Analysis of the three musketeers. “The Three Musketeers - Friendship” essay

Belinsky called the 19th century “primarily historical,” meaning the widespread interest in history typical of this century and the reflection of historical events in its literature. This definition is quite applicable to the Fraction, where in the very first decades of the 19th century a flourishing historical drama and historical novel.

French writers carefully studied their country's past, resurrecting paintings from ancient times for a wide variety of purposes.

Vigny, in his novel Saint-Map, elegiacly mourned the “nobility” and “beauty” of feudal-aristocratic forms of life, looking with bitter despondency at the spectacle of modernity, which, in his opinion, was the cemetery of all his hopes.

Hugo in his works combined the burning issues of our time with colorful scenes from past times. His historical novels are imbued with a feeling of deep protest against modern bourgeois public relations. He exposed the selfishness of the bourgeoisie and at the same time called on it to compassion and humanity towards the disadvantaged people.

Mérimée came up with a historical novel (“Chronicle of the Times of Charles IX”), the task of which was to convince the French reading public that there had never been “good” eras in history; and in the old days baseness triumphed over noble dreams, and in contemporary writer In reality, as he portrays it, the dominance of bourgeois mediocrity was established, which almost completely destroyed hopes for any changes in the social system.

Dumas was very different from his contemporaries, who created outstanding examples of the French historical novel.

He did not strive to be a thinker and never attempted to solve any historical issues- whether in relation to the past, or in relation to the present.

There is no doubt that many French novelists went through the school of Walter Scott, who enjoyed wide recognition in the 19th century. European countries. Dumas perfectly understood the method of creativity of the English novelist, and his first novel, “Isabella of Bavaria,” was written under the obvious influence of the author of “The Puritans.” Subsequently, when experience and skill were gained, Dumas was critical of artistic principles Walter Scott. “Indeed,” he says, “should one begin a novel with something interesting or should it begin with a boring one, should one begin with action or should one begin with preparations, should one talk about characters after one has shown them, or should one show them after one has told about them? ? Dumas resolutely affirms the first method, preferring fast-paced action that immediately captivates the reader with unusual adventures, skillfully woven intrigue, unexpected turn plot.

The popularity of Dumas's novels, with their picturesque depiction of the past, a motley picture of adventure and struggle, is explained by the fact that they gave the reader a break from the boredom and vulgarity of bourgeois life.

They transported him to the world of bright and effective characters, to the world of unselfish passions, courage and generosity. However, Dumas's ideological limitations led to the fact that his novels did not arouse active protest. They called for complete reconciliation with reality.

Dumas revives in a unique form the tradition of the bourgeois adventure novel of the 17th–18th centuries.

But in the 17th–18th centuries, bourgeois society was just taking shape and moving towards its dominance. It was a different matter in the 19th century. During the years of the July Monarchy, the life of the ruling classes in France received the imprint of bourgeois boredom and sober practicality. Without seeing active, brave, resourceful, attractive heroes in modern life, Dumas searches and finds them in the historical past.

The writer clearly sought to please with his novels to a wide circle French readers. On the pages of his works, history loses its epic grandeur, it becomes simple and homely; remote historical events given in the background intimate life heroes. The writer seeks to show that kings, queens, generals and ministers were also people over whom passions and whims had great power. Such an image was supposed to inspire the mass reader with good-natured optimism in his attitude towards life and towards the “great ones of this world”.

Attaching exceptional importance to the entertaining plot and dramatic tension of the narrative, Dumas used for these purposes the effective technique of constructing a love intrigue, common among contemporary novelists. The intrigue was complicated by the fact that the hero and heroine belonged to different peoples and parties that are in hostile relations with each other.

In this way, a barrier was erected on the path to the triumph of the characters’ feelings, which the novelist skillfully overcomes.

The most popular novel from his series historical narratives, undeniably, are The Three Musketeers. This novel is characterized by rapidly and rapidly developing intrigue, an optimistic portrayal of life as a continuous activity, intense dramatic composition, and easy and simple language.

