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Chapter 21
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
It is the day of the ball, and the king and queen are expected to perform La Merlaison, the king’s favorite dance. Throughout the day, many people work hard to make sure everything is ready for the ball. When night arrives, the king shows up, looking tired. Soon after, the queen arrives, and she looks tired as well. The crowd is perplexed and assumes something must be wrong. Both the king and the queen go into their dressing rooms to get ready. As soon as the cardinal arrives, he finds the queen and gets excited when she doesn’t have her diamond tags. He reports this information to the king who, in turn, finds the queen and berates her for not doing what he asked.
“La Merlaison” is the name of a ballet written in part by Louis XIII, although the extent of his contribution to the piece is debatable. Regardless, the ball is obviously an important event, but something is clearly wrong with the king and the queen. Evidently, the king doesn’t have a problem with chastising the queen in public, which is not a good look for the crown. Apparently, the queen has yet to get her hands on the diamond tags, and the king knows that some sort of plot is afoot.
Themes
In response, the queen promises to send someone to fetch the tags. While the queen returns to her dressing room, the cardinal approaches the king and shows him the two diamonds that he stole from the tags. He tells the king that if the queen does come back with the tags on—which he doubts—then two will be missing. When the queen comes back, she is wearing the tags, although neither the cardinal nor the king can tell whether they are completely intact.
Finally, the cardinal reveals the importance of the tags to the king, although he is immediately undermined as the queen emerges from her dressing room. Apparently, d’Artagnan managed to return the tags just in time because the queen is wearing them. Although the king and the cardinal cannot see them yet, the tags are presumably intact.
Themes
Eventually, the king makes his way to the queen and shows her the missing tags. The queen thanks the king because rather than 12, she will now have 14. This confuses the king who asks the cardinal to explain himself. The cardinal makes up an excuse and acts happy, but he is clearly annoyed that his plan was ruined.
This moment is a major triumph for the queen and a major blow to the cardinal’s credibility. The king knows that something must have happened between the two of them, but he has no idea what.
Themes
Nearby, d’Artagnan watches all of the interactions between the king, the queen, and the cardinal. He is one of the few people who understands what is going on. Satisfied, d’Artagnan turns to leave, but before he can he spots a woman dressed all in black who gestures for him to follow her. D’Artagnan does so and is eventually led to a room where a number of women are chanting, including the queen herself. After the chanting stops, the queen stands up and gives d’Artagnan a diamond ring as payment for his services. After, Madame Bonacieux returns (she was the woman in black) and tells d’Artagnan to return to his apartment. D’Artagnan insists on meeting up with Madame Bonacieux and she tells him that she’s left him a note in his apartment.
The interaction between the king, queen, and cardinal, is also satisfying for d’Artagnan because of all the work he went through to obtain the tags. He knows that he’s performed a favor that will have both negative and positive consequences for him. Although he’s gained an ally in the queen, he’s made even more of an enemy out of the cardinal. However, for the moment, the most important thing to D’Artagnan is the love of Madame Bonacieux, which he has finally earned.
Themes
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