A comparison of Dumas' greatest works, The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo

CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE THREE MUSKETEERS

The first book I reviewed was The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas which I gave a 4/5 for its interesting characters and well constructed plot, but Dumas is more well known for The Three Musketeers. The story is about D’Artagnan, a young man from Gascony, who travels to Paris hoping to join the king’s musketeers. He meets three musketeers there, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, and ends up challenging all of them individually to a duel, which is interrupted by the Cardinal Richelieu’s guards. They fight off the guards, and D’Artagnan befriends the three. The four of them get involved in and eventually destroy the Cardinal’s and Milady de Winter’s plot to essentially dethrone the queen. Eventually we learn more about the past of these characters and specifically Athos has an important role in it. In the end Milady dies and the four return to Paris.

The Three Musketeers has a much more complex plot than The Count of Monte Cristo and it’s clear that there has been significantly more thought put into it. There is a lot going on in the plot, and it’s almost like a mystery novel in the sense that the reader is trying to figure out what’s happening in the background, and what's the underlying cause of the events that happen throughout the book. This is another way in which it differs from The Count of Monte Cristo. In that book the reader is made aware of everything that happens in the plot and you’re only trying to figure out the motives of the characters.

However, Dumas still has interesting characters with significant development throughout the story. D’Artagnan, as an example, has a drastic shift in his worldview, from cheerful and lighthearted to more realistic and understanding of the world’s complexities. As well, Athos comes to accept and deal with his past which is shrouded in mystery for most of the story.

For as good as The Three Musketeers is, it’s less than perfect. Around 3/4 of the way into the book, the story shifts focus to Milady. She is by this point an important character, but not important enough to take roughly a sixth of the book. This is a problem The Count of Monte Cristo also has, however, in that book these kinds of subplots take less space in the book but are more sudden.

While the ending is conclusive, it falls a bit flat and doesn’t make sense as to how everything just suddenly resolves. After Milady dies, D’Artagnan goes to confront the cardinal who just gives up and promotes D’Artagnan to lieutenant for seemingly no reason. The Count of Monte Cristo had a more climactic ending and by the end it’s obvious what the characters' motives are. As well, the epilogue in The Three Musketeers is a bit of an exposition dump. It’s interesting, but it reads like an afterthought instead of an important piece of the story.

However, my main problem with this book is a common one: cringe worthy love-based subplots. Remember how I said Milady took about a sixth of the book? That was one of these subplots. However, that one is more forgivable as it actually contributed to the overall plot by concluding in Milady’s escape from jail. It seems like a third of the book is dedicated to these often gratuitous love-based subplots. However, Dumas specifically was good at making them rarely cringe worthy, so at least these books don’t suffer from cringe. The Count of Monte Cristo got around this problem by making all of the love-based subplots either contribute greatly to the plot, or by spending little time on them.

Most of the problems with The Three Musketeers are minor, but still more pronounced than in The Count of Monte Cristo. I give The Three Musketeers a big 3/5 but if you are choosing to only read one of these two books, I would recommend The Count of Monte Cristo.

- Ben