The Man In The Iron Mask

“He used to say that a man was bound to make for himself, in the world, that fortune which God had refused him at birth. He added, that, being a poor, obscure orphan, I had no one but myself to look to; and that nobody either did, or ever would, take any interest in me.”

The advice Philippe’s tutor/father figure gave him before they were separated definitely shaped his worldview. Philippe grew up being told he was unimportant, but how he was confined and monitored suggested otherwise. He was raised with conflicting ideas about his identity and his place in the world, and his tutor’s words come back to him in this moment as he considers aligning himself with Aramis.

“‘I understand, monsieur; was it by weakness or treachery, that my uncle slew his friends?’ ‘By weakness; which, in princes, is always treachery.’”

Aramis asserts that weakness in princes is treachery because of the threat a prince may pose to the throne. Following the principle of primogeniture, the prince would inherit the crown upon his father’s death, so some consider princes to be potential usurpers. Weaknesses like pride or paranoia can be easily exploited for such purposes.

“Great geniuses of every kind live upon unseen, intangible ideas; they act without themselves knowing why.”

While this quotation can apply to artists or craftsmen, one may also consider its implications for Aramis. He is remarkably intelligent and resourceful, and his motivations are not always clear to those around him. Aramis believes his scheme is part of God’s work and that he is meant to carry out God’s will, but ultimately he is oblivious to the real reason he pursues power: his greed.

“If I am your dupe, double Jesuit that you are, I will not be your accomplice; and to prevent it, it’s time I left this place.”

D’Artagnan’s statement to Aramis at Percerin’s tailor shop is significant because of the insult “double Jesuit.” A Jesuit is a member of a religious order in the Catholic Church, but in ordinary usage, it can also mean a person who is given to intrigue or equivocation. Since Aramis will not be straight with him, D’Artagnan utilizes both meanings to illustrate how Aramis is toying with his words and avoiding his questions.

“Yes; you have an abominable habit, my friend, a habit which will ever prevent your becoming a poet of the first order. You rhyme in a slovenly manner.”

Pelisson’s jab at La Fontaine is a moment of comedic relief in a conversation about adultery and duels. The two men argue over word choice in a poem and the distinction between true rhyme and slant rhyme. La Fontaine wishes to use a slant rhyme, opening up a more creative wordplay in the poem, but Pelisson insists it is inappropriate and distasteful.

“The point is never to make a mistake, monseigneur; never to lack in the respect which a subaltern owes to his superior officers, never to break the laws of that service which one has voluntarily accepted.”

Aramis preys on Baisemeaux’s professional sensibilities to get his way at the Bastille. He not only uses his authority to get what he wants, but he also reminds Baisemeaux that part of his job is respecting Aramis’s authority; he could get in trouble for questioning the release orders just as easily as he could get in trouble for questioning Aramis.

“There is conscience, which cries loud; remorse, which never dies.”

Philippe expresses to Aramis his concerns about following through with their plan to replace the king. Philippe’s main concern is that he will never be able to get over betraying his brother in such a profound way, expressing preemptive remorse that Aramis does not understand.

“The sky he was contemplating, the murmuring waters, the moving creatures; was not this reality?”

Philippe experiences the outside world for the first time in this chapter, and the sight of true nature overcomes him. When he was in captivity as a child, he only knew the estate's manicured gardens; at the Bastille, he had no access to anything outside or in nature. Now, experiencing it fully for the first time, Philippe is overwhelmed and has trouble believing it is real.

“The eyes of a woman who loves are not easily deceived.”

Aramis’s warning about La Valliere focuses on romantic love, but he neglects to fully consider the possibility that Philippe’s mother also loved him, and she might not be so easily deceived either. As Aramis has no family of his own, it is understandable how he might overlook this possibility. His plan for removing the obstacle presented by La Valliere is simple: Philippe, posing as Louis, will break up with her and send her back to Raoul.

“Embrace me this very day as well, and be, for and toward me, more than great, more than skillful, more than sublime in genius; be kind and indulgent—be my father.”

Philippe asks Aramis to be his father, expressing his desire for a family. Aramis equivocates before replying that he will be his “holy” father, steering the conversation back to his goal of becoming Pope. Philippe does not merely want another tutor or mentor; he wants a father. He has had no male role models in his life, and he hopes his new connection to Aramis will provide what he has been missing all along.

“‘Oh friendship, friendship!’ he said, ‘what an idle word you are. Here is a man, who, if I were to ask him, would allow himself to be cut in pieces for my sake. […] And this man, who would shed every drop of blood in his veins for me, will not open the smallest corner in his heart. Friendship, I repeat, is nothing but a mere unsubstantial shadow and a lure, like everything else which shines in this world.”

D’Artagnan pleads with Aramis to let him in on his plans, citing their friendship as the reason for his concern. D’Artagnan is upset about being excluded and feels like Aramis is lying to him, so his speech about friendship is more on point than he realizes. Aramis does not value their friendship the way D’Artagnan does. For D’Artagnan, their friendship is a bond that takes precedence over all others, but Aramis treats their friendship as a tool for his advancement. In this passage, D’Artagnan calls him out on it, but Aramis lies so convincingly that D’Artagnan believes him again.

