Captive Thoughts Book Club met recently to discuss our October selection, La Reine Margot
, by Alexandre Dumas, the French 19th century author better known for The Three Musketeers
and The Count of Monte Cristo
. This novel was our second attempt to read something related to the very broad theme of women in literature. We found, however, that the title character Marguerite de Valois is not necessarily the protagonist in this novel. Her presence is pervasive and perhaps even symbolic, but the plot focuses as much or more on the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre and various intrigues among the French royalty to secure the throne or other positions of power. As the sister of King Charles IX, daughter of the queen mother Catherine de Medici, and wife of Henry of Navarre, a Huguenot who escaped the Massacre and still aspires to the throne of Navarre or even France, Margot is often in the center of the action. Yet she herself is concerned with only two things: love, which she spurns in her marriage but finds in the gallant and handsome young La Mole, and ambition, a goal for which she faithfully conspires with her husband Henry of Navarre.
We did not have any prepared discussion questions since this does not seem to be a popular book club choice! But we had no trouble finding topics to occupy us for a couple of hours. The tension between Catholics and Huguenots is a key element of the story and Slow Reader began our discussion with some background information on this branch of the Reformation in France. Later in our discussion, we commented on the fact that very little was said of God or religion in La Reine Margot. This seemed rather odd given the fact that France was in the midst of the Wars of Religion and the Bartholomew's Day Massacre concerned this very conflict. We weren't sure whether the absence of God and the importance placed on astrology was a subtle commentary by Dumas on the emptiness of religion at this time or if it was an accurate reflection of the 16th century court. At any rate, Dumas himself seemed to be quite secular, and perhaps he brought those assumptions to his portrayal of history.
In keeping with our theme, we talked about the character of Margot, the significance of the book title, and the role of women as depicted for the 16th century French nobility. Margot was known for her beauty and sensuality. It seems that women of this day were generally powerless and thus used their bodies as a means to control their circumstances and destiny. Even so, Margot was a pawn in the hands of her power-hungry family as she had to submit to the arranged marriage with Henry of Navarre, and later the framed charges of treason which led to the death of her lover La Mole.
We discussed the historical accuracy of the novel at some length, for Dumas took quite a bit of license with the details. The explanatory notes were useful for learning what is known of the historical facts of the characters in this time period, but the number of characters and the author's subtle changes made it rather cumbersome to sort out the truth and fiction. In spite of this, most of us thought that once we read through the initial chapters where the many characters (often with similar names) were introduced, the novel moved quickly with plenty of action and suspense.
Along similar lines, we also speculated about what Dumas might have hoped to accomplish, aside from the obvious entertainment value of a fast-paced historical novel revolving around the romance and intrigues of an ancient royal family. There is a good deal of humor in the story, in spite of the carnage of the Massacre and other tragedies. Perhaps he was making a subtle attempt to reveal the pompous vanity of the nobility. For being more than 160 years old, it was not at all difficult to read, at least not in this recently updated English translation. We did find it interesting that our one member who read a different edition, Queen Margot or Marguerite De Valois (Miramax Book)
, shared a passage that had additional content from the Oxford World's Classics edition. Whichever version you read, La Reine Margot will give you an exciting and suspenseful view of this tumultuous time of history.
All Captive Thoughts Members, please leave additional thoughts and critiques in the comments or in another post to add to this little summary.
Page Turner's personal review can be found here.
, by Alexandre Dumas, the French 19th century author better known for The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. This novel was our second attempt to read something related to the very broad theme of women in literature. We found, however, that the title character Marguerite de Valois is not necessarily the protagonist in this novel. Her presence is pervasive and perhaps even symbolic, but the plot focuses as much or more on the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre and various intrigues among the French royalty to secure the throne or other positions of power. As the sister of King Charles IX, daughter of the queen mother Catherine de Medici, and wife of Henry of Navarre, a Huguenot who escaped the Massacre and still aspires to the throne of Navarre or even France, Margot is often in the center of the action. Yet she herself is concerned with only two things: love, which she spurns in her marriage but finds in the gallant and handsome young La Mole, and ambition, a goal for which she faithfully conspires with her husband Henry of Navarre.We did not have any prepared discussion questions since this does not seem to be a popular book club choice! But we had no trouble finding topics to occupy us for a couple of hours. The tension between Catholics and Huguenots is a key element of the story and Slow Reader began our discussion with some background information on this branch of the Reformation in France. Later in our discussion, we commented on the fact that very little was said of God or religion in La Reine Margot
. This seemed rather odd given the fact that France was in the midst of the Wars of Religion and the Bartholomew's Day Massacre concerned this very conflict. We weren't sure whether the absence of God and the importance placed on astrology was a subtle commentary by Dumas on the emptiness of religion at this time or if it was an accurate reflection of the 16th century court. At any rate, Dumas himself seemed to be quite secular, and perhaps he brought those assumptions to his portrayal of history.In keeping with our theme, we talked about the character of Margot, the significance of the book title, and the role of women as depicted for the 16th century French nobility. Margot was known for her beauty and sensuality. It seems that women of this day were generally powerless and thus used their bodies as a means to control their circumstances and destiny. Even so, Margot was a pawn in the hands of her power-hungry family as she had to submit to the arranged marriage with Henry of Navarre, and later the framed charges of treason which led to the death of her lover La Mole.
We discussed the historical accuracy of the novel at some length, for Dumas took quite a bit of license with the details. The explanatory notes were useful for learning what is known of the historical facts of the characters in this time period, but the number of characters and the author's subtle changes made it rather cumbersome to sort out the truth and fiction. In spite of this, most of us thought that once we read through the initial chapters where the many characters (often with similar names) were introduced, the novel moved quickly with plenty of action and suspense.
Along similar lines, we also speculated about what Dumas might have hoped to accomplish, aside from the obvious entertainment value of a fast-paced historical novel revolving around the romance and intrigues of an ancient royal family. There is a good deal of humor in the story, in spite of the carnage of the Massacre and other tragedies. Perhaps he was making a subtle attempt to reveal the pompous vanity of the nobility. For being more than 160 years old, it was not at all difficult to read, at least not in this recently updated English translation. We did find it interesting that our one member who read a different edition, Queen Margot or Marguerite De Valois (Miramax Book)
, shared a passage that had additional content from the Oxford World's Classics edition. Whichever version you read, La Reine Margot will give you an exciting and suspenseful view of this tumultuous time of history.All Captive Thoughts Members, please leave additional thoughts and critiques in the comments or in another post to add to this little summary.
Page Turner's personal review can be found here.
1 comment:
I was only half way through the book when we discused it. The second half has been much more interesting. It was easier once I got the characters straight. I really enjoyed it.
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