The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas is the final adventure of the four Musketeers (and there are four, not three): Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and d’Artagnan. The vast Musketeer saga begins with The Three Musketeers and continues with Twenty Years After. Then it gets complicated. The third book in the saga, in the original French, is Le Vicomte de Bragelonne, which is an immense novel of approximately 2700 pages, about twice the length of War and Peace. English translations break it down into more than one volume, but, unfortunately, each translation breaks it down differently. The translation I have been reading is the Oxford World’s Classics edition, which is based on an anonymous 19th century translation, with corrections, and edited by David Coward. This edition breaks the enormous last novel up into three novels: The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Louise de la Vallière, and The Man in the Iron Mask. It still reads very well, despite some old-fashioned and somewhat stilted language. There is a more recent translation by Lawrence Ellsworth, which probably reads better to modern readers, but which is broken up very differently. The entire saga, in Ellsworth’s translation, consists of nine volumes, with The Man in the Iron Mask as the ninth and final volume. To make things even more complicated, other translations (I’m not sure if this is the case with Ellsworth’s, but I suspect it is) begin The Man in the Iron Mask twenty-eight chapters later than the Oxford World’s Classics edition does. So, before you begin reading The Man in the Iron Mask, make sure which translation you’re reading and how the translator breaks the series down.
Many readers read The Man in the Iron Mask on its own, and I’m sure it can be enjoyed that way, but in my opinion it’s a mistake. As another blogger pointed out, beginning the Musketeer saga with The Man in the Iron Mask is like reading The Lord of the Rings starting with The Return of the King: certainly possible, but it would be hard to tell what’s going on. I highly recommend reading the whole saga starting with The Three Musketeers. It is a richly rewarding experience. It also might be possible to read just the two most famous parts of the series, which are the first and last books, The Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask, but you would miss much that happens in between. So, I’d suggest reading the whole series, even if you must slog through some of the political and romantic intrigues of the middle volumes. The Man in the Iron Mask is certainly worth it. The Vicomte de Bragelonne is heavy on politics, and Louise de la Vallière is heavy on romance. The Man in the Iron Mask contains just the right balance, as well as a great adventure.
The Man in the Iron Mask combines the adventures of the Musketeers with one of the great mysteries of history: the identity of a masked prisoner, held in the Bastille for many years during the reign of Louis XIV. The current theory is that this man was a valet named Eustache Dauger, who knew too many royal secrets, but many historians and authors have argued for different theories about this man’s identity over the years. The theory that Dumas adopts (and this is not a spoiler, because you learn this early in the book) is that the man in the iron mask is Louis XIV’s identical twin brother, whom Dumas names Philippe. The idea that the prisoner was a brother of Louis XIV began, as far as anyone can tell, with Voltaire. Even though modern historians think the mystery has been solved, it is still fascinating to read about.
Many people who have not read the book are familiar with the story of The Man in the Iron Mask from the numerous film versions, most notably the 1998 film with Leonardo DiCaprio in the double role of Louis XIV and Philippe, and Gabriel Byrne as d’Artagnan. But this film, and, I suspect, the other film versions, are only loosely based on Dumas’ novel. I will try to avoid spoilers, as much as possible, in this review, but I will say to people who are familiar with the 1998 film: don’t expect the film’s relatively happy ending, with Philippe on the throne and the evil Louis XIV in prison, in the novel. The book does not end well. Another plot element that was completely made up for the film is d’Artagnan’s affair with the Queen Mother, Anne of Austria. In the book, d’Artagnan is not the biological father of Louis XIV and Philippe.
The novel is very complex, and impossible to summarize in full unless you want to read many pages of a synopsis, so I will just cover the basics, with as few spoilers as possible. To go back to the two previous volumes, The Vicomte de Bragelonne deals largely with a power struggle between two rival finance ministers, Fouquet and Colbert. Dumas is on the side of Fouquet, who, despite his extravagant lifestyle and lavish spending, was a patron of the arts and a relatively sympathetic character. Colbert is presented as a stingy, manipulative schemer, the evil genius behind some of Louis XIV’s worst actions, even though he is not as purely villainous as Cardinal Richelieu in The Three Musketeers and Cardinal Mazarin in Twenty Years After. Louise de la Vallière is largely about a love triangle: the title character, her childhood sweetheart Raoul de Bragelonne, who is the son of Athos, and Louis XIV. Raoul is lovesick over Louise, but, despite her early feelings for him, she loves the king and becomes his mistress. These two plot threads from the earlier books continue into The Man in the Iron Mask.