The composition of “The Three Musketeers” was predetermined by the genre of the feuilleton novel, which required the writer not only to complete the chapters, but also their organic connection in the holistic development of the plot. Dumas wrote each chapter of the novel so that its ending served as the beginning of the episode presented in the next chapter. Intended for a wide readership, this novel contained many fascinating events, adventures, descriptions of conspiracies, fights, and complex intrigues that added dramatic tension to the narrative.

Energetic, clear, devoid of archaisms language corresponds to the rapid flow of events, episodes and incidents unfolding in the novel.

Brave and enterprising musketeers, who miraculously intervened in the most important historical events, are persons of the noble rank, they trade their swords, serving the king: they are paid for blood in louis d'or and are provided with a decent allowance. But at the same time, Dumas is trying to maintain appearance and the behavior of their heroes features some kind of chivalry, forcing them to go through fire and water for the honor of the French queen, which not every one of them even saw. And yet in the novel they appear as the most ordinary people who play the role of servants.

In order not to diminish the greatness of the heroes and to justify their actions in the eyes of the reader, the novelist refers to the mores of that era, which shaped the morality of his heroes. “In those days,” notes Dumas, “the concepts of pride that are common today were not yet in fashion. The nobleman received money from the hands of the king and did not feel humiliated at all. D'Artagnan therefore, without hesitation, put the forty pistoles he had received into his pocket and even poured out expressions of gratitude to His Majesty.'

Assessing the past through the eyes of a bourgeois chronicler, Dumas, in his attempt to bring historical events closer to the level of understanding of the contemporary mass reader, was forced to show the dependence of the destinies of the “great” people of the past on the energy and ingenuity of simple, humble people. At the most critical moments, three musketeers always appear, and with them d'Artagnan, who save the honor of the queen and France with their courage.

Dumas makes the arrogant aristocrat Duke of Buckingham move at the news of d'Artagnan's amazing exploits: “Listening to d'Artagnan, who told all this with greatest simplicity, the Duke glanced at him from time to time young man, as if not believing that such foresight, such courage and devotion could be combined with the appearance of a young man who was barely twenty years old.”

All the “gentlemen”, that is, the noblest persons of France and England, act in the novel as mannequins. They are hung with jewels, they bow politely, they perform majestically, at any moment they are ready to die for the love of beautiful lady, but, in essence, they do nothing, they cannot change anything either in their own or in anyone else’s fate.

Intentionally or not, Dumas in his novel shows that national energy was by no means embodied either in Louis XIII, or in Anne of Austria, or in the nobles of the royal court.

And it turned out that all the interest of the heroic narrative was concentrated on the actions of the brave musketeers, who, although they obediently serve the court, at the same time oppose court morality in their views. The cold arrogance of the nobles in “The Three Musketeers” is contrasted with the generosity and valiant courage of the heroes, in whose minds only occasionally the guess slips in that they, in fact, have to experience a hangover at someone else’s feast.

This, in particular, is evidenced by the worldly sober reasoning of d'Artagnan, who, having avoided mortal danger after a duel with Count de Wardes, he was amazed “at the thought of the strangeness of fate that forces people to destroy each other in the name of the interests of third parties, completely alien to them and often not even having a clue about their existence.”

The main characters of the novel always try to act together, as if they drew additional energy from friendly communication with each other. And if any of them happens to receive a reward, it is immediately divided equally among all.

Such an image of the selflessness and spiritual nobility characteristic of the musketeers turned into a kind of reproach directed at the bourgeois society of France, as it emerged after the July Revolution of 1830 and as it was portrayed by the realist writers Balzac and Stendhal.

In the final chapter of the novel, which melodramatically depicts the retribution that befell the villainess Milady, whose numerous crimes almost killed both the three musketeers and d'Artagnan, Dumas introduces a significant episode: a man who agrees to cut off Milady's head is offered a bag of gold as a reward; the executioner throws him into the river - he is incorruptible, he does his job not for the sake of money, but in the name of fair retribution.

