Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers: Chapter 5
100 Days of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers June 1 - August 31, 2024
100 Days of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers
June 1 - August 31, 2024
All for One and One for All: "The Three Musketeers" at 180
June 15
Chapter 5
Are we having fun yet?! Instead of THREE duels in one day - a plot twist inspired by an incident in the life of General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, the author’s father - we get an all out brawl with the cardinal’s guardsmen - THE DAY AFTER de Tréville chastised the very same three for brawling with the cardinal’s guardsmen…
The insults over the wounded shoulder, the revelation of the insufficiently ornamented baldric (belt worn across the shoulder), and the conspicuously concealed cambric handkerchief served as a pretext for the duels - with d'Artagnan arriving without a second - hoping to engage the services of the seconds assisting Athos!!! D'Artagnan apology to Porthos and Aramis wins the admiration of the three inseparable companions:
“I apologize to you in case I cannot pay my debt to all three of you, for M. Athos has the right to kill me first, which takes away much of the value of your claim, M. Porthos, and renders yours virtually null, M. Aramis. And now, gentlemen, I repeat to you my apologies, but only for that, and—on guard!"
But the rapier fight is interrupted by the arrival of cardinal’s men - one of whom is ALSO from Gascony!!!
D'Artagnan already endeared the musketeers to himself with his quick wit - yet his unhesitating decision to fight on their side decides his fate:
“That single moment sufficed for d'Artagnan to choose sides: this was one of those events that determine a man's life; it was a choice between the king and the cardinal; once made, it had to be persevered in. To fight, that is, to disobey the law, that is, to risk one's head, that is, to make at one stroke an enemy of a minister more powerful than the king himself: that was what the young man foresaw, and, be it said in his praise, he did not hesitate a second. Turning to Athos and his friends, he said:
"Gentlemen, if I may, I shall revise your words somewhat. You said there were only three of you, but it seems to me that we are four."
The musketeers march off to celebrate their triumph - along with their new daring friend - and the dead and wounded are left in the care of the nuns...
A note on the duel location, Carmes Déchaussés, or Deschaux. Founded in the early 17th century, when dozens of new churches were established in Paris to both serve the needs of its ever expanding population and to shore up the Catholic faith against the popularization of Protestantism thus diminishing the flareups of religious warfare which plagued the French - and European - 16th century, and known today as Saint-Joseph-des-Carmes, the church was sponsored by our friend Marie de’ Medici who laid its cornerstone in 1613. Located close to Marie’s beloved Luxembourg Palace - which was supposed to be the second duel location - the church is now incorporated in the Catholic Institute of Paris.
Knowing the church’s history, I managed to visit it several years ago - I did not take any photos - these are from the church website. I explained to the guard, who asked for my student or faculty ID, that I am here to pay my respects to Josephine. He smiled benevolently and escorted me to the church. In September of 1792, after the Revolution of 1789 which proclaimed militant atheism the new religion of the state, this church was the site of the brutal execution by beating the death of hundreds of priests who refused to pledge loyalty to the new regime. The stairs of the church are called the Stairway of Martyrs. It was here that the future Empress of the French, Josephine, was imprisoned, along with her first husband, Alexandre François Marie, Viscount of Beauharnais, who was executed through beheading… Josephine was a survivor… The guard let me in because I came here mournfully to witness the tragedy of the revolution and light a candle in memory of its victims…