross check). It appears his dark mood transitioned right in to the Count. It’s interesting to wonder about how the two books influenced each other in his mind while writing. Now, to the judgement of Milady. There has already been a lot of good discussion here about this part. Here are some other things I wonder about: is Dumas also calling-out both the Cardinal and the King about their own decisions of who will live or die, or the unfairness of these decisions, often outside the established judicial system. I keep thinking of the Cardinal giving Miladay a get-out-of-jail Free card for whatever revenge she desires to take - and please don’t tell him about it, he doesn’t want to know! He can use his ignorance as a defense. Alas, in the end it did her no good. Something else I enjoyed was the author’s intrusion into the text. It would probably be even more noticeable when it was read in serial form as it came out in print. One particular time I noticed he slipped in information that d’Artagnan would not die by the Cardinal’s hand. I can’t find the quote right now. He tells us that d’Artagnan is recounting his meeting with the Cardinal. A subtle hint that he survives to tell the tale. And finally, how does a lady in long skirts climb up a ladder from a skiff onto a ship??? Even with a gentleman’s hand…… I know it’s just a story, but….. : )
Towhee
2025-08-30 22:54:20 +0000 UTCNow I think I understand the idea of pardoning someone before execution (besides the theological basis)— it is an act of kindness and brings some comfort to the condemned. As Shakespeare writes in Henry VIII: That comfort comes too late, ‘Tis like a pardon after execution.
Phil
2025-08-29 09:41:18 +0000 UTC
