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Chapter 64
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
Together, the group rides off in search of Milady. It is a stormy night, which makes travel more difficult than it would be otherwise. At several points, the musketeers try to engage Athos’s mystery man in conversation. However, he remains stoic. Eventually the group reaches the inn where Milady was last spotted. Grimaud, who’s been keeping an eye on Milady, tells the musketeers that she is no longer there. Grimaud then leads the musketeers to Milady’s current position. Milady is in a small house by herself. No one else is around except the musketeers, their servants, Lord de Winter, and the man in red.
Here, the novel once again takes on a Gothic tone. The storm clouds suggest something ominous is about to happen and the presence of the man in red implies that a mystery will soon be solved. Although she is resourceful, Milady is surrounded on all sides, and to make matters worse, she doesn’t even know it. This time, it doesn’t look like she’ll be able to escape.
Themes
Literary Devices
Athos peers in the window of the house and spots Milady. Milady sees Athos and screams. Before she can escape, Athos smashes the window of the house and makes his way into the room. Milady tries to escape out the door, but instead she comes face to face with d’Artagnan’s gun. Athos tells everyone to lower their weapons and they do. Everyone else, except the servants, enter the house to bear witness to what is about to happen.
This scene is effective because it makes Milady a sympathetic character even after everything she’s done. Her terror is genuine as she comes face to face with all of the people who she’s wronged, some of whom have also wronged her.
Themes
Together, the musketeers hold a trial for Milady. Everyone goes around and lists the crimes Milady has committed. Even Athos talks about his history with Milady and for the first time Porthos and Aramis learn the truth about their friend’s past. Even the man in the red cloak has been wronged by Milady. As it turns out, the man in the red cloak is the brother of a priest who Milady corrupted. Together, Milady and the priest stole sacred objects from a church. Although the priest ended up in jail, Milady managed to avoid trouble by marrying Athos. Ashamed of himself and his actions, the priest took his own life. Additionally, the man in the red cloak acts as the town’s executioner. After the trial is over, the men go around and state their belief that Milady deserves the death penalty.
Finally, the truth comes out and all of the novel’s primary characters learn the full extent of Milady’s transgressions. As it turns out, she is responsible for many deaths, none of which she seems to feel bad about. In addition to his history with Milady, the executioner is present because he is the one who will carry out Milady’s death sentence.
Themes
