| Milady de Winter | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Unknown |
|
Aliases |
Charlotte Backson; |
|
First Appearance |
Les Trois Mousquetaires (March 1844) |
|
Created by |
Alexandre Dumas |
Origin[]
Milady de Winter, often referred to as simply Milady, is a fictional character in the novel The Three Musketeers (1844) by Alexandre Dumas, père, set in 1625 France. She is a spy for Cardinal Richelieu and is one of the dominant antagonists of the story. Her role in the first part of the book is to seduce the English prime minister, the Duke of Buckingham, who is also the secret lover of Queen Anne of France. Hoping to blackmail the queen, Richelieu orders Milady to steal two diamonds from a set of matched studs given to Buckingham by the queen, which were a gift to her from her husband, King Louis XIII. Thwarted by d'Artagnan and the other musketeers, Milady's conflict with d'Artagnan carries much of the second half of the novel.
She is described as being 22 years old, tall, fair-haired, and uncommonly beautiful, with brilliant blue eyes and black lashes and brows. Milady possesses a voice that can seduce and bewitch.
A capable and intelligent French spy who can pass effortlessly as a native Englishwoman, Milady's beautiful exterior hides a diabolically cunning, manipulative, ruthless and cruel interior; she is remorseless and unrepentant for her countless "misdeeds" and often described as appearing demonic and frighteningly ugly in the instant when she is thwarted in her aims. She is a classic example of a femme fatale.
Milady later is revealed to be the wife of Athos, originally the Comte de la Fère, one of the three musketeers of the novel's title.
Background[]
Like Athos, who sheds his true identity as the Comte de la Fère when he joins the musketeers, Milady goes by numerous aliases, so that her identity is concealed for a good part of the novel. Athos first knows her as an adolescent Anne de Breuil, but because she already was concealing a scandalous and criminal past at that time, it was probably not her real name.
As a young Benedictine nun of 16 she seduced the convent's trusting priest. Urging him to steal the church's sacred vessels to finance a new life in another part of the country, they fled together and were soon apprehended. Milady then seduced the jailer's son and escaped, leaving behind her first lover to be branded for theft. The executioner who had to brand the priest happened to be his brother, and blaming Milady for leading his brother astray, he tracked her down on his own and branded her on the shoulder with the same fleur-de-lis symbol, marking her as a convicted criminal. The priest in turn escaped and the lovers fled to a small town, where they posed as a country curate and his sister.
The village where they lived was part of Athos's lands, and he became captivated by both her beauty and her intellect. As seigneur of the county he could have seduced her or taken her by force, but despite the opposition of his family and her obscure origins he married her, giving her his wealth and title and raising her to the nobility. While the pair were hunting in the forest one day Milady fell from her horse and fainted. Cutting away her clothes so she could breathe, Athos discovered the convict brand on her shoulder. Dishonoured, and having the right to dispense justice on his estates, Athos immediately hanged her from a tree. His wife's ‘brother’, who had married the pair, fled before any retribution could be taken; Athos believes he only pretended to be a curate for the purpose of getting his mistress married in a secure position. For most of the novel Athos assumes his deceitful wife is dead by his own hand, not knowing she survived the hanging and that she and Milady are the same person. Because the Comte de la Fère effectively ceases to exist when he becomes Athos, Milady makes the same mistake in presuming her first husband is dead.
Active role in the novel[]
When d'Artagnan first spies Milady in Paris, she has married into English nobility some time previously by wedding Baron Sheffield, the younger brother of Lord de Winter. After she was made her husband's heir, he died violently and mysteriously within a matter of hours, leaving her a widow with a young child, who is Lord de Winter's only heir. Discovering that Milady is infatuated with Comte des Wardes, an equally infatuated d'Artagnan forges the count's reply to a love letter from Milady and arranges a nighttime rendezvous, where he impersonates des Wardes. During the assignation, Milady gives him, as des Wardes, a sapphire and diamond ring and swears to have d'Artagnan killed because he wounded the real des Wardes in a duel. She also reveals that she detests d'Artagnan for having spared her brother-in-law's life in another duel, which lost her the income from her son's potential inheritance.
When d'Artagnan later reveals to Milady that the tryst has been with him, not des Wardes, she attempts to kill him. In the struggle her nightgown is torn, revealing the fleur-de-lis brand. Knowing that her terrible secret has been revealed to her enemy, Milady becomes resolved that d'Artagnan must die. Her attempts to secure his assassination lead to her eventual downfall. D'Artagnan escapes and immediately reports to Athos that Milady has a brand on her shoulder identical to one he discovered on his wife's body. When Athos hears this and identifies the ring Milady gave to d'Artagnan as his mother's, the former Comte de la Fère realizes that his wife is not dead after all. Milady tries many methods to murder d'Artagnan; while eavesdropping on a meeting between Richelieu and Milady, the musketeers hear that, in exchange for her assassination of Buckingham, Richelieu will undertake the task. Milady bargains with the cardinal and obtains a pardon that absolves her of future (unnamed) actions. It is not until Athos confronts her and forces her at pistol point to relinquish the pardon that a horrified Milady realizes that the musketeer Athos is her first husband, the Comte de la Fère. Athos refrains from killing her, instead leaving her with no choice but to be escorted to England on her murderous mission, but without the cardinal's pardon.
The musketeers then warn Lord de Winter that not only has his sister-in-law made previous attempts on his life but that her first husband is still alive, invalidating her marriage to his late brother. They also attempt to foil Milady's plot against Buckingham by having de Winter warn him. Upon arriving in England Milady is arrested and imprisoned in a house by de Winter, who has suspected that she poisoned his younger brother. He chooses for her jailer a man he thinks will be impervious to her charms, the straitlaced Puritan John Felton. However Milady persuades Felton that she is actually a Puritan as well and that Buckingham is persecuting her because she refused his advances. Felton has his own grievances against Buckingham, whom he blames for his lack of promotion in the army, and succumbs to her manipulation. He then proceeds to murder the duke (an actual historical event) but then is aghast to see Milady's ship sailing away without him. He is later hanged for the crime.
Returning to France, Milady murders d'Artagnan's lover, then flees. The musketeers and Lord de Winter hunt Milady and track her to Lille, where they try her among themselves for her numerous crimes, including the poisoning of de Winter's brother. Athos finally charges her with deceiving him, hiding the fact that she was a convicted criminal when he married her. Milady defies anyone to produce any proof that she was ever sentenced for a crime. To her horror the executioner of Lille steps forward to reveal himself as the man who branded her.
When his priest brother escaped from jail to follow Milady, the executioner was condemned to serve his brother's sentence for him. On learning this later, the disgraced priest returned and surrendered himself, only to hang himself in his cell that same night. The executioner reveals that, rather than having schemed to marry her to a count, his brother was abandoned when Milady left him to marry Athos. (This seems to be at odds with Athos' earlier assertion that her ‘brother’ married the pair.)
This final evidence condemns Milady to death and she is beheaded by the executioner.
Public Domain Appearances[]
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- The Three Musketeers (1844)
Public Domain Comic Appearances[]
- More Fun Comics #12
Public Domain Film Adaptations[]
- The Three Musketeers (1903)
- The Three Musketeers: Part 2 (1911)
- Les trois mousquetaires (1913)
- The Three Musketeers (1914)
- The Three Musketeers (1916)
- Les Trois Mousquetaires (1921)
- The Three Musketeers (1921)
Public Domain Television Appearances[]
- The Three Musketeers (1933 - 12 episodes)