Three Musketeers character analization.

[closedbyrequest]

@marina: I agree with the d'Artagnan thing. Well, I see d'Artagnan as:
>quick-tempered (he challenged that guy he met at the beginning of the book because he thinks he insulted him... whatever. Then, he challenged the Duke when he thought that he was Constance's guy)
>possessive (he thinks he owns the ladies and becomes jealous when it seems like he's not the only one in their mind)
>inconstant to Constance (c'mon if he sees a pretty lady and gets enamoured with her he forgets he's supposed to be in love with Constance)

I liked Athos the best out of the Musketeers too. He's like the most noble of them all (no surprise there since he is a lord). Comparing Musketeers with Count, the main characters differ much. I see Edmond as:
>personable (he tries to think well of people even those who dislike him)
>constant (he even insists that there is difference between a mistress and a fiancee and Mercedes is his fiancee)

Though maybe d'Artagnan improved in the next novels but I wouldn't know. I haven't read. :p

I have named my hard drives after characters in the Three Musketeers.

Athos was always my favorite. He was the perfect example of a Byronic Hero. Porthos was useless. Aramis was manipulative. D'Artagnan was probably my least favorite. There were times when he saved the day, but most of the time, he was just selfish.

[nps_marina]

Your hard drives are named after the Musketeers?
I name my goldfish after the characters in the book I am reading when I buy them.

But anyway.

I think Porthos is funny, in his useless way. How he tries to look better than he is. But he is a good man. Definitely it was hilarious in the beginning, with the whole golden belt (but half of it being leather) thingy.

Aramis is certainly selfish, but I also take him in consideration more as character relief, since they always abuse him for that- how he's so childlike and influenced by his receiving or not receiving letters from his lover. Constantly saying some day he wants to get in the clergy.

Athos is the best, we all agree on that one. The chapter 'The Wife of Athos' really made me thin he is such a cool character.

And ah, d'Artagnan! He's really stupid, head-on stupid. I just, as I said before (in other threads) can't very well stand him.

[AthosESK]

Awwww. D'Artagnan is not stupid. He's just 18. Give the boy a few years to age into his character. Say... 20 years or so ;)

[kiki1982]

Well, I don't think that d'Artangan is stupid as such... He was more short-tempered. I would say he's a bright and intelligent boy, like the characters in the book find him. He's intelligent enough to see through Milady. Of course he's quickly in love, but after all it's a book from the romantic period, so what do you expect apart from emotion, emotion and more emotion? And anyway, in the beginning he's only about 20, so he didn't know much of the world...

Athos is such a lovely character! I love his father role, being older than the rest, and his special friendship with d'Artagnan. How he takes him in his arms when Constance has just died... That is so touching. You immediately kow there is something the matter with him, and when he tells that story to d'Artagnan it all falls into place...
Porthos is sooooooooooooo lovely, stupid and useless, apart when it comes to fighting. How he's introduced in the book is so great (with his cold and cough). Don't you love those scenes when he doesn't know what the rest is talking about and wants to ask in a desperate attempt to know what's going on, and then all of them (mostly Aramis last) tell him to shut up and just come with them and do what he's told... I used to laugh out loud, reading that...
Aramis is a little mysterious... He seems funny at first, only being 'musketeer ad interim', but after that he seems like a real priest: very philosophical, deep, thinking a lot, but he doesn't want to admit that he has a lover and turns red every time she's mentioned... Maybe he decides to go into a convent after that because he cannot have her? He tells once about the time before he became a musketeer and he had his doubts about being a priest... I think in a way he's already detatched from the here and now and has already moved on, so his friendship with the rest is not more than a worldly thing, that doesn't really matter, whereas his love is a higher thing, platonic love, and so she knows that he has taken his vows, but not his friends, being from the world he said goodbye to.

Isn't it amazing how Dumas could in a few sentences define a person's character? Later there is stuff said, but in the beginning, just one little sentence or situation and you can form a picture of the person. Personally I like that part of the book when Athos', Porthos' and Aramis' servants, places etc. are described. It's so hilarious!

What you said about that belt, nps_marina, is that the English translation? In the French book it says 'pourpoint', which turns out to be a 'doublet', a buttoned jacket worn by men from the Middle Ages up to the 17th century, until the suit came a long with Louis XIV. (more on wikipedia)

[AthosESK]

Kiki, I believe that the "Belt" in question is the sash (upon which to hang the sword), which in other (English) translations is also called the "Baldrick". I'm fairly sure if we break down the word "pourpoint" (for the point) we will achieve a similar idea.

And, yo, did you just call Porthos "stupid and useless"?? We shall duel! ;)

[kiki1982]

Dear Athos, delighted to make your acquaintance... ;)

I just read my reply again, and after reading the the whole trilogy, it seems that Dumas really did his best to develop our heros' character traits with time.

