BROADCASTS.com

The Three Musketeers, Version 2

by Alexandre DUMAS (1802 - 1870)

His Majesty King Louis XIII

D’Artagnan, son of a poor Gascon aristocrat, travels to Paris to seek his fortune. His family connections enable him to obtain a position in a Guard regiment. His provincial ingenuousness and his hot-headed sense of honor earn him three duels in as many hours. Thankfully, his preparation with the sword is sufficient to recommend himself to his Musketeer antagonists, and they – Athos, Porthos, and Aramis – become his fast friends. But fate also crosses D’Artagnan’s path with some dangerous people who become his opponents: a mysterious “man from Meung” and a woman who styles herself Milady, who has formidable seduction skills and a heart that is mean and violent. Fate also inserts D’Artagnan and his Musketeer friends squarely in the middle of a love triangle of heroic proportions – between Anne of Austria (the Queen of France), George Villiers (the Duke of Buckingham, France’s enemy), and the great spymaster, his Eminence the Cardinal Richelieu. Both of these gentlemen can command the armed forces of their respective countries to battle simply for the pleasure of beating the other. And the Musketeers must serve and risk life and limb at the siege of La Rochelle, a place where the Duke and the Cardinal have chosen to match wills. In this age it was common for young cavaliers to live off the gifts of rich mistresses, and the four friends are certainly, it seems, bereft otherwise, although all are respectably employed as guardsmen to the King himself. Their love connections weave a further web about them which often seems to sidetrack their duty to King and country. It takes all the efforts of the four to fend off the lethal consequences of mixing in the affairs of their betters and the slings and arrows (not to mention the musket and cannon balls!) of their outrageous fortunes. (Mark F. Smith)

---

Listen next episodes of The Three Musketeers, Version 2:
A Conjugal Visit , A Family Affair , A Fatality , A Gascon a Match for Cupid , A Mousetrap in the Seventeenth Century , A Procurator's Dinner , A Terrible Vision , A Vision , Aramis and His Thesis , Bonacieux at Home , Captivity: The Fifth Day , Captivity: The First Day , Captivity: The Fourth Day , Captivity: The Second Day , Captivity: the Third Day , Chat Between a Brother and Sister , Concerning a Court Intrigue , Conclusion , D'Artagnan and the Englishman , D'Artagnan Shows Himself , Dream of Vengeance , English and French , Epilogue , Escape , Execution , George Villiers - Duke of Buckingham , How, Without Incommoding Himself, Athos Procures His Equipment , Hunting for the Equipments , In France , In Which M. de Segurier, Keeper of the Seals, Looks More Than Once for the Bell , In Which the Equipment of Porthos and Aramis Is Treated Of , In Which the Plot Thickens , Lover and Husband , Means of Classical Tragedy , Men of the Robe and Men of the Sword , Milady's Secret , Mistress and Soubrette , Monsieur Bonacieux , Officer , Plan of Campaign , Porthos , The Anjou Wine , The Ballet of La Merlaison , The Bastion Saint-Gervais , The Carmelite Convent at Bethune , The Council of the Musketeers , The Countess de Winter , The Drop of Water , The Interior of the Musketeers , The Journey , The Man in the Red Cloak , The Man of Meung , The Pavilion , The Rendezvous , The Return , The Siege of La Rochelle , The Sign of the Red Dovecot , The Utility of Stovepipes , The Wife of Athos , Trial , Two Varieties of Demons , What Happened at Portsmouth