Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
Her switch at the end reminds me a bit of Angels with Dirty Faces, when Pat O'Brien, playing a priest, gets Jimmy Cagney to act cowardly and terrified on the way to the chair, in order to discourage the young hoodlums who have taken him as a role model. 
There's nobody on the scene to benefit from Milady's last-minute chickenheartedness, so I think your conclusion is correct; we, the readers, are the hoodlums who are in danger of being seduced by Milady's beauty and charm and manipulation and Dumas is Father Pat O'Brien, pulling the strings. Didn't work, though; she's still the most interesting and forceful character in the book. |
We must be on the same wavelength; I was thinking of Cagney too! And that movie has always puzzled me, because while the kids in the movie believe that their hero is just a cowardly thug, we in the audience see that he's incredibly noble to let himself be thought cowardly. Talk about a mixed message!