Man in the Iron Mask (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

by Alexandre Dumas

  These men grow, not of the author’s set purpose, in the ordinary fashion, according to a rule of logic, but as men grow in life, naturally. He could not have planned it: at the proper time he simply knew it. The Athos, the Porthos, the Aramis, and the d‘Artagnan of “Le Vicomte de Bragelonne” are not those of “Les Trois Mousquetaires,” or even of “Vingt Ans Après.” But the author does not inform us of it, except in a single case; and then he is evidently surprised as we are. They grow; and, if they are honest men, they grow better, on stepping-stones of their own baser selves. D’Artagnan learns that there is a better guide than his own rebellious desire; Porthos drops his braggart ways; and, from a vicious boy, Gilbert becomes an honorable man. Apparently romantically unreal, Dumas’s novels are realistic at bottom; for they are founded on what is true in human life and in human character.

  —from Forum (June 1899)

  WALKER MCSPADDEN

  D‘Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis of the Vicomte de Bragelonne are not the same characters of Twenty Years After or The Three Musketeers. D’Artagnan learned that other authorities may arise beside his own stubborn will; he learned that his lode-star was not self-advancement, but service. Athos discovered the beauty of a vicarious existence; the strength of example above precept. Porthos found that vanity and worldly pride are secondary to self-sacrifice. Aramis, looking with dimmed, aching eyes at the rocky sepulchre of Belle-Isle, realized that all the intrigues and advancements of a world cannot replace a friend. Step by step these men advanced, and with each step was wrought an irrevocable change until at last each had worked out his mission upon earth. And if his motives remained fixed and grounded upon Friendship and Honor and Chivalry, he could well go to his final repose like one who “wraps the drapery of his couch about him and lies down to pleasant dreams.”

  —from his introduction to The Vicomte de Bragelonne (1907)

  QUESTIONS

  1. Can you tell from reading this novel whether Dumas, if he were living here and now, would be a liberal or a conservative? What is the evidence for your answer?

  2. How does Dumas see love between a man and a woman? Is it redemptive, divisive, easily deflected by other desires and ambitions, always fueled by ulterior motives, a mere biological appetite, or the best thing there is?

  3. Why are the doings of French aristocrats of hundreds of years ago interesting to ordinary twenty-first-century Americans? What makes that milieu so attractive to us? Do we see ourselves in its class divisions and complexities? Do we find it enthralling as drama but essentially foreign?

  4. Is Dumas’s view of human nature essentially positive or negative, and why?

  For Further Reading

  There is little in the way of truly critical literature on The Man in the Iron Mask in English. When the work is discussed, even in studies written in French, it is most often presented as part of the third segment in the trilogy that includes The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte of Bragelonne.

  BIOGRAPHIES AND GENERAL STUDIES

  Bell, A. Craig. Alexandre Dumas: A Biography and Study. London: Cassell, 1950.

  Bell, David F. Real Time: Accelerating Narrative from Balzac to Zola. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003.

  Cooper, Barbara T. “Alexandre Dumas père (1802-1870).” In Nineteenth-Century French Fiction Writers: Romanticism and Realism, 1800-1860, vol. 119 of Dictionary of Literary Biography, edited by Catherine Savage Brosman. Detroit: Gale Research Press, 1992, pp. 98-119.

  Hemmings, F. W. J. The King of Romance: A Portrait of Alexandre Dumas. London: H. Hamilton, 1979.

  Jan, Isabelle. Alexandre Dumas, romancier. Paris: Les Editions Ouvrières, 1973.

  Maurois, André. The Titans: A Three-Generation Biography of the Dumas. Translated by Gerard Hopkins. New York: Harper, 1957.

  Peng, Youjun. La Nation chez Alexandre Dumas. Paris: L’Harmattan, 2003.

  Ross, Michael. Alexandre Dumas. North Pomfret, VT: David and Charles, 1981.

  Schopp, Claude. Alexandre Dumas: Genius of Life. Translated by A. J. Koch. New York and Toronto: Franklin Watts, 1988. The most recent edition in French is Alexandre Dumas: Le Genie de la vie, Paris: Fayard, 2002.

  Stowe, Richard S. Alexandre Dumas père. Boston: Twayne, 1976. This volume is in English.

  Sylvain, Claude. Humeurs et humour d’Alexandre Dumas. Paris: J. Grancher, 1993. On humor in Dumas’s works.

  Troyat, Henri. Alexandre Dumas, Le Cinquième Mousquetaire. Paris: Grasset, 2005.

