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Chapter 10
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
On the way home from M. de Tréville’s residence, d’Artagnan thinks about making Madame Bonacieux his mistress. D’Artagnan is not only struck by Madame Bonacieux’s beauty, but also by her wealth and her connections to important people. While thinking about Madame Bonacieux, d’Artagnan completely forgets about her husband and his current predicament.
Wanting to talk more about Madame Bonacieux, d’Artagnan heads to Aramis’s house. On the way there he sees a woman wrapped in a cloak who looks lost. Before long, d’Artagnan realizes she is looking for Aramis’s house, so he decides to watch and see what happens. When the woman arrives at Aramis’s house, she taps on one of his shutters. The shutter opens and d’Artagnan sees that she is talking to whoever is inside. However, d’Artagnan cannot see who it is.
Here, d’Artagnan sees an opportunity to learn more about Aramis. Although Aramis claims that he does not have a mistress, a woman secretly arriving at his house in the middle of the night would suggest otherwise.
Themes
Hoping to get a glance at who he assumes is Aramis, d’Artagnan shifts his position. However, he is shocked to find that the mysterious woman is talking to another woman who d’Artagnan doesn’t recognize. D’Artagnan watches as the two women exchange handkerchiefs, at least one of which looks like the handkerchief he picked up for Aramis. After the conversation between the two women ends, the shutter closes and the woman in the cloak turns around. As she does so, d’Artagnan realizes that the woman is none other than Madame Bonacieux.
To d’Artagnan’s great surprise, not one, but two women are actually present at Aramis’s house. Once again, the handkerchiefs appear, suggesting that they are central to the mystery at hand. Furthermore, the presence of the handkerchiefs in this secret meeting suggests that Aramis might know more than he is letting on.
Themes
D’Artagnan follows Madame Bonacieux, partially out of curiosity and partially out of jealousy. However, Madame Bonacieux quickly realizes she is being followed and starts to run. Eventually d’Artagnan catches her and she realizes who he is. D’Artagnan then asks her why she was at Aramis’s house, and she responds by telling him that she doesn’t know who Aramis is. Furthermore, she refuses to identify the woman she was talking to, though she does claim her as a friend.
Although he barely knows her, d’Artagnan is already jealous of Madame Bonacieux’s relationship with Aramis; he wonders whether Madam Bonacieux is secretly Aramis’s mistress. However, d’Artagnan’s jealousy doesn’t allow him to think clearly. If anything, it seems that the woman inside Aramis’s home would be his mistress, not Madame Bonacieux.
Themes
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Although Madame Bonacieux refuses to tell d’Artagnan anything of significance, she asks him to escort her to her next destination. D’Artagnan agrees to do so. Once they arrive, Madame Bonacieux sends d’Artagnan away and makes him promise not to follow her anymore, both for her safety and his. D’Artagnan begrudgingly agrees to her conditions, though he makes his romantic interest in her clear in the process.
Because d’Artagnan is romantically interested in Madame Bonacieux, he decides to do what she says, even though it goes against his better judgement. Although Madame Bonacieux places some trust in d’Artagnan, she does not yet trust him completely.
Themes
As he walks away from where he left Madame Bonacieux, d’Artagnan runs into Planchet who tells him that Athos was just arrested. Apparently, Athos went to d’Artagnan’s apartment to find him and was arrested because the police assumed he was d’Artagnan. Athos purposely did not correct the police so that d’Artagnan would have a few days to settle their current predicament without being pursued by law enforcement. This pleases d’Artagnan, who heads back to M. de Tréville’s place to update him on what is going on.
Athos proves that he is a loyal friend to d’Artagnan by getting arrested on his behalf. Evidently, the cardinal’s men have realized that d’Artagnan is involved in Madame Bonacieux’s plot, meaning that he is in danger—or, at least, he would have been if Athos didn’t go to jail in his place. Athos’s decision is a good example of the musketeers’ motto (“all for one, one for all”) in action.
Themes
When d’Artagnan arrives at M. de Tréville’s house, he finds that he is not home. While returning to his own home, d’Artagnan walks near the Louvre where he sees someone who looks suspiciously like Madame Bonacieux. This person is walking with a man who looks like he might be Aramis. Jealous, d’Artagnan confronts the couple and finds out that he was only half correct. The woman is indeed Madame Bonacieux, but the man she is walking with is the Duke of Buckingham. Realizing his mistake, d’Artagnan apologizes. The duke quickly accepts the apology and asks d’Artagnan to trail behind them to see if they are being followed. D’Artagnan does as he is told. Eventually, the duke and Madame Bonacieux reach their destination, which is the Louvre, and d’Artagnan leaves to meet his friends at an inn.
Even though he promised Madame Bonacieux that he would stop following her, d’Artagnan just cannot help himself. The reveal of the Duke of Buckingham was foreshadowed in an earlier scene where it is mentioned that Aramis was stopped by the man from Meung because he looks like the duke. Despite his rash behavior, d’Artagnan still manages to be helpful although he's also broken Madame Bonacieux’s trust; from her perspective, it looks as though d'Artagnan continued following her after he promised not to, even though that is only partially true.
Themes
