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Chapter 18
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
Excited for his new mission, d’Artagnan heads to M. de Tréville’s house. D’Artagnan tells M. de Tréville that he is on a secret mission for the queen. M. de Tréville insists that d’Artagnan keep the details of the mission secret and promises to give him as much time off as he needs. M. de Tréville also tells d’Artagnan that he should bring people with him on his journey. Otherwise, he is likely to be killed. D’Artagnan agrees and so M. de Tréville writes four letters excusing d’Artagnan, Athos, Aramis, and Porthos from their duties for the next 15 days.
M. de Tréville trusts d’Artagnan completely, which is why he does not press him for details. He knows that learning more information about the situation would put himself and the queen in more danger rather than less. As usual, M. de Tréville goes above and beyond; he knows d’Artagnan cannot pull off such an important mission on his own, so he sends the three musketeers with him.
Themes
Next, d’Artagnan goes to Aramis’s apartment. Just a few minutes after d’Artagnan arrives, a servant delivers Aramis his leave of absence letter. When d’Artagnan tells Aramis about the mission, he is hesitant. D’Artagnan quickly realizes that Aramis is worried about the woman he saw in Aramis’s house while spying on Madame Bonacieux. D’Artagnan tells Aramis not to worry about the woman because she went to Tours to avoid persecution by the cardinal. This satisfies Aramis and together the two of them make their way to Athos’s house, with Bazin trailing closely behind.
The rest of this chapter shares its structure with the earlier sequence where d’Artagnan challenges each of the musketeers to a duel. However, in this case, d’Artagnan must explain to each of the three musketeers that they are going on an important mission without explicitly stating the mission’s purpose. Luckily, d’Artagnan and his friends now share a deep sense of loyalty, which makes his job easy.
Themes
When they get to Athos’s place, Athos has already received his letter. D’Artagnan explains that they are going on a mission for the queen but does not get more specific than that. In the middle of the explanation, Porthos arrives, also bearing a letter. D’Artagnan tells everyone that they’ve received 300 pistoles for their mission. He then gives 75 to everyone so that the wealth is equally spread around. The musketeers are concerned that they don’t know more about the nature of what sounds like a dangerous task, but they trust d’Artagnan and agree to join him.
Whatever skepticism the musketeers might have about the nature of the mission is immediately wiped away by the sight of money. As always, the money is divided equally. D’Artagnan’s dispersal of the funds is entirely selfless. Even though he could give more to himself than everyone else, he chooses not to. Such selflessness allows the musketeers and d’Artagnan to work together effectively, and it exemplifies their “all for one, one for all” motto.
Themes
D’Artagnan and the musketeers all get their servants together and tell them how to prepare for the mission. D’Artagnan also tells his friends about the letter he possesses. In case he dies on the journey, he expects his friends to take the letter off of his body and keep going. Everyone agrees to D’Artagnan’s plan, and they begin their journey.
Even though they don’t know the nature of the mission, the musketeers are willing to lay their lives on the line because they trust d’Artagnan. Trust is foundational to the four friends’ relationship and without it, this mission could not go forward.
Themes
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