“I love him so deeply that the whole world is aware of it; so purely that the king himself does not doubt my affection. He is my king and my master; I am the humblest of his servants. But he who touches his honor touches my life. Therefore, I repeat, that they dishonor the king who advise him to arrest Monsieur Fouquet under his own roof.”

La Valliere reprimands Colbert for suggesting the king arrest Fouquet at his own house. She insists that it will not only dishonor Fouquet, but it will also dishonor the king—and since she loves him, the dishonor would likewise affect her.

“When the sun rises, having no rival but me, that man shall fall so low that when people look at the utter ruin which my anger will have caused, they will be forced to admit at last that I am indeed greater than he.”

King Louis’s anger regarding Fouquet is purely personal. Louis hates that Fouquet’s parties outshine his own, and he decides to remove Fouquet so that everyone’s praise and attention will focus on him again.

“After having deprived so many people of their liberty, the king came among them to rob them of their rest.”

The irony of the king’s imprisonment is not lost on himself. He realizes that he has paid so little attention to affairs of state that he does not even know what time meals are served in his prisons. In this passage, Louis feels a tinge of remorse for being so loud in his cell—he filled the Bastille with criminals, and now his loud raging there keeps them awake, so they know no sleep or peace.

“This sweat terrified Philippe, as the blood of Abel had terrified Cain.”

When Philippe takes Louis’s place in the bed, he feels Louis’s sweat still on the bedsheets from when he was kidnapped. Philippe’s conscience kicks in, and he feels powerful remorse for what he still sees as a betrayal of his brother. By sending him to the Bastille, Philippe feels he has condemned Louis to death, just like Cain killed Abel in the Christian bible

“Philippe, sole heir presumptive to Louis XIII, your father, show yourself without pity for the usurper, who, at this moment, has no remorse for all you have suffered.”

Ironically, Philippe calls Louis the usurper, even though Philippe is the one who stole the throne out from under his brother. This passage demonstrates how Philippe has no grasp of his history and must use the explanations Aramis gave to fill in the gaps—he sees his brother as the usurper because Aramis planted the idea in his head at the Bastille. Philippe seems to have also convinced himself that Louis somehow knew of Philippe’s imprisonment. In reality, the only ones who knew were Queen Anne, King Louis XIII, Aramis, and Philippe’s previous caretakers.

“There are misfortunes in life that no one will accept; people would rather believe in the supernatural and the impossible.”

Here, the narrator identifies a significant facet of human behavior in the novel: stubbornness in the face of an unfavorable reality. When Louis is in the Bastille, he convinces himself he died and is now in Hell. When he returns to court, the courtiers and his family momentarily convince themselves that one of the twins is a ghost or specter. Few people in the novel readily face reality as it really is, as most prefer to ignore it or move around it as they think it should be.

“That magic word, ‘fortune,’ always means something to the human ear. It means enough for those who have nothing; it means too much for those who have enough.”

When Aramis and Porthos escape Vaux, Porthos demands an explanation for their swift departure. Aramis says their fortune depends on it, and Porthos takes this to mean that he is to receive a dukedom as a reward for his assistance on this top-secret mission for the king. Porthos readily believes Aramis’s lies because he trusts his friend implicitly and because the prospect of a reward for his help plays on his vanity—which, as the reader knows from the suit debacle in Chapter II, exists in plenty.

“Raoul is a fine man. Around all hearts as noble as his there is a second envelope which forms a shield. The first bleeds, the second resists.”

D’Artagnan offers reassurance to Athos about Raoul’s broken heart. D’Artagnan feels confident that Raoul will recover from his broken engagement in due time since he is a passionate young man whose heart will heal and move on to something or someone new.

“God has made all that we see, Raoul. He has made us also—poor atoms mixed up with this great universe. We shine like those fires and those stars; we sigh like those waves; we suffer like those great ships, which endlessly plow the waves, in obeying the wind which urges them toward a goal, as the breath of God blows us toward a port. Everything likes to live, Raoul; and everything is beautiful in living things.”

Athos offers these words to Raoul before he departs for Africa. Athos suspects Raoul wants to go to war so that he can die rather than live on with a broken heart, and he makes this parting speech as a plea to his son to keep living.

“My opinion is, then, that all the men who go to this war are desperate men whom love has treated ill; and who go to try if they cannot find black women less cruel than white ones have been.”

Athenais, a courtier, offers her opinion on the war in Africa to D’Artagnan. Her statement here shames the men who go to war, not for the glory of their country but to forget their problems and subtly shames La Valliere, as Athenais and the other women present believe La Valliere’s rejection will kill Raoul.

“He who serves his friends does not serve his master.”

King Louis reprimands D’Artagnan for thinking of his friends’ safety first and following orders second. This passage shows the reader how far Louis has come in his path to securing absolute power; D’Artagnan finds loopholes in his orders, and this defiance and independent thinking will no longer be tolerated.

“You do not ask the lamp to burn when the spark has not lit the flame; do not ask me to live amid noise and light.”

Athos speaks to his physician in this passage. The doctor has just informed Athos that if he does not begin to take better care of himself, he will surely die. Athos protests that he only stays alive for his son—Raoul is his reason for living.