The Man In The Iron Mask

In the afterword of the Signet Classics edition of The Man in the Iron Mask, scholar Jack Zipes writes that Dumas’s novel expresses a “nostalgic yearning for a code of honor and decency which […] could only be maintained in fiction” (486). Zipes further questions whether this code existed in real life, but one may certainly argue that such a code of conduct existed in the world of the novel. Strength, honor, dignity, devotion, and loyalty are all admirable traits that the Musketeers strive to uphold and embody. Arguably the most prevalent of these traits throughout the novel is honor. D’Artagnan especially regards himself as a man of honor, and he offers others every possible chance to be honorable. D’Artagnan routinely looks for ways to prioritize his friends’ safety when given orders to do them harm, and he even argues against arresting Fouquet in his own house because of the dishonor it might bring upon him and the king. D’Artagnan pointedly puts aside any personal issues he has with someone so that he may do what he believes is right—even if that means defying a king’s command. Fouquet proves himself to be a man of honor when he frees the king from the Bastille, even though he knows that doing so all but guarantees his imminent arrest for financial crimes.