I've been rereading The Three Musketeers in anticipation of our get-together and have been reminded on every page why I enjoyed it so the first time through.Dumas has a genius for capturing an environment and portraying characters that are fascinating and enthralling despite their rather horrific activities (dueling, slashing, killing, conniving, and total disregard for moral behavior in pursuing women). I love them all now just as I did when I first read the novel.
I was really amused reading the happenings with the character Bonacieux, D'Artagnan's landlord and husband to the Queen's aide who is at the heart of all adventures that are coming. Poor Bonacieux is really an innocent by-stander who ends up being arrested for a Queen's indiscretion and who's wife is then pursued by the man (D'Artagnan) he seeks for help. While Bonacieux is presented (and treated) as if he is a witless fool, his come-backs and rejoinders while being interrigated are hilarious. He manages, while confessing to everything brought up and pleading for his life, to, nevertheless, fling one zinger after another at his accuser and interrogator. He even flings a few after the Cardinal, around whom even the King steps lightly. This is Dumas at his best.
I can't wait for the next chapter...
I've been keeping a list of the quotes that crack me up...here's what I have so far...
ReplyDelete“’My son, this horse was born in your father’s house some thirteen years ago, and here it has remained ever since. This ought to make you love the beast! Never sell it; let it die quietly and honorably of old age.’” D’Artagnan’s father bequeathing his nag to his son (p. 4)
“His steed bore him without further misadventure to the Porte Saint-Antoine, the northern gate of Paris, where its owner sold it for three crowns—an excellent price, considering that D’Artagnan had pressed it hard during the last stage of his journey.” (p. 15)
“At these last words, the murmur outside, which had been steadily rising, crescendo, burst into a veritable explosion. Jeers, oaths, curses and blasphemy rent the air; it was morbleu here, sangdieu there, morts de tous les diables, upstairs and down, all over the mansion, with God and Satan serving with their bodily parts as pegs upon which to hang the most violent imprecations.” (p. 29)
“’Funny it was, surely, but that doesn’t make me any less of a driveling idiot…Porthos would certainly have excused me if I hadn’t alluded to his cursed baldric. To be sure I didn’t refer to it specifically; I employed subtle insinuation and innuendo. Ah, cursed Gascon that I am, I would crack a joke as I fried on the griddles of hell!’” D’Artagnan, after running into Athos’s injured shoulder and getting caught in Porthos’s cloak, p. 40
“’To tell you the truth, I am ridiculously attached to this head of mine; it seems to fit so symmetrically upon my shoulders. Of course I intend to kill you, don’t worry on that score. But in a cosy, remote place where we will not be interrupted lest you be inclined to boast about your death in public.’” Aramis after D’Artagnan hands him the handkerchief he dropped, p. 43
“Monsieur de Treville marched boldly into the King’s rooms to find a very glum Majesty, ensconced in an armchair, beating his boots with the handle of his riding-crop. This did not prevent the Captain of Musketeers from inquiring phlegmatically after the royal health.
“’Bad, Monsieur, bad as can bad,’ the King answered. ‘I am bored, I am bored stiff!’
“Indeed, Louis XIII suffered chronically from ennui. Often he would lead a courtier to the window, invite him to gaze out upon the scene below, and say: ‘Monsieur, let us suffer boredom together!’” p. 63
O, you skipped right over my favorite one.
ReplyDelete"Leaving the paternal chamber, the young man found his mother waiting with the famous recipe, which , from the advice he had just received, it seemed very probable that he would require to use pretty often."
I also liked in the Epilogue the end of the story involving the man from Meung. (SPOILER WARNING)
ReplyDelete"I shall probably kill you the fourth time," said he to Rochefort, as he stretched forth a hand to raise him up.
So reminiscent of Princess Bride.