The Three Musketeers and D'Artagnan act in the novel and perform their exploits in an atmosphere of inexhaustible heroism. This heroism is the natural destiny of those people who are created for tireless activity, the destiny of those who are brave and generous, who value friendship, who are ready to calmly turn away from the pile dishonestly acquired gold. The twenty-first chapter of the first part of the novel tells how the Duke of Buckingham tried to reward d'Artagnan with valuable gifts and how this offended d'Artagnan: “He realized that the duke was looking for a way to force him to accept something from him. a gift, and the thought that he would be paid for the blood of him and his comrades in English gold caused deep disgust in him.”

The trilogy of the Three Musketeers covers a significant period in the history of France - from 1625 to the time when the monarchy of Louis XIV, continuing its aggressive policy, launched a war against Holland in the 70s in order to conquer foreign lands and strengthen its economic and political power in Europe. Having traced the fates of their magnanimous heroes and thoroughly pleased the reader with them extraordinary adventures, the novelist ends his lengthy narrative with a picture of the battle between French troops and Dutch troops. In this battle, d'Artagnan dies, a few minutes before his death he received the rank of Marshal of France.

Dumas had an amazing gift - the ability to captivate the reader. Among the readers of his works were Marx, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Gorky, Mendeleev. In France, connoisseurs of his talent included George Sand, Balzac, and Hugo. The historian Michelet wrote to Dumas: “I love you, I adore you, because you are a phenomenon of nature.”

One can cite Victor Hugo’s enthusiastic review: “Alexandre Dumas is one of those people who can be called the sowers of civilization; it heals and ennobles minds, instilling in them an inexplicable light, bright and strong; it fertilizes the soul and mind of man. It excites the thirst for reading, it loosens human heart and throws seeds at him. He sows French ideas. French ideas contain so much humanity that wherever they penetrate they bring about progress. This is the source of the enormous popularity of people like Alexandre Dumas” (“Deeds and Speeches”).

Dumas' works were extremely popular in Russia. In the 30s and 40s of the 19th century, translations of his novels and stories were published in various magazines, in particular in Telescope, Library for Reading, and Otechestvennye Zapiski. After Dumas’ drama “Henry III and His Court” was staged at a theater in France, it was translated into Russian and published as a separate publication. The famous tragedian V. A. Karatygin staged Dumas's plays on the Russian stage in his own translation.

One of the first Russian translators of Dumas was V. G. Belinsky. In 1834, Telescope published Belinsky’s translations of Dumas’s works “Revenge” and “Mount Gemmi”. In a review of the book “Modern stories of fashionable writers. Collected, translated and published by F. Koni” Belinsky noted the presence of deep poetic thought in Dumas’s story “Masquerade” and wrote about the “powerful and energetic talent” of A. Dumas. True, the great revolutionary democrat subsequently condemned the lightweight nature of some of Dumas’s dramas and novels.

Dumas' shortcomings as a historical novelist are well known and obvious. But the reader should not look for an authentic image in his novels historical reality. In his best works, Dumas remains a magnificent, fascinating storyteller, a master of intrigue and composition, the creator of forever memorable heroic characters, which uniquely, even naively, but still embodies the writer’s belief that a person with a clear mind, will, self-confidence and rightness, honesty and generosity, can and should actively intervene in life, protecting, as far as their strength and understanding, goodness and truth, fighting lies and evil. Dumas is one of those writers whom entire generations begin to read in childhood and re-read until old age. And one must think that such recognition is not given in vain.

Alexandre Dumas - father, man interesting fate, began writing at a fairly late age, when he was forty years old. He took on The Three Musketeers at the age of forty-two. We can safely attribute this historical novel To early creativity. The creativity of Dumas the Father was so abundant that it is difficult to give an objective look at his works after the first book read. For this you need at least three works, but for now I will analyze only what I have under my belt.