  Zimmermann, Daniel. Alexandre Dumas le grand: biographie. Paris: Phébus, 2002.

  PERIODICALS

  “Alexandre Dumas.” Special issue, L‘Arc 71 (1978). Cahiers d’Alexandre Dumas. Annual publication of the Société des Amis d’Alexandre Dumas, edited by Claude Schopp. Topic varies each year. 1983-present.

  “Alexandre Dumas père.” Special issue, Europe 48:490-491 (February-March 1970).

  “Alexandre Dumas.” Special issue, Le Français dans le monde 323 (September-October 2002).

  “Dumas.” Special issue, Le Magazine littéraire 412:41 (January 8, 2002).

  WEB SITES AND OTHER INTERNET RESOURCES

  http://www.cadytech.com/dumas. In English and French.

  http://www.dumaspere.com. In French and English; official site of the Société des Amis d’Alexandre Dumas.

  http://www.pastichesdumas.com. In French; on parodies, continuations, etc., of Dumas’s novels.

  http://larondedessavoirs.free.fr/lespagesperso/larondedeslivres/dossiers/ dumas.pdf. In French; includes biography, list of works, etc.

  http://www.vaux-le-vicomte.com. In French and English; official site of Château de Vaux le Vicomte.

  BIBLIOGRAPHIES

  Munro, Douglas. Alexandre Dumas père: A Bibliography of Works Translated into English to 1910. New York and London: Garland, 1978.

  —.Alexandre Dumas père: A Secondary Bibliography of French and English Sources to 1983. New York and London: Garland, 1985.

  Reed, Frank Wild. A Bibliography of Alexandre Dumas père. London: J. A. Neuhuys, 1933.

  STUDIES ON LE VICOMTE DE BRAGELONNE/ THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK

  Bassan, Fernande. “Le Cycle des Trois mousquetaires—du roman au théâtre.” Studia Neophilologica 57 (1985), pp. 243-249.

  Bem, Jeanne. “D‘Artagnan et après. Lecture symbolique et historique de la ‘trilogie’ de Dumas.” Littérature 22 (May 1976), pp. 13-29.

  Domange, Simone. Couple et paternité chez Dumas: Les Trois mousquetaires, Vingt ans après, Le Vicomte de Bragelonne. Viroflay: Roger, 2004.

  Goodkin, Richard E. “Separated at Birth: The Man in the Iron Mask; or, A Louis XIV for the Nineties.” Papers in French Seventeenth Century Literature (PFSCL) 26:51 (1999), pp. 319-326. This essay, on the 1998 film adaptation of The Man in the Iron Mask, directed by Randall Wallace and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, suggests that the cinematic adaptation offers a clue to how Americans at the end of the twentieth century viewed seventeenth-century France.

  Guérin, Michel. Les Quatre mousquetaires: Essai sur la trilogie de Dumas. Monaco: Editions du Rocher, 1994.

  Lackey, Lionel. “The Death of d’Artagnan: Dumas’ Realistic Musketeers.” English Language Notes 41:3 (March 2004), pp. 41-50. This article claims Dumas fails to present a coherent economic or political position in the trilogy but offers little more than plot summary in support of that view.

  Maxwell, Richard. “Pretenders in Sanctuary.” Modern Language Quarterly 61:2 (2000), pp. 287-358. Includes Bragelonne among many other examples of pretenders to the throne in world literature.

  Natta, Marie-Christine. Le Temps des mousquetaires. Paris: Editions du Felin, 2004.

  Thibeaudeau, Jean. “Les Trois mousquetaires suivi de Vingt ans après et du Vicomte de Bragelonne, ou dix ans plus tard, ou une disparition de la fiction dans le texte historique.” Europe 48:490-491 (February-March 1970), pp. 59-75.

  Tranouez, Pierre. “Cave Filium! Etude du cycle des Mousquetaires.” Poétique 18:71 (September 1987), pp. 321-3
31. On sons in the trilogy.

  OTHER WORKS BY DUMAS CITED IN THE INTRODUCTION

  The Count of Monte Cristo. Edited by Luc Sante. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2004.

  Les Crimes célèbres. With a preface by Marie-France Bougie-Helleux and a foreword by Raymond Dumay. Paris: Phébus, 2002. 3 vols. Auguste Arnould’s account of the possible identity of Iron Mask is in volume 3.

  Drames romantiques. Edited by Claude Aziza. Paris: Omnibus, 2002. Includes Antony, La Tour de Nesle, Richard Darlington, and Kean, among other early plays.

