I’m feeling literary tonight, so I’m going to get this off my chest. I recently reread The Three Musketeers for the third or fourth time, and in retrospect, I’ve developed a fair amount of sympathy for Milady who is pretty much the villianess of the piece. Am I the only one who feels this way?
OK, here’s the case against Milady. (Spoilers here for those of you who might be inspired to rush out and get the book after reading this post).
1. She married Athos without telling him about her sordid past. He responded by stringing her up from a tree in a gentlemanly way.
2. She efficiently assisted Richelieu in his diabolical plans against the Queen. But we all know that Dumas pretty much twisted history around here -- Richelieu was a rather adept administrator who was actually good for France, while the Queen and King were pretty standard monarchs of the time; that is, basically self-absorbed aristocrats.
3. She spurned D'Artagnan. He responds by effectively raping her by entering her bedchamber pretending to be someone else. This seems to be regarded as, at most, youthful hijinks by Dumas, but it leaves a pretty nasty taste in the mouth of the modern reader.
4. She seduces the Puritan fanatic and gets him to kill Buckingham. Well, OK, all's fair in love and war. England and France are enemies. Mission accomplished.
5. She tries to kill D'Artagnan and his buddies with some poisoned wine. Not very sporting, but she's hardly physically equipped to run them through. And during the book, none of the Musketeers have any compunction about stabbing, shooting, or thrashing anyone who gets in their way. It's all considered good swashbuckling fun. And again, after (3), I'm pretty much on Milady's side here.
6. She poisons D'Artagnan's lover, Constance Bonacieux. OK, this one's hard to explain away. But again, not much different than D'Artagnan running through a few of the Cardinal's men for fun, or stabbing Lord De Winter (Milady's intended lover) while on his way to England.
So all in all, not a *nice* girl. Not one you'd take home to mother. More like La Femme Nikita of the mid 1600's. But maybe not as black as she's painted by Dumas.
Anyone else find themselves sympathizing with Milady? Any other literary characters that you consider to have gotten a raw deal?