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Wednesday, February 7, 2007

"Who is Milady"

A woman with a checkered past, seemingly filled with nothing beyond the seduction and willful destruction of men who will provide her with the least bit of monetary support, Milady is remorseless and unrepentant for her countless misdeeds. Late in the novel, after the reader is already presented with numerous examples of her villainy, she is revealed to be the wife of Athos, one of the musketeers in the title of the novel. Encountering her after she had already been the downfall for many individuals, he witnessed a brand on her shoulder while they were out amid the woods one day. Identifying her as a thief of Church vessels, Athos (then, the Comte de La Fère) hangs her on the spot without lethal results. (When Athos first recounts the story earlier in the novel, the reader is horrified at his summary execution without even a discussion, but by the time his wife's identity is revealed the reader only feels regret that she was not killed by the rope.)
After being expelled by Athos she eventually winds up in the employ of the Cardinal Richelieu; working as his spy, assassin, and messenger. On mission from the Cardinal, and to save her own life when her current husband discovered her past actions, she seduces John Felton, persuading him to kill the Duke of Buckingham. Returning to France, she carries out the murder of d'Artagnan's landlady and lover, Mme Constance Bonacieux, when the two happen upon one another in a convent. For her multiple murders, and for the other deaths she has caused, Milady is judged by the musketeers, the brother of her husband Lord de Winter, and by the executioner of Lille; the group having proceeded to track and hunt Milady after the death of Constance. The executioner of Lille, who placed the brand upon her shoulder years ago, beheads her in one of the last scenes of the novel. She uses or is referred to by the following names throughout the novel:
Charlotte Backson
Anne de Breuil
Comtesse de La Fère
Milady de Winter, Baroness of Sheffield
Milady Clarick

1 comment:

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