  Le Prisonnier de la Bastille: Fin des Mousquetaires. Paris: Michel Levy Frères, 1861. This play was performed for the first time at the Theatre Imperial du Cirque on March 22, 1861. It was not published in nineteenth-century editions of Dumas’s complete theatrical works.

  The Three Musketeers. Edited with an introduction and notes by Barbara T. Cooper. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2004.

  Twenty Years After. Edited by David Coward. London: Oxford University Press, 1998.

  Une Année à Florence. With a preface by Claude Schopp. Paris: Editions F. Bourin, 1991.

  Le Vicomte de Bragelonne. Paris: Robert Laffont/Bouquins, 1991. 2 vols. Includes important and substantial critical material about the text, its sources, etc. Additional information can be found in Schopp’s introduction to the edition of Les Trois Mousquetaires published by Robert Laffont/Bouquins the same year.

  Le Vicomte de Bragelonne. Louise de la Vallière. The Man in the Iron Mask. Edited by David Coward. London: Oxford University Press, 1998. Three separate volumes in English that comprise the work known collectively in French by the title Le Vicomte de Bragelonne, ou dix ans plus tard.

  OTHER STUDIES CITED IN THE INTRODUCTION

  Arnould, Auguste Jean François. L‘Homme au masque de fer, drame en cinq parties et en prose. Paris: Jules Didot l’aîné, 1831.

  Brix, Michael. The Baroque Landscape: Andre Le Notre & Vaux-le-Vicomte. New York: Rizzoli, 2004.

  Brombert, Victor H. The Romantic Prison: The French Tradition. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1978.

  Cooper, Barbara T. “Le Role des noms dans le Comte de Monte-Cresto.” In “Les Trois mousquetaires, ” et “Le Comte de Monte-Cristo ”: Le Cent cinquante ans après, edited by Fernande Bassan and Claude Schopp. Marly-le-Roi: Editions Champflour, 1995, pp. 111-117.

  Gautier, Théophile. Mademoiselle de Maupin. Translated, with an introduction, by Joanna Richardson. New York: Penguin, 1981.

  Hugo, Victor. Les Jumeaux. In his Oeuvres complètes. Théâtre II. Paris: Robert Laffont/Bouquins, 1985, pp. 601-686. Available at http://gallica.bnf.fr.

  Kantorowicz, Ernst H. The King’s Two Bodies: A Study in Medieval Political Theology. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1957.

  Krakovitch, Odile. “Les Femmes de pouvoir dans le theatre romantique.” In Femmes de pouvoir: mythes et fantasmes. Edited by Odile Krakovitch, Geneviève Sellier, and Eliane Viennot. Paris: L’Harmattan, 2001, pp. 97-118. On the treatment of powerful women in French Romantic theater, including plays by Dumas.

  Lacroix, Paul (writing as Paul L. Jacob, Bibliophile). L’Homme au masque de fer. Published in La Revue de Paris, March 6 and 13, and April 3, 1836. Published in book form in Bruxelles: H. Dumont, 1836, and in Paris: Magen, 1837.

  Le Grand, Jérôme. Louis XIV et le masque de fer, ou les princes jumeaux. Paris: chez Limondin et chez tous les Marchands de Nouveautés, 1791. Available at http://gallica.bnf.fr

  Petitfils, Jean-Christian. Le Masque de fer: entre histoire et légende. Paris: Perrin, 2003. A study by a contemporary historian.

  Sand, George. Indiana. With an introduction by Naomi Schor. London: Oxford University Press, 2001. In an English translation by Sylvia Raphael.

  —. Fanchon the Cricket; or, La Petite Fadette. Chicago: Cassandra Editions, 1977. An English translation of La Petite Fadette.

  Schopp, Claude, ed. “1848: Alexandre Dumas dans la Révolution.” Les Cahiers Alexandre Dumas 25 (1998). Dumas’s political writings from 1848.

  Vigny, Alfred de. “La Prison.” In his Poèmes. Paris: Pélicier, 1822. Available at http://gallica.bnf.fr

  Voltaire. Le Siècle de Louis XIV. Paris: L.G.F., 2005.

  a From 1310 to 1832, public executions were held in this square, where in 1792 the guillotine replaced the gallows. Today the square is called La Place de l’Hôtel de Ville.

  b In The Three Musketeers, the Duchesse de Chevreuse, then Aramis’s lover, used this pseudonym when communicating with him by letter.

  c Anne of Austria (1601-1666), a descendant of the Habsburgs of Austria and Spain, became queen of France upon her marriage to Louis XIII (1601-1643). After the King’s death, their son ascended to the throne, and Anne became the regent and queen-mother. In their youth, she and the Duchesse de Chevreuse were great friends.

