Loyal and Brave. Yet Broke?

What I have noticed throughout this book is that, even though these great fighters, who are loyal and courageous, they never have any money. The only time they are rewarded for their works is in the beginning of the novel, in Chapter 6, when they take out the Cardinal's men. Besides that, they always struggled to equip themselves due to lack of money, and, even with such a challenge, they always managed to equip themselves, there were a few times where they didn't even have equipment.

What I got out of this is the value of our heroes. They do not fight for money, they fight because of their loyalty to the king. They do not live miserably, but they don't seem to have much money to spare.

The History Behind Dumas and The Musketeers

I'm going to be honest, I didn't do much of the independent reading this week, so I decided to make a post about some of the history of Alexandre Dumas and the Three Musketeers.

Alexandre Dumas lived in the 1800s, 1802-1870 to be exact, and the stories written by him were usually based on historical content. Dumas used historical facts, usually from the 1600s, and created stories that didn't necessarily follow the actual facts. Many characters in his books were actual people. Dumas' novels are very fast paced, and includes romance, action, adventure, comedy, suspense and drama. These characteristics are very important in a story when speaking of heroism, because when people think of heroes they think of action, and Dumas does a great job incorporating those characteristics to show the heroism in The Three Musketeers.

According to the website www.dictionary.com, a musketeer is a soldier armed with a musket. The French musketeers were the royal bodyguards through the 17th and 18th centuries. In the book, the three musketeers are not once referred to as using a musket at any time in the book. I believe that Dumas kept the muskets out of the story to emphasize the heroic values of the characters. It is much more heroic to fight someone with a sword with the concept of "survivor of the fittest" or "may the best man win" than to go into a duel and blow the opponent's head off with a musket.

The Sidekicks

{Sorry I took so long to post this blog. Yesterday I had swimming practice and then I had to work, and went to sleep as soon as I got home since I had SATs this morning, and after I took the SATs, I went straight to work.}

Batman has Robin, Mario has Luigi, Han Solo has Chewbacca, and so on. Most great fictional heroes have a sidekick who always stands by their side, thus the name, during their "quests". But usually the sidekick is less experienced than the actual hero, unlike D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers. D'Artagnan, our hero, has as sidekicks some of the greatest fighters in Paris, whose only qualities that can be offered to our hero are loyalty and courage. It would be very understandable if Alexandre Dumas made the sidekicks, the three musketeers, great men who would teach our hero how to be a great man also, but they each have their own flaws, which seem to always be presented to D'Artagnan.

In Chapter 25, when D'Artagnan returns to the inn where Porthos was left to duel, the host of the inn explains in details how Porthos lost all the money that he had, "even to his horse"(257) in a game of lansquenet* and his mistress, who is not a Duchess, wouldn't pay the bill. Also, he had lost a duel. When D'Artagnan talks to Porthos, he makes up this lie of how he hurt himself after winning the duel, and that his Duchess has been very hard to reach. D'Artagnan then realizes that Porthos is a liar, not a very exemplary trait.

In Chapter 26, Aramis once again decides to join the church, because his mistress apparently has abandoned him. But after he reads the letter that D'Artagnan picked up at his house, he decides not to join the church anymore when he reads the letter. Aramis has a certain facility to give up on his own future due to life troubles, in this case love. Another trait we don't want our young hero picking up on that either, he is in love, but he is not giving up his ideals.

Then in Chapter 27, Athos, the centered and most respected by D'Artagnan musketeer, drunkenly opens his heart to D'Artagnan about his past and how he is really "messed up in the head", I think that is the best way to describe it. He hung his beloved wife after he found out she was a criminal. After that he has been feeling very depressed and that has affected his life. Depression is not good for a hero either (except for Batman, but we can understand his pain =P).

So the question I pose is why would Dumas set up the sidekick and main hero the way he did? My answer would it be that even though the three musketeers, the sidekicks, are a lot more experienced than D'Artagnan, they are the ones who is going to learn with our hero. He is going to change the lives of each one of the musketeers to turn them into better men, without altering their unique, and sometimes comical, personality. This story will also show how the old and experienced can learn from the young and precipitated. D'Artagnan is also going to learn a lot from the musketeers too, of course, after all they are "The Men".

*lansquenet - a game of cards played in France and most of Western Europe. Literally means "foot soldier", since it was invented by such. (As told by www.dictionary.com)

Behind Every Great Man, There's an Even Greater Woman That Turns Him Into an Idiot!!

Let's face it guys, we can be great, but as soon as a woman gets involved we are the most idiotic beings in the planet. It is the same for our friend D'Artagnan, who is getting himself and his musketeer friends because of his love for Madame Bonacieux, a married woman. She is a close friend of the Queen and wants to help her friend cover up her affair with the Duke of Buckingham.

The Queen gave the Duke of Buckingham a diamond brooch that was given to her by the King. The Cardinal, who knows of such affair and the gift given to the Duke, suggests to the King that he asks the Queen to wear the brooch to the ball. So, she needs someone to go to England and retrieve the brooch from the Duke. Madame Bonacieux decides to do such chore, but after a fiery conversation with her husband, who has a pact with the Cardinal, he does not allow her to go to England.

D'Artagnan our romantic yet heroic fool, endangers himself, and his friends, in order to "show off" to his loved one, when Madame Bonacieux asks him what he overheard from the conversation she had with her husband, he answers, "A thousand things. Fist of all, that your husband is a simpleton, fortunately; then, that you are much embarrassed- of which I am very glad, as it will allow me to offer my services, and God knows that I am ready to throw myself into the fire for you; lastly, that the Queen stands in need of a brave, intelligent, and devoted man to make a journey to London for her. I have at least two out of the three qualities necessary, and here I am!"(186) He is willing to protect the Queen's betrayal to the King, the man to whom he has so much loyalty, and risk being arrested or killed by the Cardinal's men, who are rivals to the king's musketeers, since it is the Cardinal's idea to keep the Queen's affiliates away from England.

"All for one, one for all"(101) is their motto, and also the reason why the musketeers agree to help D'Artagnan in his quest. They end up all getting seriously injured on their way to England by the Cardinal's men, only D'Artagnan gets to England safely. He sacrificed his friends to show off his love to Madame Bonacieux.

A woman can make a man do anything she wants, whether the man is a hero or not. Love can be one of the greatest flaws a hero can attain but it can also be a great catalyst for his heroism. In D'Artagnan's case, it is a flaw because he endangers his friend's lives and his own for it.