It seems that I got the word wrong... It was a 'baudrier' which indeed means 'baldrick'. So we set that right, thank you Athos. Obviously, having played in the book, you know what Porthos was wearing.;)

I called Porthos also lovely, but his head is not what it should be, it will be his downfall... His mind is not what it is in d'Artagnan and you... (I do exclude Aramis because he turns out a behind-the-back-person). It doesn't make him less lovely though. In my opinion the loveliest character I have ever encoutered! He was long my favourite, but d'Artagnan took his place because he was so surprising in the last book of the trilogy...

[AthosESK]

Dear Kiki - I'm jealous of you Dutch for having a musketeer musical! ;) (You are Dutch, right? I thought I saw that in another post). Please don't talk crap on Aramis: I will defend him to the bitter end. The bitterer the tastier.

Cheers!

[kiki1982]

No, not Dutch, dutchspeaking Belgian...

I don't tend to go and watch musicals like that because they mostly make nothing of it...

For Aramis, or rather for d'Artagnan, it was bitter in the end... If it had been any of the other musketeers involved it would have been excusable, but the most innocent of them all... (if you want more on that please send me a private message, we don't want to spoil it for the rest...) Yet he moves up in the world, but with a high price...

Anyway, before I give too much away, I'll stop writing.

Have you read the Vicomte (Viomte, Louise and the Iron Mask)? Other wise, a must-read!

[Welsh Musketeer]

A Musketeer Musical? Now, there's something I would shell out to see. My own opinion is that they all have something to offer everyone.

Aramis appeals to those people who want a person they can fall in love with (and excuse him having every girl in town). Athos has to be for the everyday slob around town (with his diet I'm amazed he manages to wake up each day), D'Artangan is for everyone who has wanted to swash his buckles (or is it buckle their swashes) and Porthos, well he's the hero of choice for anyone involved in the strength department (bodybuilder, wrestler, mixed martial artist, strongman, powerlifter).

By the way, would I get some odd looks if I said I liked the Duke of Buckingham (simply because he's British?)

[kiki1982]

Was something wrong with Buckingham then? I thought he plaid the part he plaid very well.
Only a little terrorised by the queen... Like all men, everything for a woman... Even Aramis, pour soul...:D

[Welsh Musketeer]

Was something wrong with Buckingham then? I thought he plaid the part he plaid very well. Only a little terrorised by the queen... Like all men, everything for a woman... Even Aramis, pour soul...:D

Of course not, it's just that he's British and everyone else in the book is French! :lol:

[kiki1982]

Shame there were no Welsh, then :lol:.

Maybe there are in Twenty Years After... Although what they say continuously about England can be quite vexing.

I, not being English, could laugh at it, but I am not sure if anyone else would find it so funny. However, you might enjoy it, being Welsh :D

[Welsh Musketeer]

Maybe there are in Twenty Years After... Although what they say continuously about England can be quite vexing.

I've not had a chance to read that actually.

[kiki1982]

It is about the trouble around Charles I, Cromwell and the French who were linked through Charles I's wife, Henriette who was a French princess...

It is a little overstretched plot-wise, but it is interesting from a french point of view.

No Welshmen, I'm afraid though...

[Welsh Musketeer]

but it is rather a tenouous link

In "Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds" (created by a Japanese animation studio and funded by a Spanish production company), they had a character called the Blue Falcon who worked for The Duke as a personal guard and although he never said a word during his appearance, I like to think he was Welsh as the Welsh were the strongest Royalist supporters.

[Laïka]

This is my favorite book:thumbs_up and I think that the four characters are important because, to my mind, what is great in this story is the link between the four of them. Anyway, even if my favorite is Aramis, I think that the main character, the leader, is the charismatic (and enigmatic) Athos.

[Welsh Musketeer]

Nice to see that the French still appreciate their historical novels, by the way, I would still like to know what that musical was called

[kiki1982]

What about The Three Musketeers? :p

It's an old musical from 2003, by the way. If it is the right one. But they are still doing it and it has been translated in English and several other languages.

But, I'm afraid it needs to be said again: they got it wrong.

Portraying Milady in a sad way. The bl***y woman was a criminal who was responsible for war, the death of Buckinham, father De Winter, Felton, and the priest she ran away with before meeting Athos and then she made that one unhappy, poor Athos!

Seems that they took all the fun about the women who manipulate the men into doing things out of it and changed it into a cheesy story... Like always. Do not go and watch it, it'll be an expensive dissapointment.

more on wikipedia (if that what I am talking about is at least the good one)

[Laïka]

Nice to see that the French still appreciate their historical novels, by the way, I would still like to know what that musical was called

Thank you;) and by the way: nice avatar:thumbs_up