Three Musketeers Thursday: Chapter 23
Nov. 2nd, 2017 08:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerThe queen let out a piercing cry on seeing herself caught, for in her agitation she did not at first recognize the young woman who had been given her by La Porte.
"Oh, don't be afraid of anything, Madame!" said the young woman, pressing her hands together and weeping at the queen's distress herself. "I am Your Majesty's, body and soul, and far as I am from her, inferior as my position is, I believe I have found a way to save Your Majesty from grief."
"You? Oh, heavens! You?" cried the queen. "But come, look me in the face. I'm betrayed on all sides; can I trust you?"
"Oh, Madame!" cried the young woman, falling to her knees, "upon my soul, I am ready to die for Your Majesty!"
THANK YOU, DUMAS. THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME EVERYTHING I HAVE EVER WANTED. The loyalty! In the midst of betrayal! Falling to one's knees and pledging to die for your liege lord! And with girls, which is all that I want in life and something that I hardly ever get.
I may end up taking this back once we meet the Countess de Winter (...I can't quite see yet how to work a Rebecca crossover, but REST ASSURED it is on my mind), but so far in both The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo I have really appreciated how much Dumas simply treats women as people. They get to drama llama just as much as his men, and he hasn't done any finger-wagging at either Anne of Austria or Constance Bonacieux (the young woman in the above quotation) who have both gotten entangled in extramarital affairs - but they're both married to total jerks anyway so Dumas is like, eh, so it goes.
I love Constance - and I now think there is a 99% likelihood that she will in fact end up with D'Artagnan, because the above quote proves that they are exactly the same kind of drama llama and therefore ought to be together, assuming that neither of them ends up dying for their liege lord/lady first - but Anne of Austria is queen of my heart, as she is queen of France, although her position in my heart is by far more secure. Both the cardinal and the king, for their own reasons, are against her, and they have together been colluding to remove all her loyal ladies so that she will stand entirely alone.
THOSE JERKS. The king is obsessed with the idea that Anne is unfaithful and therefore pushing her ever closer to an unfaithfulness that she would never contemplate if he weren't such a twerp. I think he's aware, at least dimly, that she's too good for him and may one day meet her proper match, and rather than feeling properly humble about it and trying to be as worthy as he can, he just freaks out constantly about her possible unfaithfulness.
There's a scene where it's discovered that she's written a letter to her brother full of plans to oust Cardinal Richelieu - after the king sends a man to her apartment to search it, who then threatens to strip search her if she doesn't turn over the letter, at which point she does and it's SO DRAMATIC, OKAY, this book is bringing out my inner thirteen-year-old - and the king reads this possibly treasonous plot and is like "WHEW! At least it's just politics and not a love affair."
Like. Dude. You are the king. You should care at least a little about the politics probably. No wonder Anne is tempted by the Duke of Buckingham, who is dashing and respectful and would never try to get anyone to strip search her, although he does end up going to war with France sort of on a whim as part of a complicated romantic gesture to Anne d'Autriche, whom he loves so much that he has built an actual shrine to her in a secret room next to his bedroom, as d'Artagnan discovers when he arrives at the duke's palace to tell him that the queen needs back those diamond pendants that the duke begged from her as proof that she is not totally indifferent, because the diamond pendants were a gift from the king and he wants to see her wearing them at next week's ball and if she doesn't - !
So, you know, he also has some issues. But I think that, surrounded by spies as she is, it must be in some ways heartwarming to have a suitor so devoted to her that he is willing to put them both in great jeopardy to see her. Even though she's definitely in more jeopardy than he is and really it would be more loving if he were devoted enough to stay away and pine quietly in his Anne shrine in England.
In any case, d'Artagnan manages to return the queen's pendents in time, and in reward he gets the opportunity to kiss her hand while he hides behind a curtain. She just sort of reaches through and he falls to his knees and kisses her hand, and she gives him a ring in gratitude. Onward to the next adventure!
The musketeers have not yet reappeared since falling by the wayside during d'Artagnan's mad gallop to England. But it's much to early in the book yet for any of them to die, so I'm not worried. They'll show up! And I'm hoping that at least one of them (Athos probably) will faint from his grievous wounds when he does.
"Oh, don't be afraid of anything, Madame!" said the young woman, pressing her hands together and weeping at the queen's distress herself. "I am Your Majesty's, body and soul, and far as I am from her, inferior as my position is, I believe I have found a way to save Your Majesty from grief."
"You? Oh, heavens! You?" cried the queen. "But come, look me in the face. I'm betrayed on all sides; can I trust you?"
"Oh, Madame!" cried the young woman, falling to her knees, "upon my soul, I am ready to die for Your Majesty!"
THANK YOU, DUMAS. THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME EVERYTHING I HAVE EVER WANTED. The loyalty! In the midst of betrayal! Falling to one's knees and pledging to die for your liege lord! And with girls, which is all that I want in life and something that I hardly ever get.
I may end up taking this back once we meet the Countess de Winter (...I can't quite see yet how to work a Rebecca crossover, but REST ASSURED it is on my mind), but so far in both The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo I have really appreciated how much Dumas simply treats women as people. They get to drama llama just as much as his men, and he hasn't done any finger-wagging at either Anne of Austria or Constance Bonacieux (the young woman in the above quotation) who have both gotten entangled in extramarital affairs - but they're both married to total jerks anyway so Dumas is like, eh, so it goes.
