Hero-Like Behavior!!

D'Artagnan has just left his little country side village of Gascony in order to pursue his dream of becoming a musketeer and on his way to Paris he already gets into trouble. D'Artagnan has a very impulsive temper, which leads him to a brawl in the city of Meung on his way to Paris when a man laughs at his ridiculously old horse. Even after he reaches Paris, D'Artagnan finds trouble with the "three inseparables", Athos, Porthos and Aramis, through clumsy, accidental acts. When they show up to duel D'Artagnan, they realize that he is a great person. But even after such bonding event between our four heroes, they get into two more brawls with the cardinal's men, the king's biggest rival.

The three musketeers themselves also have some un-heroic-like behavior. The only flaw presented by Athos is his support of the behavior of his companions, otherwise, Athos is the most hero-like character of this band of heroes. Aramis dreams of becoming a priest, but yet he kills many people and when D'Artagnan asks how he should spend his money, his first answer is to tell him to get a woman. That is definately not how a priest should act. Porthos is the less likely hero of the four. He is loud and egocentric, and one should say, somewhat crazy for food and women.

But, all four of them has something that the author uses to make them the heroes they are. They are brave, loyal to their beliefs and to the people they love and care about, and also honest.

So, the question I pose is: Do the good characteristics of a person cast a shadow over his/her flaws when determing how great a person he/she is, or even if he/she is a hero/heroine?