  d Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556), later Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was founder and first general of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). Aramis, known as the Abbé d’Herblay and already the bishop of Vannes, became the general of the Jesuits shortly before the story begins here.

  e In seventeenth-century France, French princes and lords frequently reminded Cardinal Mazarin of his humble Italian ancestry by using this Italian version of his name.

  f Armand-Jean du Plessis, duc and cardinal de Richelieu (1585-1642), was chief minister to Louis XIII (1601-1643) and appears as a character in The Three Musketeers.

  g In The Three Musketeers, the Queen gives her jewels to the Duke of Buckingham as a token of her affection. In order to avoid angering Louis XIII, and thus save the Queen from disgrace, d’Artagnan and his friends retrieve the jewels.

  h Though a favorite of Louis XIII, Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, marquis de Cinq-Mars ( 1620-1642) , was executed for plotting the assassination of Cardinal Richelieu with the King’s brother, Gaston, duc d’Orléans (1608-1660), and other nobles.

  i Honorific title given to the younger brother of the king; his wife, the king’s sister-in-law, is referred to as Madame. Louis XIV’s real-life brother was Philippe I de France, duc d‘Orléans (1640-1701); his wife was Henriette d’Angleterre (1644-1670) .

  j Anne of Austria (1601-1666), the queen-mother, speaks pure Castilian Spanish because she is the daughter of King Philip III of Spain.

  k Honorific title of the prince who is the heir apparent to the French crown.

  l Louis Charles d‘Albert, duc de Luynes (1620-1690) is the Duchesse de Chevreuse’s son. She married the first duc de Luynes, then after his death married Claude de Lorraine, duc de Chevreuse. In her interview with Aramis, the Duchesse is attempting to increase the value of the estate she will leave her son, Louis-Charles.

  m Anne-Constance Aure de Montalais and Louise were childhood friends whose families were attached to the household of the King’s uncle, Gaston d’Orléans. Montalais helped Louise become a lady-in-waiting to Madame.

  n Armand de Gramont, comte de Guiche (1638-1673), is a friend and comrade-in-arms of Raoul de Bragelonne. He becomes smitten by the verve and beauty of Henriette d’Angleterre.

  o Charles II ( 1630-1685) , king of England and Henriette’s brother, had recently been restored to his throne. He keeps Raoul in England at Louis XIV’s behest.

  p Amadis, hero of the 1508 romance Amadis de Gaula, by Spanish novelist Rodriguez de Montalvo, is a courtly knight who by virtue and constancy wins the woman he loves.

  q Like his master Porthos, who is now a baron, Mouston has moved up in the world. Once a mere valet, he has become head of Porthos’s household and changed his name from Mousqueton (which means blunderbuss) to the finer-sounding Mouston.

  r Les Frères Minimes (the Minim Friars), a religious order founded by Saint Francis of Paola (1416-1507); it grew rapidly during the sixteenth century in France and Italy and began occupying this site in Vincennes in 1585.

  s Comte de Saint-Aignan acts as Louis’s Mercury, or messenger god, carrying letters between the King and Louise de La Vallière.

  t Styx, which means “
hateful,” is one of the rivers of the underworld in Greek mythology; crossing it symbolizes dying and falling into Hades (hell).

  u Patron saint of France; the basilica built on the site of his tomb is the traditional burial site for French kings and their relatives, including Catherine de Médicis. The basilica is located in Saint Denis, a town on the outskirts of Paris.

  v Alas! Poor soul! (Latin)

  w Old units of French currency whose value varied in different eras.

  x These rhyming pairs (in English, “vegetable ... posthumous” and “rut ... light”) combine common and elegant words; in the seventeenth century this would be seen as both comic and unacceptable for serious poetry.

  y This is a partial list of D’Artagnan’s exploits as a Musketeer, including his unusual kidnapping of General Monk (see endnote 12) and his devoted service to Anne of Austria (see footnote on p. 11).

  z In 1641 Fouquet purchased this property located 55 kilometers from Paris (about thirty minutes by train today); by 1661 he had transformed it into the most beautiful castle of the period.

  aa Thomas, Cardinal Wolsey (c.1475-1530), minister to the English king Henry VIII, constructed Hampton Court, a beautiful Tudor palace, but wisely gave it to the King.

  ab Joseph-Marie Terray (1715-1788), an abbé who served as finance minister under Louis XV, attempted to stem the tide of deficit spending.