We resume the tale of The Three Musketeers once again by introducing another character to the mix. We shall address her as Milady whom we learn shortly after meeting shall be the cause of many of the musketeers' dilemmas; especially D'Artagnan's.
Currently, Milady is kept in captivity by her brother in-law, Lord de Winter. Milday, as we learn later on in the story, has multiple aliases, and multiple crimes on her slate. The reason she is imprisoned by her brother in-law is because D'Artagnan gives him a tip-off as to her manipulative nature. It is highly suspected that Milady killed her husband so that she could gain his fortune. She is now trying to kill her brother in-law, as well as D'Artagnan for sparing her brother in-law in a duel. Upon getting the warning, Lord de Winter reassures D'Artagnan that all shall be taken care of.
As Milady is a con woman of the Cardinal's, she is also attempting to reveal the relations between Lord Buckingham of England, and Anne of Austria, Louis XIII's wife. Since she is on a mission for the Cardinal regarding Buckingham, Milady sails over to England, where her brother in-law happens to live. Upon her arrival, she is directed by her soon-to-be jail guard, Felton to her brother in-law's castle, where she remains in captivity for six days.
This is a significant part of the plot, as it reveals Milady's mental processes over the six day span in which she manipulates Felton into setting her free. Lord de Winter has always had some idea of Milady's devious nature, and warns Felton of it many times. Close to the end of Milady's stay in the castle, Lord de Winter catches on that Felton has been corrupted by her and sends him away, but it is too late. With a plan already in mind for setting her free, Felton whisks Milady off to a sail boat, and the two agree to meet somewhere in France sometime later.
We learn from this incident, that Milady is a very intelligent, and observant woman. Over the six days she is captive, she examines Felton thoroughly for any sign of weakness. Milady by chance discovers that Felton is a devout Puritan, and thereby takes on the role of a fervent one herself; all of the other guards and Lord de Winter are Catholic. 'Lord de Winter, who is a Catholic like you, Madam, thinks that the privation of the rites and ceremonies of your religion may be painful to you; he therefore consents that you should read your mass, and here is a book which contains the ritual'--Owing to the manner in which Felton laid this book on the table near Milady, the tone in which he pronounced 'your mass,' and the smile of contempt with which the words were accompanied, Milady raised her head and looked attentively at the officer... (Dumas, 447) This makes Milady much more intimate with Felton, and he begins to believe everything she tells him. Milady's most significant lie is that Lord Buckingham has taken advantage of her good nature and severely abused her. Felton is enraged upon hearing this, as Milady seems to him the most virtuous Puritan he has ever laid eyes on. However, there is also the fact that Felton has fallen madly in love with her.
Once he releases Milady, Felton sets out to have revenge on Lord Buckingham for ruining Milady's supposed good name. Felton confronts Lord Buckingham, and at the end of their *tête-à-tête, although Buckingham denies all he is accused of, Felton kills him. Felton is then seized by Buckingham's alerted guards. As the guards take him away, Felton has the horrific epiphany that Milady has grossly deceived him.
While Milady's ways may seem foul and unjust, one must consider the time period this woman was born in. Women were still considered to be goods and chattel to some extent. For a woman to be truly successful in her lifetime, she had to manipulate men who had the power to change her situation, and achieve her goals. Milady is essentially doing just that, in an imperceptible fashion to her victims. The only person so far who seems to have outwitted Milady is D'Artagnan, which is partly why her sentiments toward him are so vehement. While I see that Milady's actions are loathsome, I also admire her character for achieving many of her goals, the only way a woman truly could in the seventeenth century.
* Tête-à-Tête: A private conversation or interview, usually between two people.
I find it interesting that a male writer would spend so much time characterizing a female character as manipulative but also independent and wily. It really gives pause to think about how men saw women during Dumas' time.
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