56 pages • 1 hour read

The Man In The Iron Mask

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1850

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Chapters 2-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 2 Summary

D’Artagnan visits Porthos at his estate since he realizes the two have not seen one another in a couple of weeks. Porthos is uncharacteristically unhappy, as he has received an invitation to a fete at Vaux, but none of his clothes fit him correctly. Porthos has long felt embarrassed at being measured by a tailor, so he had his servant Mouston be measured in his place. The only problem with this is that Mouston is shorter and a little fatter than Porthos, so all of the new suits he ordered are too big in the body and too short in the leg. D’Artagnan persuades Porthos to come with him to the king’s tailor so he can be dressed for the big party.

Chapter 3 Summary

D’Artagnan and Porthos visit the king’s tailor, Percerin. Percerin is an older man who has dressed kings for years, just like his father did before him. Percerin also famously prevented Italian tailors from flooding the market with Florentine designs, and one Italian noble, Concino Concini, wore one of Percerin’s doublets on his execution. Upon arriving at Percerin’s house, D’Artagnan and Porthos gain entry by claiming to be there on the king’s orders. Inside, D’Artagnan notices a middle-aged man writing down observations about the tailor’s patrons. D’Artagnan recognizes him as Moliere and offers to let him use Porthos as inspiration if he gets them to the inner rooms to see Percerin.

Chapter 4 Summary

As D’Artagnan tries to convince Percerin to find room for Porthos’s suit in his pre-party schedule, Aramis arrives, and his presence persuades Percerin at last. While Porthos is being measured for his new suit, D’Artagnan and Aramis converse. They make pointed comments about one another’s wealth and station, but Aramis soon turns the conversation to a man named Le Brun, who is one of Fouquet’s painters. Fouquet—the surintendant—leads a poets’ society called the Epicureans. Aramis tells D’Artagnan that Fouquet is throwing the fete in the king’s honor, and Aramis wishes for Le Brun to see the suits before the fete for the commission of a portrait of the king in which his new outfits can be displayed. Le Brun sketches the suits, and Aramis convinces Percerin to provide him with fabric samples for Le Brun to reference later. D’Artagnan is suspicious of Aramis’s true intentions.

Chapter 5 Summary

D’Artagnan and Aramis adjourn to the room where Moliere is measuring Porthos for his suit. Aramis plans to leave with Moliere, as they are due in St. Mande to meet the other Epicureans. Porthos explains how Moliere measured him without touching him, using a large mirror to sketch Porthos’s figure in a range of postures and used that to obtain his suit measurements instead of holding a tape to his actual body. Porthos is extremely impressed with Moliere’s methods, and he and D’Artagnan return to their carriage.

Chapters 2-5 Analysis

Something immediately worth noting in this section is that D’Artagnan and Porthos have not seen one another for some time. Given that the two (and the rest of the Musketeers) were at one point inseparable, the possibility that they have now drifted apart may strike the reader as being a little disconcerting. D’Artagnan now spends his time in the king’s service as captain of the musketeers, while Porthos spends most of his time shopping and socializing. Porthos’s dilemma about his suits is a conundrum befitting a man of his new station: He cannot wear the new, most fashionable suits since they do not fit, and he cannot wear the older suits that do fit because those designs are now out of style. When the reader first meets Porthos in this novel, his extreme dislike of being measured at the tailors seems comical, and it establishes Porthos as a comedic presence in what has so far been a web of secretive political schemes. This section portrays Porthos as a gentle giant—he is a big, muscular man who, by all appearances, is physically intimidating, but his personality offsets that impression, as he turns out to be cheerful, sociable, and self-conscious.

While in Percerin’s shop, D’Artagnan recognizes Moliere making notes about the customers in the store. Moliere was a French playwright born in 1622, and he was famous for his comedies and satires. In fact, this scene implies that Moliere’s play Le Bourgeois Gentlehomme (The Bourgeois Gentleman) takes its inspiration from Moliere’s interactions with Porthos at Percerin’s shop. The irony here is that in Moliere’s time, to be a gentleman meant one was of noble birth while being bourgeois suggests a social climbing that did not and could not coexist with being a gentleman. D’Artagnan’s suspicion of Aramis is also worth noting because Aramis asks questions about the king (whom D’Artagnan serves and protects) and because D’Artagnan is suspicious of one of his dearest friends. Given the length of time since D’Artagnan and Porthos saw one another, the reader may reasonably infer that D’Artagnan and Aramis do not see one another as often as in the past. If they were still close, D’Artagnan might be more able to easily brush off his suspicions.