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The Vicomte de Bragelonne
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The Vicomte de Bragelonne - Week 29 - thru The Torch Promenade
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Now I can post what I had written the day before yesterday. ;-)Regarding your questions from the last thread concerning d'Artagnan's behaviour, Robin, I actually have no idea. It seemed a little strange to me. When Louise mentions that, d'Artagnan only says that he promised not to tell the king, but he mentioned it when the king was not far away and he started the discussion with St.Aignan. In real life, Louise ended up in a cloister many years later. So maybe Dumas tried to show her intentions here, but she had to end up with the king, otherwise the story would not be right.
Funnily, I have discovered on one of my TV streaming channels a series called "Versailles" from 2015, which is set in the year 1664 or 1665. There Louis XIV is very much involved with Madame, but also has some connections with Louise. It is mainly supposed to be about his decision to build the palace around the existing hunting lodge in Versailles, but you can also see there a kind of inferiority complex and his trying to show his power and position.
This comes a little through in his encounter with the ambassadors. France is a central power situated in the middle of Europe, surrounded by other important countries, not to forget the early days of colonization and the discovery of new parts of the world. So there was a lot of competition between the different countries and powers, which had not just political, but also economic effects.
I must admit I am getting a little bored, maybe because the events at the court are just relationship-related issues. The politics and the state of the country do not come through here at all. I wonder whether Dumas got this information from old letters or documents. Maybe the plot in the Man with the Iron Mask will be more interesting again.
Stating this by having only read part of the chapters, I must say that the later chapters in this section became a little more exciting again. This whole plot with the rooms and being too loud for Madame to bear was funny and I am trying to imagine the secret partitions hiding a new staircase... That has something comical...
Robin P wrote: "Malicorne is definitely playing the role of "wing man" here, that is the person who aids his friend in seduction, even risking his position at court (which the king makes good with money and a new place in his own service.) His plotting seems to pay off well for him, for Montalais and for the lovers. I enjoyed the conversations about the ladder and about St. Aignan's move to new quarters. This is actually the sort of plan d'Artagnan could have come up with in his earlier days."I enjoyed this section too. I've read through to the next section since I was so close to the end of my volume, and I forget where it left off at the end of this week's chapters, so I won't say more now.
Hedi wrote: "I must admit I am getting a little bored, maybe because the events at the court are just relationship-related issues. The politics and the state of the country do not come through here at all. I wonder whether Dumas got this information from old letters or documents. Maybe the plot in the Man with the Iron Mask will be more interesting again."
I am hoping the same thing because I am having a hard time staying focused. The part about the hidden staircase was better, but there is so much filler in this book. It would be a lot better if it was reduced by at least half. The scenes with Porthos are consistently entertaining, and most of them with D'Artagnan are also good, but most of the rest of the book is quite tedious and repetitive.
Anne, I agree with you - there’s way too much filler in this book.And many, many repetitions - even the dialogue seems way longer than it should be. Compared to most other Dumas books 📚- in this many pages we would have seen a lot more action.
That being said, the plot is getting better (as in less boring).
We have handkerchiefs, secret notes, holes in the floor, ladders forgotten by the garners and rooms strategically chosen.
All these things remind me of other Dumas books. I guess after writing so many novels he was running out of ideas.
As far as the characters go - I still hate Henrietta, I don’t understand Louise and I like Montales.
The king is finally becoming more assertive, but all the best ideas come from his assistants - I guess he’s so smitten by LaValiere that he can’t think straight.
My favorite part was when Montales and LaValiere start crying at night to annoy the princess 👸🏼and she kicks them out of her room. It amazes me that Henrietta spends so much time interfering with the king’s plans - maybe because DeGuiche is injured and she has nothing else to keep her busy 🤷🏻♀️
I actually like Louise better in this part of the book. After she gives up her religious ambitions, she seems open to some scheming and even playacting in order to further her love affair. She holds her own throughout Madame's machinations to separate her from Louis during the night outing. I like that Louise isn't so passive and goody-goody at this point. (But how could she ever settle for the boring Raoul after this high-level drama?) Historically it is true that a woman named Louise de la Valliere was the mistress of Louis XIV.
Malicorne is definitely playing the role of "wing man" here, that is the person who aids his friend in seduction, even risking his position at court (which the king makes good with money and a new place in his own service.) His plotting seems to pay off well for him, for Montalais and for the lovers. I enjoyed the conversations about the ladder and about St. Aignan's move to new quarters. This is actually the sort of plan d'Artagnan could have come up with in his earlier days.