“The Three Musketeers” can be approached with different sides. You can laugh in a person's face, pointing out a sad childhood, if your young years passed without meeting the Musketeers of Dumas. You can put a book on for the sake of a noble lifestyle... and go wrong with it. You can perceive the book as an encyclopedia of the life of the French court - this is perhaps the best side.

The book does not pretend to be historical. There are few real people in the book. Even the identities of the musketeers are unknown to the reader; Dumas presents them under nicknames, without thinking of revealing their real names. This only exists among the king’s defenders, and why they should hide their names is completely incomprehensible. A paradoxical situation - the king does not know his personal guard by name. But he remembers them by nicknames and recognizes them when they meet. The musketeers have reasons to hide - Dumas himself describes them as hanged men and thugs for whom the scaffold cries. Their actions and deeds are not ideal to follow. They do not receive a salary and are guided only by personal motives when making final decisions. Fighting and stabbing a couple of people is a nice thing; You can always hide behind the king.

The complete opposite of loose morals is a young nobleman from a “wild” province. Let's give him another nickname, as a follower of the musketeers' lifestyle, let him be Darth. So, Darth is an analogue of Don Quixote, as Dumas himself says. Poor honor always requires protection. Helping the downtrodden is an important component. Laughing behind your back is a personal insult. A hole in a hat - if there was one - is not a reason for lowering self-esteem. A quick temper, luck and purpose are the basis for Darth's existence. Do the will of the king or any girl you like, and have the wind in your head instead of your own thoughts. If his body had been found in the bushes, it wouldn't have been a surprise. At that time, life was practically worthless - no investigation was really carried out - you always had to keep your mouth shut.

Throughout the book, doubts constantly arose about its title. Whether the book is about the musketeers, maybe about their lackeys or Dart, or maybe about the king and his cardinal, or about the Duke of England and the French queen, but also a book about the pathological criminal Milady, whose portrait blossoms at the end of the story bright colors; the reader is already completely lost in the events taking place. Apparently, it was not in vain that Dumas wrote the book in parts, gradually publishing them one after another. This was the only way to make a living from writing. Nowadays it is necessary to collect collections of stamps, beetles, money and minerals, and a ship in parts, but a century or more ago books were distributed in this way. The next issue promises such and such a continuation of events, don’t miss it. There was one obvious drawback to this method of writing books: you couldn’t correct what was written or play out the plot in a different way. We had to start from what was already available. This is how the plot developed further, when Dumas himself did not understand where the road began to turn, leading the reader to the side.

The book is overloaded with words. Precisely in words, not in events. Except periodical, a century or two ago, publishers paid not for the very fact of having a book, not for a percentage of sales or in other ways, but strictly for the number of words, or generally line by line. Dumas received payment for the number of lines, so you have to read the monosyllabic answers of the characters, or just run your eyes over the pages, as if you were reading a transcript.

What else can you learn about life in France? The relationship between the king and the cardinal was not strained; they were both aware of their role in the state. Both complemented each other and both cared about the welfare of their subjects. There were palace intrigues at any court, and they did not escape the French table. The story of the pendants is the most famous episode of the book. Such a non-trivial story could pass without a trace and painlessly, but the cardinal looks much deeper, thinking about the possibility of long-term consequences. Thanks to Richelieu, we know about gray cardinals. When the first person of the state is concerned solely with his own person, then someone must be involved in politics. This situation was not only at the French court. This situation was everywhere, even in Russian Empire, be it in the Celestial Empire or in the Soviet Union, where the entire burden of management fell on the general secretary.

Talk about " The Three Musketeers” can go on forever - the book is too multifaceted to talk about it in general. You need to take a specific topic to reveal it. Otherwise it won't work.

