The Vicomte of Bragelonne (book summary)

The Vicomte of Bragelonne

by: Alexandre Dumas

The action takes place between 1660 and 1667 and has as its thematic background the transformation of Louis XIV from a weak boy king dominated by his ministers and mother to the Sun King in absolute control of the French state. Near the beginning of the first part of the novel "The Vicomte de Bragelonne", d'Artagnan, who is no longer captain of musketeers because of Cardinal Jules Mazarin, resigns from the King's service in disgust over the young King's weakness. Louis would like to help Charles II retake the throne of England but allows his prime minister, Mazarin, to talk him out of giving such aid. The novel then shifts its focus to events in England as d'Artagnan, who is trying to make his fortune, and Athos, who is fulfilling the duty that he believes men owe to monarchs: restore Charles II to the English throne. Near the end of the novel, Charles II is restored thanks to Athos and d´Artagnan, Cardinal Mazarin dies, and d'Artagnan resumes his role in the service of Louis XIV as captain of musketeers again. Aramis, meanwhile, ingratiates himself with the finance minister Fouquet, becomes the Bishop of Vannes, is instrumental in advising Fouquet to improve the fortifications of his castle at Belle- Isle (with the mechanical logistics being greatly assisted by Porthos, and the finance provided by embezzling from the Treasury), and subsequently obtains a high position in the Jesuit Order.

The first part of the novel also introduces the titular hero, young Raoul de Bragelonne. Raoul is the son - originally unacknowledged but adopted, but actually his own illegitimate natural son - of Athos, one of the original musketeers, now known as the Comte de la Fère. De Bragelonne is loosely based on a real-life character, who is in love with Louise de la Vallière. As in the novel, the real-life Louise preferred Louis XIV. Raoul plays a relatively small role in the novel. He spends a small part of his time fighting - including a conflict with the young Count De Wardes, whose father had been a much more dangerous rival to D'Artagnan a generation ago - and much more of his time infatuated with Louise, absent in England, or depressed over being "betrayed" by Louise. Ultimately, he fails to recover from Louise's betrayal and ends his own life with rash behaviour in battle.

"Louise de la Vallière", the middle section of the novel, is devoted in large part to romantic events at the court of Louis XIV. To a lesser degree, this portion of the novel shows the efforts of Louis to dominate the nobility by depicting the King's steps to impoverish the powerful, easily likeable but corrupt superintendent of finance, Nicolas Fouquet - who, early in the novel, quite openly attempts to bribe D'Artagnan, who is clever enough both to recognise it as a bribe (to be loyal to Fouquet even over the King if necessary, and certainly over Mazarin) and to contrive to keep the cash and even present a receipt for it, to represent legitimate pay that the treasury owes him anyway, while at the same time retaining his suspicions of both Fouquet and his enemy, Jean-Baptiste Colbert: who, in contrast to Fouquet, is portrayed as an envious, unlikeable, unscrupulous social climber despite being (unlike Fouquet and Mazarin) totally trustworthy with finance: clearly showing the author's antipathy towards the character. D'Artagnan has no hesitation in investigating the suspicious conduct of Fouquet in having Belle- Isle fortified, even when he finds Aramis to be involved: Aramis outmanoeuvres him only by persuading Fouquet to present the fortress to the King as a gift (an empty gift, he thinks, since it will be manned and defended by Fouquet's men rather than the King's.) Athos, meanwhile, falls out with Louis over his clandestine affair with Louise - whom his son Raoul also loves, but she does not return his feelings - and resigns from his service and public life. Louis petulantly orders Athos's imprisonment, but is talked out of it by D'Artagnan, and Athos is freed before spending a single night in prison.

The last section of the novel is famous, in part, for building its plot around Dumas' hypothesis that the Man in the Iron Mask, Philippe, was Louis XIV's identical twin brother. Aramis plots a coup d’état to replace Louis with Philippe, who Aramis believes to be equally worthy of being called "the rightful king" - in other words, to replace Louis, over whom he has no influence, with Philippe, whom he would obviously have some influence over (and hoping that Philippe in turn will assist in Aramis's own ambitions, to be a Cardinal and perhaps even Pope.) Aramis entangles the trusting strongman Porthos in his scheme, although Porthos knows nothing beyond that he is taking orders from Aramis. When Fouquet, France's Superintendent of Finance, throws a lavish party for Louis at Fouquet's chateau in Vaux, Colbert becomes jealous. Colbert, who wants to take Fouquet's position, easily convinces Louis that Fouquet has financed the extravagant estate by stealing money from France and therefore from Louis (which is, in fact, entirely true anyway). Louis then orders d'Artagnan to arrest Fouquet later that night.

