Three Musketeers – France 1600s Louis XIV
1) Thesis
a) The movie The Three Musketeers (1993) has correctly portrayed much accurate detail in regards to dress, locations, dialogue, and etcetera. It presents similar features: d’Artagnan’s desire to become a musketeer; an assassination conspiracy (the people who they are upon varies), his becoming friends with the three musketeers; a love for Constance. On the other hand, this adaptation of the book and how it recounts the adventures is extremely simplified and altered. Much of the French history has been liberally changed to the point once could say it bear a resemblance to an uchronia. The plot line would have never succeeded in French history. Therefore, one can say that this movie is not terribly historically accurate or close to the book – it is simply an interpretation of the book.
2) Evidence of contrasting features (Book versus Movie)
a) Commentary of 1993 Movie
i) He leaves to Paris in hopes of becoming a Musketeer, but is pursued by Gerard and his brothers, accusing d’Artagan of blemishing their sister’s honor.
ii) Once he reaches Paris, he encounters the three musketeers and accepts a duel with one of them. When he arrives, the captain of the cardinal’s guard arrives to arrest the three musketeers (ordered by the Captain). Even though d’Artagan is not under arrest, he fights them anyways (they win), and the three musketeers are displeased with his involvement and leave him behind, where he becomes captured.
iii) During an escape attempt, he overhears a conversation between Cardinal Richelieu and Milady de Winter, asking that she deliver a signed treaty to the Duke of Buckingham of England. He is caught at the doorway and sent for execution.
iv) At this execution, he is saved by Porthos and Aramis, and makes a getaway. d’Artagan reveals Richelieu’s plans, and they decide to intercept the spy in order to prove that the Cardinal is guilty of treason.
v) They arrive at an inn, where Athos tells a story of a count who fell in love with a beautiful woman, but discovered she was branded for execution, and gave her up to the authorities.
vi) Athos sends d’Artagan to ride ahead and intercept the spy, but falls asleep from exhaustion and wakes up to find that he has been stripped of money, weapons, and clothes. Milady de Winter is there to rouse and seduce him, as she tries to kill him, but he convinces her to save him. Her and her party tries to escape on a boat back to England, but find that Porthos and Aramis have killed the crew. She attempts to runaway, but meets with Athos, who mentions that she was the woman in his story at the inn – the wife he betrayed to the authorities.
vii) The three musketeers retrieve the treaty and learn that the Cardinal is planning something on King Louis’ birthday. During Milady (now revealed as Sabine) is about to be executed, Athos stops him and begs forgiveness from Sabine, who whispers Richelieu’s plans to assassinate King Louis with a sniper before she jumps off a cliff and commits suicide.
viii) At the birthday party, they face the Cardinal’s guards, and more musketeers join them from the crowd, battling against the Cardinal’s guards. Richelieu takes the queen and king as hostage, where Aramis confronts him but is shot in the chest. In the dungeon, Athos and Porthos just miss the Cardinal as his boat sails away. The boatman then casts off his cloak and is Aramis, who attempts to apprehend the Cardinal, but is stopped and King Louis punches Richelieu, knocking him into the river.
ix) The king reinstates the musketeers, and d’Artagan is honored by the king in becoming a musketeer himself. Constance runs by him and gives him a big embrace. Outside the headquarters, Gerard and his brothers challenge d’Artagan to a duel, which does not occur because he is now a musketeer. They are chased away by a band of musketeers.
b) Evidence
i) As we can see, the difference between the role in the king within history versus the accurateness of the movie varies differently in the following manner:
(1) A plot to overthrow the king would have never lasted.
(a) A plot to kill and take over the thrown of the king would have never occurred as a result of the social context and power structure of France. This does not even occur within the book.
(b) The social context and power structure included one of which was strict, and considering the amount of protection the king had this may have never occurred. However, even if the king had been assassinated, the Cardinal’s acceptance as a new king would have never sat well with the French Court and its people. He would have been thrown out and executed right away, and one of King Louis’s bloodline would have stepped up and taken his place.
(c) In historical significance, the Cardinal faithfully served King Louis XIV, as did d’Artagnan (Lossky, 1994). The king was never under any imminent danger of an assassin.
(2) In the way the King and his country reigned, this was not accurate as well.
(a) It can be said that the country in which King Louis was reining his country appeared to be similar to that known as a uchronia. The movie poorly-defined the age, allowing to be portrayed as a “better time”, which historically did not exist.
(b) Three major wars had been conducted—the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg, and the War of the Spanish Succession—which showed that a political and military scene was quite in progress at this time (Lynn, 1999). The movie, instead, showed nothing of the sort, and that all was well within the kingdom.
(3) The king and Nicholas Fouquet
(a) Nicolas Fouquet, who was King Louis XIV’s finance commissioner, aspired to one-day take the place of Mazarin as the king’s advisor. Within the movie, Fouquet was one of the conspirators who wanted the king out and who d’Artagnan sought after to stop.
(b) However, his connection with the King was nothing of this sort. He was a lover of grand architecture and employed the greatest architects and artisans in the building of his French Castle – Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte. The king felt upstaged by the grandeur of his home and event. Thus, he suspected Fouquet of pilfering the royal treasury, and had him arrested. D’Artagnan guarded him for four years until Fouquet was sentenced to life imprisonment.
3) Conclusion
a) This movie has generously been watered-down in order for Disney to target its younger generation with its action and focus upon the grandeur of being a musketeer. A connection with historical events has been perceived to a point, at least in regards to the king and d’Artagnan. Thus, it can be concluded that this movie was significantly created more so for its primary intentions of being entertainment, and does not serve a historical purpose beyond such. It is merely an entertaining interpretation for those who are interested.
4) Bibliography
a) "D'Artagnan." Madame Bonancieux's Cavalier Page. 2008. The Tome. 29 May 2008 <http://www.sirclisto.com/cavalier/dartagnan.html>.
b) Lossky, Andrew, Louis XIV and the French Monarchy (New Brunswick, NJ, 1994).
c) Lynn, John A., The Wars of Louis XIV (London, 1999).
d) "Nicolas Fouquet." Vaux le Vicomte. 2008. ABSOLUTE Web. 29 May 2008 <http://www.vaux-le-vicomte.com/en/histoire-chateau-Nicolas-Fouquet.php>.
e) Professor Rempel, Gerhard. "Louis XIV." WNEC Lectures. Western New England College. 29 May 2008 <http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc2/lectures/louisxiv.html>.
f) "The Three Musketeers (1993 Adventure Film)." Answers.com 2008. 29 May 2008 <http://www.answers.com/topic/the-three-musketeers-film-6?cat=entertainment>.