"The Three Musketeers" is a typical historical feuilleton novel. But that doesn't stop it from being amazing.

good and evil

Traditionally, book heroes are divided into positive and negative. At the same time, the line between these two characteristics is never clear. So it is with Dumas. On the one hand, all the characters in the book can be attributed to one or another “camp”: the reader is completely clear that the root of all troubles in the novel is the insidious Cardinal Richelieu, as well as his close associates Count Rochefort and Milady. At the same time, the reader has no doubt that the musketeers, together with D’Artagnan, represent the “forces of good”, as they fight against the Cardinal, prevent the Queen from tarnishing her honor, help the King, etc. At the same time, the three musketeers, if you look more closely, are the most disgusting people: together they kill people right and left (while de Treville tries in every possible way to “cover up” them and justify them before the King), but individually they also have little attractive features: Athos is a drunkard, Aramis is a hypocrite prone to posing, Porthos lives at the expense of a woman. And they do not always act correctly and well. At the same time, at certain moments, you begin to understand that the Cardinal is not so bad, and maybe he really does everything “for the good of France,” no matter how Dumas tries to denigrate him (who, by the way, in the book “Twenty Years Later” "pays tribute to the deceased Cardinal, noting that the current one (Mazarin) is only his shadow). The king is presented as a weak-willed person who follows the lead of others. Much can be said about Anne of Austria...
Good and evil in Dumas' novel merge, mix, and often mutually replace each other. He makes it clear that not everything that is good is really good, and from all sides, but everything that is bad is not so evil in fact.

Things are bad with love in the novel, in the sense that in Dumas in The Three Musketeers, love is really a problem that can bring nothing but bitterness and pain. The story of Athos speaks most eloquently about this, as well as his words to D’Artagnan: “I want to say that love is a lottery in which the winner gets death! Believe me, dear d'Artagnan, you are very lucky that you lost! Always lose - that is my advice." At the same time, Athos is the only person in the book generally capable of such a feeling. Since D'Artagnan is too frivolous and young, Porthos is only interested in material well-being, while Aramis, despite the fact that he is secretly in love with two women, Marie de Chevreuse and Camille de Bois-Trassy, loves himself most of all (in my opinion, but, despite all these reservations). , love plays an important role in the book.

Friendship in the novel "The Three Musketeers" is its most important component, because without it there would be no plot plot, nor the novel itself. It is amazing, of course, how quickly D'Artagnan and the three musketeers become friends, but their friendship cannot but arouse envy. It can even be considered a standard, which is why it is, without a doubt, one of the main ideas of the novel. It is friendship that is the thing for which the heroes of the novel are worth living. The importance of this cannot be overestimated, since even love could not become such a thing.

Faith, religion, and the church in the book are personified by Aramis, who from childhood was preparing to be ordained, but life took a turn in such a way that he had to become a musketeer. But of course, not for long. Aramis dreams of his spiritual future, constantly reminding everyone around him that he is a musketeer only temporarily and that in the future a cassock awaits him. But all this can be understood in two ways. On the one hand, he is really ready to be ordained; he sees his future only in the monastery and does not find his place among the musketeers. “The world is a crypt,” he says, and this is precisely what expresses his entire attitude towards worldly life. However, at the same time, on the other hand, he is sorry to part with everything that is in his present life. Aramis is incredibly prone to posing. Sometimes his desire for spiritual life takes on an indicative character, for example, he uses Latin expressions out of place and out of place, then sitting down to write a theological dissertation, then dropping everything and running to his beloved. It begins to seem that what attracts him to monastic life is not the internal (spiritual) component, but only the outer shell. The opportunity to get away from everyone and everything that is not in his spirit and not to his liking.
What follows from this? Contradiction. Since the 17th century, the Catholic Church has been losing its position; it no longer plays the same comprehensive role as in the Middle Ages. Distrust in the church appears, and Protestantism has been gaining momentum since the 16th century. Faith becomes superficial.
In the 19th century, when Dumas writes “The Three Musketeers,” everything happens the other way around: the Catholic Church begins to make up for its positions and regains its former authority. Religiosity is being revived.
Thus, Dumas plays on contradictions: he shows Catholic Church during her weakness, but tries to give her authority, which at that time was not inherent in her.

