Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Three Musketeers, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Friendship and Loyalty
Honor
Class and Power
The Secrets of the Past
Seduction and Romance
Summary
Analysis
After several days go by and Athos still hasn’t been seen, d’Artagnan and Porthos decide to inform M. de Tréville that Athos is likely being held unjustly in prison. Immediately, M. de Tréville springs into action. He heads to the Louvre to talk to the king and the cardinal. Meanwhile, Athos is imprisoned at the Fort l’Eveque, where he is repeatedly interrogated. The interrogations don’t bother Athos because he knows he is innocent and will be released soon.
D’Artagnan knows that Athos has suffered enough on his behalf, which is why he plans to get him out of jail. Luckily, with M. de Tréville on his side, doing so shouldn’t prove difficult. Meanwhile, Athos doesn’t act like he’s suffered much at all; if anything, jail seems to have been a nice break for him.
Themes
M. de Tréville arrives at the Louvre agitated and ready to fight tooth and nail for Athos. As it turns out, the Louvre is a complicated place full of secrets and conspiracies. The king is jealous regarding Queen Anne who he suspects is having an affair. The cardinal knows about this and uses it to his advantage. Additionally, the cardinal himself was once romantically interested in the queen and now thinks of her as his enemy because she rejected his advances. Additionally, the queen is angry with the king because he had her best friend, Madame de Chevreuse, sent away. The cardinal is interested in the relationship between the queen and Madame de Chevreuse because he thinks they know one another’s secrets. The cardinal thinks that Madame Bonacieux is the go-between for these two women.
Here, the cardinal’s motivations come into full view. Not only is the queen a political traitor because of her relationship with the duke, but she also turned down the cardinal. The cardinal has a large ego and cannot stand the fact that the duke won the queen over when he couldn’t. This passage also introduces the character of Madame de Chevreuse, someone who never utters a line of dialogue, but is nonetheless crucial to the overall narrative. Among other things, Madame de Chevreuse does act as the queen’s messenger, as the cardinal suspects.
Themes
When M. de Tréville arrives, the king is angry because the cardinal recently informed him that he failed to catch the woman transporting secret messages for the queen because a musketeer interfered. However, the king’s anger does not stop M. de Tréville, who immediately demands to know why Athos was thrown in jail. This begins an argument between M. de Tréville and the cardinal, both of whom swear that their men are in the right. Eventually, M. de Tréville prevails when he stakes his personal honor on the fact that d’Artagnan was with him at the time he was allegedly involved in helping Madame de Chevreuse. He also swears to the king that Athos isn’t guilty of any wrongdoing. The cardinal demands a trial, but M. de Tréville’s word is all the king needs. He declares that Athos should be released immediately.
Once again, M. de Tréville easily prevails over the cardinal, not just because the king likes him more, but because the cardinal has some of his facts wrong. Actually, M. de Tréville has some of his facts wrong as well because d’Artagnan changed his clock, but this helps rather than hurts him because he can swear by his men with sincerity. Additionally, it is the case that the cardinal’s men are holding Athos unjustly and have been for some time. The cardinal has no argument for continuing to hold Athos, which means that the musketeer can go free.
Themes
Athos is released from prison and reunited with his friends. He warns d’Artagnan that the cardinal is sure to be unhappy with what has transpired and will likely retaliate. Around the same time, the cardinal is at the palace telling the king that the Duke of Buckingham was recently in Paris.
If d’Artagnan wasn’t on the cardinal’s radar before, he certainly is now. Going forward, d’Artagnan must carefully plan out his every move for his safety.
Themes
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