The Meeting or Pride and Vegeance

We begin the tale of The Three Musketeers by addressing when Athos, Porthos, and Aramis meet their soon-to-be-comrade, D'Artagnan. Astoundingly, on D'Artagnan's first encounter with each of the three musketeers, he unintentionally enrages all of them. D'Artagnan crashes into Athos upon descending some stairs, mocks Porthos' new sash,and offends Aramis by picking up a handkerchief the musketeer was trying to conceal. The three musketeers all feel that in some way or another, the young *Gascon has offended them, and each schedules a duel with him.

One can detect a hint of irony in what Dumas has written, as each characters' goal becomes to reap vengeance and regain their pride. D'Artagnan seeks 'the Man of Meung' who stole his letter, while the three musketeers end up seeking D'Artagnan during his quest. While pride is certainly still held priceless in today's society by many, it seems more defined in the seventeenth century's romanticism, as reactions during this time period are much more exaggerated. Pride and vengeance are both recurring themes throughout the plot for each of the four characters; it turns out to be what bonds them as comrades.

Although D'Artagnan schedules duels with each musketeer at a different time, the musketeers' arrivals overlap. Just as the four reach the unanimous decision that each man will take on D'Artagnan in the order they made their appointments, a troop of the cardinal's guards spots them. Dueling is against the law, so the troops declare they shall arrest the four men. The three musketeers protest ardently, and begin to fight the guards. D'Artagnan takes the side of the musketeers upon exclaiming: "Gentlemen,allow me to contradict you when you say you are but three; it appears to me that we are four"(Dumas,43). The three musketeers then observe him severely injure one of the guards. The confrontation ends with the three musketeers and D'Artagnan soundly defeating the guards, and a new admiration is held for the Gascon.

Following the incident with the Cardinal's guards, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis all become close comrades of D'Artagnan, as they admire the bravery of someone so young. The rest of the book encompasses the four's adventures, both full of prosperity and tribulation. Thus they went, arm-in-arm, taking up the whole breadth of the street, accosting every musketeer they met, until in the end their progress became a triumphal march. The heart of D'Artagnan was intoxicated with delight; he marched between Athos and Porthos, pressing them tenderly. (Dumas, 46)

* Gascon: a native of Gascony, France, the inhabitants of which were reputedly very boastful. D'Artagnan is referred to as a Gascon in the novel. In the beginning of the book this is highly stressed, as he is considered almost a complete foreigner when he arrives in Paris, where he meets the three musketeers.