Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers: Chapter 31
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
July 14
Chapter 31
Happy Bastille Day!!! I watched the televised festivities in Paris - a splendid affair, as always!!! The flags, the Marseillaise, the horse guards - all magnificent!!!
And what better place to visit on this day than Place des Vosges - the original Place Royale, the oldest square in Paris, completed in 1605 - the most fashionable address in Paris then - now - and always!!! If the name Place des Vosges sounds familiar to you, we visited it when we were reading Les Miserables - it was Victor Hugo’s residence before his exile which started in 1852. The Hugo Apartment Museum situated here is SPECTACULAR!!!
Place des Vosges is the post Revolution of 1789 name of the square which at the time of the action of The Three Musketeers was still known as Place Royale - a gorgeously landscaped square of fashionable townhouses which in the novel serves as the residence of Milady - and was the historic residence of Cardinal Richelieu. He lived at Number 21 between 1615 and 1627 - and moved to Palais-Cardinal which he constructed for himself right next to the Louvre between 1633 and 1639. Today Palais-Cardinal is known as Palais-Royal and houses the French Constitutional Council and the Ministry of Culture. Now, if the name Palais-Royal sounds familiar - this is where the prostitutes of Paris gathered in the heady early days of the First Republic and where Balzac’s hero Colonel Chabert picked up his future wife…
After YET ANOTHER duel by Luxembourg Gardens - this one with deadly consequences - d’Artagnan is seemingly walking into a trap… Note that Athos gives his real aristocratic name to the English aristocrat before the duel - duelists had to be of equal rank for the duel to proceed - thus the ludicrous nature of the duel in Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons where the enemies were definitely unequal. Joseph Conrad’s 1908 novella The Duel explores the complexities of dueling codes - the Ridley Scott 1977 adaptation The Duellists is the best film made about dueling - I can’t recommend it enough!!!
Both d’Artagnan and Milady are elegantly and elaborately extracting information out of each other - with d’Artagnan convinced that her French is so exquisite, she must be actually French, not English. But what about the charming soubrette Kitty who is a part of Milady’s entourage?! Why is she trying to attract d’Artagnan’s attention?!?!?! Intrigues abound in this chapter!!!
Another person in Milady’s entourage is a young back slave - please consider watching the 2023 film Jeanne du Barry about the last mistress of Louis XV (portrayed expertly by none other than Johnny Depp) Madame du Barry - who was presented by the king with a black boy to be her slave and companion. The Bengali slave Zamor played an important and tragic role in the life of Madame du Barry. Once again - I can’t recommend this film enough!!!