I love Constance - and I now think there is a 99% likelihood that she will in fact end up with D'Artagnan, because the above quote proves that they are exactly the same kind of drama llama and therefore ought to be together, assuming that neither of them ends up dying for their liege lord/lady first - but Anne of Austria is queen of my heart, as she is queen of France, although her position in my heart is by far more secure. Both the cardinal and the king, for their own reasons, are against her, and they have together been colluding to remove all her loyal ladies so that she will stand entirely alone.
THOSE JERKS. The king is obsessed with the idea that Anne is unfaithful and therefore pushing her ever closer to an unfaithfulness that she would never contemplate if he weren't such a twerp. I think he's aware, at least dimly, that she's too good for him and may one day meet her proper match, and rather than feeling properly humble about it and trying to be as worthy as he can, he just freaks out constantly about her possible unfaithfulness.
There's a scene where it's discovered that she's written a letter to her brother full of plans to oust Cardinal Richelieu - after the king sends a man to her apartment to search it, who then threatens to strip search her if she doesn't turn over the letter, at which point she does and it's SO DRAMATIC, OKAY, this book is bringing out my inner thirteen-year-old - and the king reads this possibly treasonous plot and is like "WHEW! At least it's just politics and not a love affair."
Like. Dude. You are the king. You should care at least a little about the politics probably. No wonder Anne is tempted by the Duke of Buckingham, who is dashing and respectful and would never try to get anyone to strip search her, although he does end up going to war with France sort of on a whim as part of a complicated romantic gesture to Anne d'Autriche, whom he loves so much that he has built an actual shrine to her in a secret room next to his bedroom, as d'Artagnan discovers when he arrives at the duke's palace to tell him that the queen needs back those diamond pendants that the duke begged from her as proof that she is not totally indifferent, because the diamond pendants were a gift from the king and he wants to see her wearing them at next week's ball and if she doesn't - !
So, you know, he also has some issues. But I think that, surrounded by spies as she is, it must be in some ways heartwarming to have a suitor so devoted to her that he is willing to put them both in great jeopardy to see her. Even though she's definitely in more jeopardy than he is and really it would be more loving if he were devoted enough to stay away and pine quietly in his Anne shrine in England.
In any case, d'Artagnan manages to return the queen's pendents in time, and in reward he gets the opportunity to kiss her hand while he hides behind a curtain. She just sort of reaches through and he falls to his knees and kisses her hand, and she gives him a ring in gratitude. Onward to the next adventure!
The musketeers have not yet reappeared since falling by the wayside during d'Artagnan's mad gallop to England. But it's much to early in the book yet for any of them to die, so I'm not worried. They'll show up! And I'm hoping that at least one of them (Athos probably) will faint from his grievous wounds when he does.
no subject
Date: 2017-11-03 01:54 am (UTC)This is a delightful summary and I'm so glad to see you're enjoying The Three Musketeers as much as I am.
Buckingham puts the "extra" in "extramarital." I love it. If you're going to waste taxpayer money, you might as well waste it on a hella nice shrine. Anne is the best and anyone who tries to ruin her day can fall on a pike and drown in their own puffy trousers. Also:
I have really appreciated how much Dumas simply treats women as people. They get to drama llama just as much as his men, and he hasn't done any finger-wagging at either Anne of Austria or Constance Bonacieux
I'm appreciating this, too! To be honest, I was a little worried, based on some of the things I'd heard, that I was going to be hit with some uncomfortable chauvinistic chivalry or something, but instead we've gotten these great women whom Dumas clearly likes as much as D'Artagnan or the Inseparables.
I have no doubt that there are many more fainting spells in store!
no subject
Date: 2017-11-03 02:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-11-03 04:54 am (UTC)May I draw your attention to Musketeer Space, a female version set in space, currently free on Kindle. I haven't read it but I've heard good things!
no subject
Date: 2017-11-03 02:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-11-03 03:00 pm (UTC)I clicked that link out of vague curiosity, but then I read the first line of the blurb - "I haven't got a blade. I haven't got a ship. I washed out of the Musketeers. If this is your idea of honour, put down the swords and I'll take you on with my bare hands." - and, well, that's d'Artagnan. That's just SO d'Artagnan. So of course I had to get it.
no subject
Date: 2017-11-03 03:05 pm (UTC)Buckingham is THE DEFINITION of extra, his picture is probably next to the word in the dictionaries, or would be if there were dictionaries in 17th century England and France. Who starts a war as a romantic gesture? OH BUCKINGHAM.
There's definitely some weird stuff in Dumas about Romance, but that tends to hit the men as well as the women - look at the way Dantes tested Morrel's devotion to Valentine, say: "If he wouldn't literally prefer to die than to live without her, than they don't deserve to be reunited!" He doesn't seem to have issues with women as women and that's just... surprisingly rare in 19th century male authors all across Europe. Tolstoy, Hugo, Dickens... Gosh, I'm actually having trouble thinking of authors who don't, aside from Dumas.
no subject
Date: 2017-11-03 03:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-11-03 03:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-11-04 01:17 am (UTC)I've liked some of Roberts' short stories in the past so fingers crossed this book is awesome. Next we need genderswapped Count of Monte Cristo! ... wait did I just describe the tv show Revenge. Hmm.
no subject
Date: 2017-11-04 01:30 am (UTC)But, hey, it was free, so even if it doesn't work out, nothing's been lost.
no subject
Date: 2017-11-04 08:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-11-04 09:55 pm (UTC)