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Politics - Dumas examines the fine balance between the ruling class and the people. Specifically, the abuse of power. Rebellions are a common occurrence in his novels. |
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Hope - Cornelius, in jail, survives on hope: "Except on extraordinary occasions, Rosa never came during the day. Cornelius therefore did not really expect her as long as the day lasted. Yet his sudden starts, his listening at the door, his rapid glances at every little noise towards the grated window, showed clearly that the prisoner entertained some latent hope that Rosa would, somehow or other, break her rule." -The Black Tulip |
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Duels - Athos in regard to being injured during a duel with d'Artagnan: "Very inconvenient, upon my word; and you hurt me devilishly, I can tell you. But I will take the left hand - it is my custom in such circumstances. Do not fancy that I do you a favor; I use either hand easily. And it will be even a disadvantage to you; a left-handed man is very troublesome to people who are not prepared for it. I regret I did not inform you sooner of this circumstance." -The Three Musketeers |
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The strength of friendship - "All for one, one for all, that is our device." -The Three Musketeers
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Revenge - "God has sustained me against my enemies and I see now He does not wish me to end my triumph with repentance. I intended punishing myself, but God has pardoned me!"-The Count of Monte Cristo |
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Soap opera-like themes such as twisted love triangles and affairs - "Then only D'Artagnan remembered the languishing glances of Kitty, her constantly meeting him in the antechamber, the corridor, or on the stairs, those touches of the hand every time she met him, and her deep sighs; but absorbed by his desire to please the great lady, he had disdained the soubrette. He whose game is the eagle takes no heed of the sparrow." in reference to d'Artagnan who is in love with a married woman, and actually is involved with a woman whose maid he finally realizes likes him. -The Three Musketeers |
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Romance - Romance is portrayed both in the literal sense between man and woman, and the hero sense with the way characters die. "Porthos is killed by [the] king's men, [and] d'Artagnan is killed in Holland by a stray bullet. At the end of the story, only Aramis is still alive." -The Vicomte Bragelonne (classiclit.about.com)
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A sense of irony - "In the middle of the political struggle for freedom is Cornelius van Baerle, a young man who has devoted himself to tulip-growing. Cornelius is falsely imprisoned for high treason. With the help of Rosa, the daughter of a jailer, he manages to grow a black tulip. Cornelius wins his freedom and hundred thousand guilders in glittering gold pieces as reward for the tulip. The prince said, "This tulip will therefore bear the name of its producer, and figure in the catalogue under the title, Tulipa nigra Rosa Barlaensis, because of the name Van Baerle, which will henceforth be the name of this damsel."" -The Black Tulip (classiclit.about.com) |
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Dumas was accused of living the lives of the characters he invented for his literature. He named his mansion Monte Cristo, had numerous affairs, squandered several fortunes, and even fought in sword duels. The question is, which followed which? Do you think Dumas invented the characters after his own personality or did he really live the lives of his fictional characters? |
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Alexandre Dumas is one of the most prolific writers of all time. What do you think his motivation was? Was it for the money, reputation, genre of historical fiction, or for all of his readers? |
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Alexandre Dumas was an interesting man. In his novels women are highly respected and guarded from evil. He was even an outspoken critic of prostitution. His life however, was full of affairs and womanizing. Do these two aspects of his life in fact conflict? |
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A tradeoff to his immense amount of publishing was that he needed helpers. These aids did everything from research, to grammar correction, to actually writing entire chapters of books that were published under his name alone. Even though everyone had agreed to this (they thought Dumas' name would sell better), is it moral not to give credit to his helpers? On a deeper level, did Dumas have any regrets or hesitations when it came to publishing other people's material as his own? |
