Milady Clarick de Winter, often referred to as simply Milady, is a major antagonist in the 1844 historical adventure novel The Three Musketeers by the late Alexandre Dumas, as well as its 1849 theatrical adaptation, The Youth of the Musketeers. She acts as a spy for Cardinal Richelieu.
Backstory[]
A cunning and beautiful spy, Milady is an unusual example of a strong, independent woman with a sordid and checkered past, filled with the seduction and willful destruction of men who will provide her with monetary support. Milady is remorseless and unrepentant for her countless "misdeeds", she is also extremely vengeful and sadistic with her brother in law describing her as having all the wealth she could ever want, but committing evil for the sheer joy of it.
Later in the novel, she is revealed to be the thought dead wife of Athos, one of the musketeers in the title of the novel.
Novel[]
Starting out as an unnamed teenage nun of an disclosed past whom entered the convent in the city of Lille in France. She seduced a young and naive priest (named Georges according to the play, Youth of the Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas himself) into helping her stealing the sacred chalices and Communion plate from the Church, a blasphemous act. The priest helped her do the theft under the reasoning they'd escape and elope with the stolen church relics to fund their new life together in another part of the country.
However the two were caught in the act of theft, but Milady managed to manipulate the Jailer's son into helping her get away, whilst the priest was branded with a fleur de lys, marking him for his unforgivable crime, the Priest's own older brother and town executioner was made to do the deed. Angry about Milady leading his younger brother astray, the executioner managed to brand Milady with the same mark before she fully escaped that region of France.
Later the priest managed to escape the Lille prison and rendezvous with Milady in the village of La Fère where he posed as her brother under another false identity, with plans to flee to Quebec once they made enough money together.
However Comte De Fleur, the count of the region and a nobleman, was captivated by Milady's beauty and intellect. Despite her obscure origins and lack of noble blood or wealth, proposed marriage to her against the wishes of his family. Abandoning the Priest's plans to flee together to Quebec, Milady let the priest know that she had no further use for him now that she could marry into nobility.
The priest was heartbroken by Milady's abandonment of him and returned to his hometown of Lille to serve his prison sentence. There the priest discovered his brother, the executioner, had been made to serve his prison sentence because of his escape. Horrified and despondent that he had committed crimes that had disgraced the church and ruined his family for a woman that never really loved him to begin with, the priest hung himself in his cell that night.
Mean whilst Milady enjoyed her new position as the rich wife of Comte De Fleur, but one day whilst they were horse riding in the forest one day, Milady fell off her horse and fainted, when Comte De Fleur took off her dress to administer medical care, he discovered the brand on her shoulder.
Identifying her as a convicted criminal that committed a serious crime. Thinking she had married him only for his money, feeling he and his entire family had been dishonored by the marriage to a heinous criminal and having the right to administer justice to criminals on his estate, Comte De Fleur hanged her from a tree on the spot and left, unbeknownst to the Comte, his wife would somehow survive. Not even apparently killing his criminal wife was enough for Comte De Fleur to reclaim his honor, the disgraced count took the pseudonym of Athos and enlisted in the musketeers, whilst to the rest of the world, Comte De Fleur ceased to exist after his scandalous marriage to a criminal.
Some time later, Milady, now under the pseudonym of a native English noblewoman, move to England,, married Baron Sheffield, brother of the powerful noble, Lord De Winter. Barely a day after the marriage, Milady would give birth a son and slowly poison Baron Sheffield to inherit his money, with the effects of the poison presented as a mysterious illness he contracted. Eventually she winds up in the employ of Cardinal Richelieu, working as his spy, assassin, and messenger. At some point around this time, she also entered a relationship with the Duke of Buckingham, but he eventually ended the affair.
She is first seen by the protagonist, D'Artagnan conversing with Comte de Rochefort, another agent of the Cardinal, in Meung about how to use the Queen's relationship with Buckingham to the Cardinal's advantage.
When the Cardinal learns that Anne of Austria, wife of King Louis XIII and his enemy, has entrusted her diamond studs, a gift from the King, to her lover, the English minister, the Duke of Buckingham. Seeking to humiliate the Queen by having her show up at a party without her husband's jewels, which she was requested to wear, the Cardinal hires Milady to go to London and steal the Jewels, with Milady eagerly taking the chance to get revenge on the Duke for spurning her in favor of Queen Anne.
Pretending to reconcile with her former lover, Milady manages to steals two of Queen Anne's jewels from the Duke of Buckingham , but the intended scandal is averted when the Musketeers and Buckingham arrange to have a Jeweler replace the missing studs with two nearly crafted replicas and get it to Queen Anne just in time for her to publicly appear at the King's party.