In the Oxford World’s Classics edition, The Man in the Iron Mask begins with a visit of the Duchesse de Chevreuse to Aramis, who has long since left the Musketeers and joined the Church. In the previous book, Aramis, now a bishop, persuaded the dying General of the Jesuits to name him his successor. He has ambitions to become a cardinal and even, eventually, Pope. Madame de Chevreuse is an intriguer who, at different times, had affairs with Aramis and Athos. She is the mother of Athos’ son, Raoul de Bragelonne. She and Aramis, as well as the Queen Mother, Anne of Austria, are the only living people who know the identity of the man in the iron mask. Madame de Chevreuse wants to sell a secret about Fouquet to Aramis, which concerns Fouquet’s misappropriation of a large amount of money from the royal treasury. Aramis, who is a friend of Fouquet, refuses and suggests the letters Madame de Chevreuse has found are forgeries. Instead, she sells the secret to Colbert, Fouquet’s enemy. This will eventually lead to Fouquet’s ruin and imprisonment. (In fact, the real-life Fouquet was another candidate for the man in the iron mask, even though this has been discredited.)
Louise de la Vallière comes to Raoul’s lodgings and tells him she loves the king. He is heartbroken and challenges the courtier Saint-Aignan to a duel. He cannot challenge the king to a duel, but Saint-Aignan was the one who enabled Louis XIV to visit Louise, by building a secret passage, accessed by a trapdoor, between his apartments and Louise’s. Raoul visits Porthos, a giant of a man with incredible physical strength, and Porthos agrees to help Raoul in the duel. It should be noted that, of the four Musketeers, only d’Artagnan is still a Musketeer. He is now the captain of the Musketeers. Athos, who is really the Comte de la Fère, lives on his estate and visits the court. Porthos has married a wealthy widow who has since died and left him her money, so he has become very rich, and he also has a noble title. Aramis, as I mentioned, has joined the Church.
The duel between Raoul and Saint-Aignan never takes place, because the king summons Saint-Aignan to meet with him. Then Athos approaches the king and tells him how he’s broken Raoul’s heart by taking Louise from him, and he also tells Louis that he disapproves of how Louis has consolidated his power and now rules as an absolute monarch. Dumas did not approve of absolute monarchy, and Athos expresses Dumas’ own opinions. Louis sends Athos away, exiling him to his estate, where Raoul joins him. The Duc de Beaufort, cousin to the king, arrives at the estate. He is organizing an army for an expedition to northern Africa, and Raoul, determined to get himself killed, insists on joining.
It is only after these scenes at the court that the man in the iron mask enters the novel, and we learn his history. As I mentioned earlier, the prisoner in the Bastille, who, at this point, does not wear a mask, is Philippe, the identical twin brother of Louis XIV. When the twins were born, their parents, Louis XIII and Anne of Austria, were afraid that the existence of identical twins would cause a war of succession, because no one would know for certain who was the older twin, and the real heir to the throne. And so, Louis is brought up as the heir, and Philippe is sent away to the countryside with a tutor and a nursemaid. Philippe grows up without knowing his identity. All goes well for fifteen years, until a letter from Anne of Austria to the tutor goes astray, and the secret is in danger of being discovered. Shortly afterwards, the tutor and nursemaid are murdered, and Philippe is taken away to the Bastille as a prisoner. All the governor of the Bastille (himself a former Musketeer and friend of Aramis) knows is that the man is in prison because he bears a strong resemblance to the king.
At the time the novel takes place, Philippe has been in prison for eight years, when Aramis visits him. He must do a great deal of persuading to allow the governor of the Bastille to let him see the prisoner, including revealing his identity as General of the Jesuits, which Aramis doesn’t want to be widely known yet. During the visit, Aramis tells Philippe the whole story of his birth and background. Aramis wants to replace Louis with Philippe as king. His motives are complex. Part of his motive is purely selfish, because he wants Philippe to reward him with a cardinal’s hat, which Louis has not done, and to help him in his bid to eventually become Pope. He also wants to help his friend Fouquet, who, Aramis knows, is on the verge of ruin. But part of his motive is unselfish: he wants France to have a better king. He, like Athos, does not approve of Louis’ rule as an absolute monarch.