The novel "The Three Musketeers" is one of my favorite books. And despite the fact that the attitude towards the plot, characters and their actions changes after each new reading, “The Three Musketeers” will never leave the realm of “favorite”, because it is something that you don’t want to let go of.
A 19th-century man, tired of bourgeois boredom and sober practicality, looked for his ideal in 17th-century France, and one can understand why. Dumas paints historical reality so attractive that you want to grab the hilt of your sword and jump into the book towards adventure. And it doesn’t matter that there is intrigue, murder, blood... What matters is that there is friendship, honor and heroism. People look in books for what they are missing around them. currently. And it doesn’t matter what century these people live in - in the 21st or 19th, everyone is equal before the dream, especially when it is so attractive.
Dumas has an amazing command of language. The novel is incredibly dynamic, it doesn’t let go for a second, and carries you along to new and new places. All the characters in the book are written down to the smallest detail and do not leave the reader indifferent. It is impossible not to admire the mind of Athos, despite all their shortcomings, it is impossible not to observe and evaluate the development of D’Artagnan throughout the book, it is impossible not to fall in love with the kind Porthos (and it doesn’t matter that he can’t sing!), or to take his eyes off the beautiful Aramis.
Sometimes, you begin to forget who Richelieu was in historical reality, you begin to hate him, and wish good luck to the musketeers, despite the fact that not all of their actions are correct.
"The Three Musketeers" is a novel worthy of multiple readings. I don't think he can get bored. It’s a bit of a pity that this book passed me by as a child, and I managed to read it for the first time not so long ago. But... what else can I say?

Alexandre Dumas is a master of his craft.

The Three Musketeers in Dumas's novel The Three Musketeers

I really liked the novel French writer Alexandre Dumas "The Three Musketeers". It is very exciting, dynamic, and has a lot of adventure. There are many heroes in it - they are good and bad. TO good heroes include Monsieur de Treville, the captain of the royal musketeers, and the royal musketeers themselves. They are brave, courageous, honest. There are four main characters in the novel - Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan. They are friends and always stand up for each other. They even have a motto: “One for all and all for one.” They did not immediately become friends: at first they did not like D’Artagnan because he was very young, did not behave as he should, and made a lot of noise. But then they realized that he was good and fair man, and became friends. Athos, Porthos and Aramis were the most famous and bravest musketeers. They served the king, wore special musketeer cloaks and fought with swords. Their sworn enemies are the guards of Cardinal Richelieu. So they fought with them, and also in all sorts of duels. The king and the cardinal were at enmity with each other, and if you were on someone’s side, then you could no longer be a friend to others. Musketeers are all very different. The eldest of them is Athos. S is very noble, smart and brave, but he never laughs. Nobody knew his real name. Everyone respected Athos very much and obeyed him.

Porthos is the strongest of the musketeers, he eats a lot and likes to drink wine. He is very honest and simple. I really like Porthos because he says everything directly: “I fight because I fight.” The most cunning and educated of the musketeers is Aramis. He loves beautiful things, takes care of himself and never gets into a fight openly. He is not a coward, but prefers to negotiate. When it is impossible to reach an agreement, he fights very bravely. D'Artagnan is the youngest and most reckless of his friends. Because of him, they find themselves in different situations, but strong friendship helps them get out of them. At the end of the book, the friends break up, and it's very disappointing. Each of them goes on their own path.

At a time of total book shortage, every self-respecting teenager in the country of the Soviets, in order not to be considered a pariah among his friends, by hook or by crook achieved his cherished dream - he read The Three Musketeers, thereby joining the circle of connoisseurs of the work of the great falsifier of history, Alexander Dumas the Father, even without assuming that there is also another writer - Alexandre Dumas the son.

However, why “The Three Musketeers”? Already at the end of the first part of the novel, d’Artagnan also becomes one “by the gracious order” of the king, and the daring trinity turns into a legitimate four. But these, in fact, are details to which Dumas always attached little importance. And which of the current undergrowth will become in the original to study a book of more than six hundred pages, when almost every month one of the many TV channels broadcasts a free adaptation of the novel in the interpretation of director Yungvald-Khilkevich under the again not entirely accurate title “D” Artagnan and the Three Musketeers”... The leitmotif of the film musical is clearly expressed by the rollicking soundtrack with the chorus “It’s time, it’s time, let’s rejoice in our lifetime...”