That same evening, Aramis kidnaps Louis, imprisons him in the Bastille, and places Philippe on the throne (Aramis's Jesuit connections come in useful: Baisemeaux, the governor of the Bastille, is a member of the Jesuit Order, and Aramis is his superior and is therefore able to order him about without his asking questions). Aramis reveals the plot to Fouquet, expecting an ally. To his amazement, Fouquet is incensed by the event and quickly rescues Louis from the Bastille (much to the confusion of Governor Baisemeaux, who for the second time in a day receives orders from a superior and is unable to resolve his conflicting loyalties, and once again decides it is best to ask no further questions and know nothing). Louis returns, exposes Philippe - with some small assistance from D'Artagnan who dares to take Philippe prisoner after it is clear to all that Philippe is not lying, but is truly the King's brother - and regains the throne, ending Philippe's brief reign and his part in the novel. Louis banishes Philippe, ordering that "He will cover his face with an iron visor, which the prisoner cannot raise without peril of his life." It is D'Artagnan who is subsequently trusted with the task of conducting the prisoner to prison: a chance encounter with Athos and Raoul results in them learning the secret as well, but nothing further comes of their knowledge, as Raoul is on his way to war in Africa, and Athos retired from politics.

Aramis and Porthos are forced to flee, and Aramis finally lets Porthos know how he has deceived him into helping with the failed scheme.

Despite Fouquet's rescue, Louis ultimately orders d'Artagnan to arrest Fouquet after a meeting at Nantes - from which Fouquet escapes, but D'Artagnan overtakes him and arrests him. Subsequently, Louis gives D'Artagnan the order to arrest and execute Porthos and Aramis. d'Artagnan feigns carrying out the king's orders while secretly giving his friends Aramis and Porthos every chance to escape from their hideaway on Belle Isle - despite knowing they are plainly guilty, he would rather see them flee to exile where they might live long enough to receive a pardon. However, Colbert anticipates d'Artagnan's motives and outmaneuvers him with orders circumventing his efforts. The last straw is the order that any prisoners are to be shot immediately, not taken for trial, even if they surrender: upon learning this, D'Artagnan resigns. But even his resignation (and subsequent temporary arrest) fails to throw the King's army into confusion, since a replacement leader was already appointed: the newly-fortified Belle-Isle has not enough defenders, and must fall, without more than cursory resistance as even Aramis advises the populace that resistance is futile.

Trying to escape from Belle Isle, Porthos becomes the first of the four musketeers to die, when he is crushed by boulders as a sudden loss of strength in his legs prevents his escape. Porthos' father and grandfather died as a result of a similar loss of strength. As a result of Porthos's efforts, though, Aramis and a few friends slaughter over a hundred of their pursuers and are able to escape to sea. Even then they are nearly captured, but once again Aramis's Jesuit connections allow him to make an escape, when the captain of the ship that captures Aramis also turns out to be a Jesuit: and the ship is last seen heading for Spain.

In the meantime, Raoul, Athos' adopted son, devastated by his fiancée's love affair with the French king, volunteers to fight a war against the Arabs, and after his departure Athos sinks into a deep depression, rapidly becoming old and feeble. When he learns Raoul has died in the war, Athos succumbs to his grief and dies. Meanwhile, the arrested D'Artagnan has a long conversation with King Louis, as a result of which he is freed and returned to his position, with some compromise on both sides. He learns of Porthos's death and Aramis's escape, and also learns to better understand Colbert's ambitions for France, having previously only seen him as a power-seeking social climber. Colbert has replaced Fouquet as minister of finance now: and the author, for the sake of historical accuracy perhaps, mentions in a dialogue Colbert's future achievements - building granaries, edifices, cities, and ports; creating a marine and equipping navies; constructing libraries and academies; and making France the wealthiest country of the period. All of these being things that Fouquet would not have even attempted, preferring to spend on show and splendour, and spend for many years ahead of the actual revenue. While D'Artagnan (and, one suspects, Dumas as well) found Fouquet a far more likeable character to be around, one gets the impression that in the end both were glad it was Colbert to whom the task of reorganising France's finances fell.

Aramis finds his way to Spain and turns up as the Spanish ambassador to France, working to ensure the neutrality of Spain in France's campaign against the United Provinces in 1667 (about 5 years after the deaths of Porthos and Athos). In the final chapter, Louis has become a wise and powerful king, and Colbert assists him in masterminding France's return to power via the military campaign against the United Provinces, with d'Artagnan in charge of the attack. During the war, d'Artagnan, almost 60 by then, is killed moments after reading the letter declaring him Marshal of France, his lifelong ambition, uttering the final words, "Athos, Porthos, au revoir!

N\A 29/11/2010

Ενότητα: Book Summaries part 1

Πηγή: Wikipedia