Reflection

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas is strongly action packed novel based in 14^th century France. The book effectively draws the reader in with the colourful character d’Artagnan. Within the first few pages he is challenging strangers is a duel causes a snowball affect which leads to d’Artagnan goal of revenge. Soon the story introduces the three musketeers Aramis, Athos and Porthos. Though first describes by the other musketeers as the best of the best which gave them a serious nature later it is revealed that three have a humorous and light hearted nature. The book escalates when d’Artagnan’s brash actions resulted in him having the challenge the three to a duel which would have resulted to his death. Even to near the end of his life d’Artagnan had an optimistic view of the situation. Luckily at the last minute cardinal guards arrives which results in a fight and ends with the four forgiving each out and begins the start of their friendship. This is one of the most enjoyable sections of the book because is the most action packed and it conveys the overall message and tone of the novel. Then the plot quickly escalates as the musketeers slowly lose money and the Le cardinals devious plans slowly unfold. The heroes soon encounter many complications during the quest for the diamond necklace, many from their past, which creates an extra layer of difficulty.  Overall this action packed novel in a very enjoyable read and recommend to anyone who can get their hands on copy.

The relevance and adaptation

This novel has influenced many modern novels and pop culture. Ideas such as companionship have been a main theme of many novels such as The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling and Lord of the Rings by J.R. Tolkien. In which the main characters must combines their strengths in order to overcome or defeat the enemy. The characters must also overcome personal difference to achieve the overall goal. This is show n in Harry Potter where Harry and his friends must defeat the dark lord but as they come closer to their goal conflict cause them to separate. This is overcome in the end to unite and defeat the dark lord. This is similar Frodo in this party to quest to defeat the dark lord Sauron by throwing the one ring into the volcano, Mount Doom. They encounter many challenges which slowly break the group apart but the biggest challenge was the group trying to overcome the corrupting power of the ring. This leads to the end in which Frodo must choose between the ring and his friends. In the end the Frodo chooses his friends over the ring and ends with the friends becoming reunited. This is comparable to The Three Musketeers in where the friends would always stay together through every challenge thrown at them which is first show by the fight with the Cardinal’s guards. The novel, as shown, has affected the relationship of characters from performing individually to uniting and combining strengths.

The context

The context of ‘The Three Musketeers’ begins in 17^th century France in a small town of Gascony. This first introduces the protagonist d’Artagnan and his quest to join the Musketeers.  After a series of dramatic events he is sucked into the conspiracies between le Cardinal, the King of France and the Duke of England.  Soon after, meets the famed three musketeers: Aramis, Athos and Porthos who he soon befriends after a conflict with the cardinals guards. d’Artagnan then discovers the life of a musketeer is not all the glamour he once thought, struggling to pay rent and for food. Until the meeting between Buckingham, the Duke of England and Queen Anna of France whom have mutual feelings of each other but it cannot be public. As a sign of affection Anne gives Buckingham her diamond necklace which was a gifted from her husband, the King of France. Le Cardinals spy learns of this and tell Le Cardinal creates a devious to cause chaos in the royal family. The musketeers must then retrieve the diamonds before the disaster strikes. There are many strong themes throughout the novel with the main themes being ‘taking every opportunity that comes along’ and ‘companionship’. The opportunistic theme is portrayed by the character d’Artagnan whose father passes down the moral message of taking every opportunity given.  He shows this at the beginning of the novel in which he challenges a mysterious a man to a due which results in him becoming bed ridden, and later in the novel he challenges the three musketeers which would have lead to his death. Companionship is strongly shown through the partnership of the musketeers. Just before the duel between d’Artagnan and three musketeers, the four encountered the cardinal’s guards and the four must fight together in order to survive which unite the four together. The motto “all for one and one for all” is the best representation meaning each person can benefit the group and the group will benefit the individual.

Here is the link to the movie

http://putlocker.bz/watch-the-three-musketeers-2011-online-free-putlocker.html