Aramis instructs Philippe on the way Louis walks, moves, and speaks, and gives him details on everyone in the court, telling him who is a friend and who is an enemy. He continues with his instructions until Philippe is ready to take the throne. Meanwhile, Fouquet is holding lavish entertainments for Louis and the court at his estate at Vaux. These scenes include some famous literary figures of the time, including Molière and Jean de la Fontaine, who are members of Fouquet’s entourage. There is a hilarious scene where Molière and the king’s tailor help Porthos get fitted for a suit for the entertainments.
Aramis arranges for Philippe’s release from the Bastille, by an elaborate ruse, and takes him to Vaux, offering a choice between a quiet but obscure life in the countryside or the throne of France. Philippe chooses to take his brother’s place as king. In the middle of the night, during the celebrations at Vaux, Aramis has Louis’ bed lowered through a trapdoor into a secret passage (Dumas loved trapdoors and secret passages), where Philippe takes his place, while the still-sleeping Louis is taken away to the Bastille.
The plan almost works. The courtiers do not notice the switch, and neither does d’Artagnan, who is at Vaux as the captain of the king’s Musketeers. Anne of Austria suspects something is different about the king, but she doesn’t know for certain. All would have gone well, except that Aramis decides to tell the secret to Fouquet. He thinks Fouquet would be glad to serve the new king, because Philippe will keep him in his position as finance minister, while Louis would ruin and imprison him. Instead, Fouquet is horrified and says what Aramis has done is treason against the kingdom. He rushes off to the Bastille and rescues Louis, even though he knows this will be the end of his career.
Louis, restored to the throne, has d’Artagnan arrest Philippe and sends him to prison on a remote island, with an iron mask on Philippe’s face. D’Artagnan obeys but does everything he can for Philippe to be treated as well as possible. Aramis and Porthos escape to Fouquet’s fortress of Belle-Isle. Porthos has been Aramis’ accomplice in his intrigues around Philippe, but unwittingly so. Aramis never told Porthos about Philippe’s identity (until all is revealed, of course). All he said was that Porthos was going to help him rescue a prisoner from the Bastille, and the king would reward him with a dukedom. Porthos has thought all along that the king rewarding him would be Louis. But now Porthos is Aramis’ accomplice in treason, so he must flee as well.
Meanwhile, Louis orders d’Artagnan to arrest Fouquet, even though it was Fouquet who saved his throne for him. D’Artagnan gives Fouquet a chance to escape, which he doesn’t take, and then there is a very exciting scene where d’Artagnan, on a black horse, chases Fouquet, on a white horse, to arrest him, even though d’Artagnan is very unwilling to do so. Fouquet is taken away to prison, where he will stay for the rest of his life.
After Fouquet’s arrest, Louis sends an army, led by d’Artagnan, to capture the two fugitives, Porthos and Aramis. D’Artagnan plans to save his two friends and allow them to escape, but Louis has him followed by an officer with absolute loyalty to the king, and this officer thwarts d’Artagnan’s plans at every opportunity. He does manage to warn Porthos and Aramis about the approaching army and resigns his command when he realizes Louis won’t let them escape.
At this point, I will stop summarizing because to say much more would give away the ending. I will say that there is an exciting battle scene with the two men against an army, and there is an escape, but it does not end well except for the person who manages to escape. Despite the sad ending, The Man in the Iron Mask is a wonderful book. It contains just the right amount of action, adventure, intrigue, and romance, even though sometimes the reader gets frustrated with the lovesick Raoul, determined to die for his thwarted love for Louise. The book is an especially rewarding experience if you read it as the final book in a long series, and you will find yourself missing the Musketeers as soon as you finish the book.
The Man in the Iron Mask is available from the Hatcher Graduate Library in the Oxford World's Classics edition that I read. There are several other editions available, both physical and electronic.