Jose Cortes

Period 2, AP Euro

Book Review: The Three Musketeers

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas is classical novel that. It was published in

2006 by Signet Classics. It contains 626 pages telling the story of a young Gascon named

d’Artagnan who overcomes many feats to become a musketeer, who finds himself in the middle

of a historical dispute in Europe. This novel is one of three novels known as the d’Artagnan

Romances by Dumas, in which the adventures’ of the Gascon and his musketeer friends

continues.

This work by Dumas depicts history in a romantic and adventurous point of view.

D’Artagnan the young Gascon man, and main character, conquers a series of obstacles to attain

his dream of becoming a musketeer. In the process he befriends the Inseparables, Athos, Parthos

and Aramis. These men are known as the fiercest musketeers of the King of France Louis XIII,

and of Monsieur de Tréville their general. The King’s musketeers had mortal enemies known as

the Cardinal’s Guards, controlled by Cardinal Richelieu. The King and the Cardinal share an

argument influenced by power which separates France into two separate sides. Anne of Austria

has an affair with the Duke of Buckingham in which the heroes help her by retrieving a piece of

jewelry that she had given to the Duke but the King demanded to see. The Cardinal tried to make

Queen Anne look bad because she knew she had given the jewelry to the Duke and advised the

King to ask the Queen to wear it to a dance; the Cardinal’s plan now being spoiled took revenge

by kidnapping Madame Bonacieux. Bonacieux was the wife of d’Artagnan’s landlord, to whom

he instantaneously fell in love with. On their way to rescue her musketeers and d’Artagnan face

various other difficulties including the Guards and other attempts to kill them by the Cardinal. It
turns out that Mme. Bonacieux was poisoned by Milady de Winter and furious with love along

with political reasons d’Artagnan and company set to find her, but are thrown off plans when the

King’s musketeers are sent to La Rochelle. There Milady takes several attempts to murder

d’Artagnan as ordered by the Cardinal. Cardinal Richelieu has also ordered Milady to assassinate

the Duke of Buckingham in which she succeeds but with help. After Milady is finally found, she

is tried for all her crimes including the deaths of Mme. Bonacieux, the Duke of Buckingham and

her husband. Added to this list are also the attempts of assassination to d’Artagnan. Milady is

beheaded but not to after this event, d’Artagnan is arrested by an advisor of the Cardinal, Count

Rochefort. Rochefort takes d’Artagnan to the Cardinal, in which the hero tells the Cardinal

everything. For his wits, Cardinal Richelieu offers d’Artagnan a document that awards a

lieutenant’s office, but in a blank. D’Artagnan, thankful to his comrades, put forward his reward,

but they refuse it saying that each of them needs to go their separate ways. Dumas built this

novel upon the historical setting of France during the time period of Louis XIII’s reign. Much

like history, the story illustrates how the King let the Cardinal do most of the ruling and battled

against the Huguenots. La Rochelle was also historically correct as it did occur at the specified

period of time. In addition, almost all of the characters were based in real people of the time.

D’Artagnan was developed from Charles de Batz-Castelmore, who was given the name

d’Artagnan through family, and was from Gascony. He also became a musketeer and died in

battle. Parthos derived from Issac de Parthos, Aramis from Henry d'Aramitz, and Athos from

Seigner d'Athos et d'Auteville. Monsieur de Tréville was also a true personage who happened to

be related to Aramis’s and Athos’s real life characters. The feud between Monsieur de Tréville

and the Cardinal is also a historical fact as well as the existence of the musketeers and guards.

Although not mentioned in the book, as proof of the rivalry, de Tréville was an accomplice in a
plan to murder Cardinal Richelieu. England also played a role in this novel and history with the

Duke of Buckingham. Perhaps the only character that was entirely manufactured by Dumas was

Milady de Winter. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas accurately represents history with

its characters and illustrated events. The main thesis that Dumas expected to emerge from his

novel, is that it takes fight, determination, wits, and courage to accomplish our goals. This is

widely shown throughout the novel especially when d’Artagnan finds himself in three

consecutive duels with the Inseparables at the beginning of the story. The fact that d’Artagnan

never backed down or even thought once, of fleeing the encounters even though he did not know

with whom he was fighting with, aids in the explanation of the author’s thesis. If d’Artagnan

would have given up this early in the story he would have never reached the heights of success

that he reached at the end of the novel. Dumas’s perspective is described best as a fusion

between romance and politics. He took a historical occurrence and simply transformed it into a

masterpiece in only the way that he knew how to complete.

Alexandre Dumas had his own style and viewpoint making this novel fairly enjoyable.

After completion of the book I noticed that Dumas’s style contained elegance, and power. His

detailed writing and use of dialogue makes up the elegance that is required to fully understand its

purpose, the thesis. Dumas also wrote with power. He wrote statements that were clear and

concise and others that forced the use of imagination but in the end both were heavy in meaning.

This piece of literature by Dumas is a fairly accurate account of the period. The only exception

would be that d’Artagnan character Charles de Batz-Castelmore, was not a musketeer during the

reign of Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu, but of Cardinal Mazarin and King Louis XIV. Other

than this exempt the historical portion of this novel is very valuable. It correctly depicts society,

the corruption of power, and the France overall in the specified period of time. The only question
that arose form the text, was why Dumas did not in a way, give more importance to the siege of

La Rochelle? This particular event was extremely important in the pure historical aspect. The

only answer that I construed for this question is that this was a romance that also shows politics

but did not emphasize it. In other words, Dumas wanted it to be a romance, because in a broad

view, it simply is a love and adventure story.

Ultimately, I enjoyed reading this classical novel. From its context I have truly

understood Dumas’s thesis. With it I have strengthened a lesson that I had previously learned

that advises to never give up, no matter what obstacle comes between you and success; do

anything to accomplish you goals. This universal statement serves me as motivation to succeed.

Furthermore, I would highly recommend this read for anyone willing to become lost in a world

of heroism and adventure. My overall rating for Dumas’s The Three Musketeers is four and a

half stars.