Quote:
Originally Posted by bfisher
Was Dumas trying to say all the way through this novel that monarchy, the aristocracy and the notion of chivalry and courtly love are all farcical?
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When he introduced d'Artagnan as a young Don Quixote he did have me wondering if this was going to be an aspect of the story. But for that to work you need a Sancho rather than another three Don Quixotes, and all with lackeys all as lacking as their masters.
But I do agree that such an interpretation would make more sense of the first half/two-thirds of this book. Men that hold honour and loyalty as their highest ideals, and that have sworn their service to the king, but their actions throughout the first part of the book is all about betrayal of their king and their country. That their actions seem half-hearted (so easily swayed from their course that d'Artagnan is soon left on his own) does not excuse this betrayal of their sworn service. (I remember some mention of also having sworn service to the queen, but since she is not French, and since she is being courted by an enemy of France, where should a French soldier's allegiance be expected to lie?)
Perhaps we misread when we read the last third as dark. Perhaps it was intended to be hilarious that these (in the end 6) brave and chivalrous men had such trouble cornering and then murdering a woman - perhaps they see themselves as destroyers of a powerful dragon just as Don Quixote saw windmills as giants. (I don't really think so. If this were the case I'm sure some of the adaptations or interpretations since then would have pointed this out. I'm just trying to find some way of looking at the book as a consistent story.)
Or perhaps, at the start, he really did intend this to be a farce, but as it was published as a serial (and is very long), it may have become apparent that his audience thought he was being serious and so he had to change plans as he went? That could explain some of the inconsistencies.