We will try to follow the truth and with a few strokes refute the established opinion about the nobility and courage of the “magnificent four”, who embody courage, selfless devotion, generosity and other captivating qualities of bosom friends.

Let's start with an impartial description of each. Firstly, Athos. Upon closer examination, he is a degraded drinker, a cynical misanthrope, trying to forget his past and not thinking about the future, retaining a feigned touch of noble nobility, since the title of count obliges him to do so.

Porthos is a glutton, a drinker, a fop and a gigolo of the skinny, not the first freshness, but the rich prosecutor of Madame Coquenard. Its main advantage is its rough physical strength, which corresponds to a complete lack of intelligence and extreme vanity.

Aramis is a ladies' man, a clever Jesuit, one of the forerunners of the "free masons", better known as the Freemasons, whose main goal was to achieve comprehensive power. For Aramis, getting closer to the goal justifies any means.

And finally - the soul, the accumulator of actions and ideas of d'Artagnan's merry company. A trickster, a rake, a slob and a cunning man, a thug and a deceiver.

Let us illustrate what has been said with references to the novel, upon careful reading of which everything mentioned above clearly emerges. Friends grab swords at every convenient and not so convenient opportunity - just to fight, to amuse themselves with daring fencing. They fight less with enemy forces and more with their compatriots, since they are not of their clan. Right and left they inflict wounds and mutilations on noble chevaliers only for the reason that the latter are the guards of Cardinal Richelieu. The same Armand Jean du Plessis Richelieu, head of the Royal Council, who is essentially the de facto ruler of France under the weak-willed and incompetent Louis XIII, mention of whom you will not find in every encyclopedia.

The musketeers, led by d'Artagnan, get involved in a "suspended" intrigue, protecting the interests of the Duke of Buckingham, the all-powerful minister and favorite English king, who started adultery with Queen Anne of Austria of France. Indulging the lust of lovers, the daring four betray the interests of France, for which, both according to Dumas and in fact, England was the original enemy.

In the race for pendants and the behavior of Athos, Porthos and Aramis, who did not reach England, in the places of their forced stops, all those not entirely noble traits that we have already talked about really appear.

And who is d'Artagnan himself? He enters into friendly relations with the enemy of his king, leads the representatives of real power - the cardinal's guards - by the nose, rescues the unfaithful queen from trouble, seducing in the meantime someone else's wife - Constance Bonacieux, who is, in fact, the state the criminal does not stop there: the leaping lust gives no rest - and now, under someone else’s guise, he climbs into my lady’s bed, seducing her maid Katie in the process, mocks the cuckold Bonacieux, who faithfully serves the cardinal, and therefore the legitimate authority, and continues. from time to time to string the guardsmen on the sword.

And then the bosom friends commit a completely base act - without trial or investigation, solely of their own free will, they execute Milady together with Lord Winter. The same milady who is the executor of Richelieu’s will, identifying power in France, the same milady with whom the drunkard Athos was unable to get rid of him at one time. Five men, hung from head to toe with weapons, plus a professional executioner and a defenseless woman - it’s somehow difficult to reconcile all this with nobility, courage and courage.

All this taken together is called differently - treachery and recklessness, indignity and betrayal, deceit in the end.

As for sincere friendship, the friends fled for twenty years and did not see each other all this time after the events described in the novel. It looks like their conscience has kicked in, but they haven’t lost it yet.

Perhaps what is written above is not at all indisputable. Maybe. But this opportunity became a reality for the reader because at a young age he adores heroes who succeed in everything, who live full-blooded and beautiful life. He also wants to live such a life, he also wants to succeed in everything. Why not - here is an example on more than six hundred pages.

And therefore - vivat, musketeers!