If you ask any Portuguese kid of the 80s about their favorite cartoons, there’s a high probability many will say either Dartacão or D’Artagnan and the Three Musketeers (manga version). Chances are they might also start singing the songs.
Because of them my hopes for the canon were really up. I was expecting an adventure tale to rival Scaramouche and Count of Monte Cristo, with fun, heroic, lovable characters and wicked villains. What I got was one the biggest literary disappointments of my life and the destruction of my childhood ideals.
In the book, the Musketeers turn out to be selfish irresponsible dandies of limited intelligence who take advantage of women, hit their servants, and kill and maim at the slightest provocation to their precious honor. They’re more concerned about buying gear and horses than fighting injustice and helping the oppressed.
In the midst of all these disappointments, the biggest one was Athos. He was my favorite, my Musketeer crush. He was the leader and yet very discreet, the most mysterious, with hints of a secret past with Milady. Even in the live-action movies he was always one of the most developed characters (also: Keith Sutherland and Matthew Macfadyen). In the book he surrenders his leadership 5 minutes after meeting 18-year-old D’Artagnan, he wants Milady dead at all costs without any grey areas, and there’s this chapter about one day in his life that goes more or less like this: “woke up early, was bored, played dice. Lost my horse, lost D’Artagnan’s horse, lost D’Artagnan’s diamond ring, lost my saddle, won saddled back, lost all my equipment, divided my servant into 10 parts and played with that. Won servant back, and the ring, and D’Artagnan’s horse. Lost my horse. Shall I bet D’Artagnan’s horse again?”
This, my friends, was a big blow for the 8-year-old in me! Where are my heros?!
Then there’s a strange unbalance in the way Dumas arranges the plot. The famous adventure to get back the Queen’s diamonds takes a few chapters, but then there’s endless descriptions of what the boys do to get money for their armors.
Let’s just talk a bit more about Milady (some spoilers). For Dumas she’s the She Devil, the Temptress. She was put in prison the convent and had the audacity to escape by seducing a priest! How is that different from the way D’Artagnan used Kitty or Porthos the lawyer’s wife? They all used other (innocent?) people for their gains. About her marriage to Athos: in his own words, she always behaved in a dignified way and never betrayed him. She didn’t tell him about the convent and the branding, but considering what he did when he found out (not even a question before wanting to kill her), I’d probably hide it as well. After that episode Athos is presumed dead, so technically she’s not a bigamist! There’s also no proof that she murdered her second husband. She manipulated Felton to get out of jail. Also, for such a cunning survivor her obsession with revenge at the cost of her freedom and life felt really out of character. When they finally capture Milady she doesn’t even get a fair trial but is judged by “her peers”, meaning, the musketeers and Lord de Winter. They only need the word of her first husband’s brother that just… shows up?, but everyone ignores that his version contradicts Athos’ account.
Excuse Milady for being smart and resourceful. At least she killed for France and to survive, not because someone insulted her horse or whatever, as someone else I know…
Anywhoo, I’m persuaded that the reason we love the Musketeer so much is because no one really cares about the book and just enjoys the great (if not faithful) adaptations out there.
Also, in the manga version, Aramis was a woman in disguise, and I’ll never forgive Dumas for not including that.
16 comments
Comments feed for this article
April 13, 2016 at 1:24 pm
chrisbookarama
I tried to read this a few years ago and was so disappointed. All they did was fight, drink, and gamble. I gave up on it. I usually love Dumas! But yes every adaptation is better.
April 18, 2016 at 3:24 pm
Alex
I know how you feel 😦 This will make my short “films better than the book” list
April 13, 2016 at 2:21 pm
Ana @ things mean a lot
“Chances are they might also start singing the songs.” I’m sure you’ll be unsurprised to heart that I wasn’t even halfway through your first paragraph when it started playing in my head 😛
April 18, 2016 at 3:24 pm
Alex
Not surprised at all. You’d probably do the same if I was posting about Tom Sawyer 😉
April 14, 2016 at 1:36 am
Jenny @ Reading the End
Oh dear, you are not wrong! It’s funny — I had the complete opposite experience to this. I had NO exposure to the Three Musketeers prior to reading the book and in fact started it as a sort of duty, like I thought I should read it because Classic. I expected it to be dry and terrible and grim, and that it was a goofy romp was completely unexpected and delightful. I didn’t mind that the characters were jerks because I’d never expected them to be anything else!
April 18, 2016 at 3:25 pm
Alex
Have you tried Scaramouch, Scarlet Pimpernel of Captain Blood. Great romps, but with great heros!
April 14, 2016 at 6:17 am
heidenkind
LOL Well, I adored the book. But I agree that Milady was an absolutely awesome character who got a bad rap because she was a woman. And it sounds like I have to get my hands on this manga…
April 18, 2016 at 3:27 pm
Alex
Try also the Tom Sayer and Anne of Green Gables manga versions. All amazing.
April 14, 2016 at 9:24 pm
brontespageturners
I love a ranty review! Better out than in sometimes! Bronte
April 18, 2016 at 3:28 pm
Alex
I know 🙂 #guiltypleasure. If you can recommend good ones let me know!
April 21, 2016 at 9:20 pm
brontespageturners
Will do!
April 14, 2016 at 9:46 pm
Helen
Sorry you were disappointed, especially as you had such good childhood memories (I loved the Dartacão/Dogtanian cartoon too). I have to admit, I did enjoy this book and two of the sequels, even though I can understand the problems you had with it.
April 18, 2016 at 3:29 pm
Alex
I think it was a matter of expectations!
June 9, 2016 at 6:01 pm
Jay
I really want to go back now and watch the 1973 movie version, which I remember hearing about when I was a kid but have never seen. When the big boss here at the office saw I was reading T3M, he sighed heavily and said it was because he was remembering Raquel Welch in the role of Constance. 🙂
Some of my favorite passages of the book featured Milady, actually, especially her captivity and vanquishing of the hapless Felton, who seemed so resolute at first, didn’t he. I had to do a really marathon (for me anyway) read of this the last few days to finish in time for my book club meeting tonight – which several people have now dropped out of with flimsy excuses that I interpret as “I couldn’t finish a book this long”)
I’m also considering participating in the discussion tonight in “d’Artagnan Mode” – taking any difference of opinion as a personal affront and worth fighting to the death over… 🙂
June 9, 2016 at 6:05 pm
Jay
Oh, and I found the ENDLESS discussion of the attaining and losing and attaining and losing of money and/or of their equipages insufferable. 🙂
June 22, 2016 at 6:04 pm
Vishy
Loved your review! ‘The Three Musketeers’ was one of my favourite books when I was a child. I have read it many times since, but when I read it again last year I had many of the same problems that you did. I always thought that D’Artagnan was a great hero, but the way he lusts after many of the women characters and the way he sleeps with the maid to get to the mistress made me feel disappointed and sad. I actually liked Milady because like you have said she was a smart woman who was trying to survive in a man’s world. Thanks for pointing out the book’s flaws. They are all real.