D'Artagnan himself later sees Milady at a church and falls under her spell, though he also pursues an affair with her maid, Kitty.
When the French troops lay siege to the Hugenot city of La Rochelle, the Duke of Buckingham leads an unsuccessful expedition to assist the besieged. In a house near La Rochelle, Athos and his friends Porthos and Aramis overhear a conversation between the Cardinal and Milady, plotting to kill Buckingham before he can make another attempt.
Even if he is the enemy of France, the musketeers regard Buckingham, the man, as a friend. They commit treason to the crown and thus warn him of the threat and upon arriving in England, Milady is arrested and imprisoned in a house by her hostile brother-in-law, the new Lord de Winter.
Over several days, she manipulates her jailer, John Felton, persuading him that she is a Puritan at heart 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. He thus proceeds to murder the Duke (a historical event), but after carrying out the murder he is aghast to see Milady's ship sailing away without him. Felton is later hanged.
Returning to France, Milady hides out in a convent, but upon finding out that the abbess is not an ally of the Cardinal, she pretends to be one of the Cardinal's victims. There Milady meets D'Artagnan's lover, Constance Bonacieux, and pretends to be her friend. Upon finding out Constance is loved by D'Artagnan whom is coming to visit her, Milady decides to kill Constance specifically to spite D'Artagnan.
Giving Constance poisoned wine that would guarantee a long and torturous death, Milady scampered off as D'Artagnan and the Musketeers approached, giving the excuse that the Musketeers were the Cardinal's men come to get her. As D'Artagnan reconnected with his beloved, he was horrified to see Constance falter and shortly after revealing she was feeling faint since she accepted a cup of wine from "D'Artagnan's friend" and describing the "friend", she dies in D'Artagnan's arms from the poison. Outraged by the murder of an innocent woman, the Musketeers agree that Milady is simply too evil to be left alive with Athos saying he'll take charge because Milady is his wife, revealing his past to the other musketeers.
The musketeers, Lord de Winter and a mysterious masked man in a red hooded robe brought along by Athos, hunt Milady, track her to a small cottage near the border of France, abduct her, take her to the area between France and Belgium, than put her in a vigilante trial.
The Musketeers charge Milady with the murder of Constance, hiring an assassin to kill the Musketeers, sending poisoned wine with the intent of killing D'Artagnan with no regards to collateral damage and trying to kill De Wardes. Athos adds that she deceived him by concealing her true identity and name.
Milady's brother in law, De Winter speaks up, adding that Milady is also guilty of masterminding the assassination of the Duke of Buckingham, corrupting Felton into carrying out the deed, than leaving him to die, marrying his brother under a false identity without annulling her first marriage, and finally that her part in his brother's death has been uncovered, meaning she's guilty of murdering her second husband, Sheffield.
Milady pleads to the hooded man that she is innocent and these accusations are all lies and defamation and that the mark was put on her unjustly, but the masked man than reveals himself. The red cloak is taken off to reveal a figure that causes Milady to go utterly pale with complete terror and dread. The man was the executioner from Lille whom had branded her for talking his brother into a life of crime.
As Milady broke down in fear and panic whilst cursing the Heavens, the executioner revealed his part in Milady's past as well as how she ruined his brother's life and drove him to suicide. The Executioner asks everyone for the verdict and every juror present unanimously agrees the only punishment that could suit Milady's crime would be death.
The jurors and the executioner hold Milady in the local town of Armentieres to await her execution at midnight, Milady tries to talk the town prison guards into letting her go, but her efforts aren't successful and the guards are switched up just to make sure that no one will free Milady. When Nighttime falls, Milady was walked up to a river flowing leading to the ocean.
Milady pleaded for her life, offering to turn over a new leaf for good this time and finally resorted to cursed everyone around her as Athos called her a Devil from Hell. Milady proclaims her love for D'Artagnan and claims she only wanted to be with him, but Athos is able to talk the younger man out of intervening.
Milady is brought on a boat to the other end of the river bank by the executioner and despite their hatred for her, the executioner and jurors agree that as gentlemen, they will pray for her soul, with D'Artagnan also apologizing to Milady for deceiving and dishonoring her via impersonating De Wardes.
Milady attempts to escape and manages to free her feet from the bonds, but as she gets off the boat and tries to run on the soft bank, she trips and falls down, cursing God. Slowly the executioner approached Milady and lopped her head clean off with one powerful swing of his scimitar as her headless body crumbled to the ground.
Though momentarily taken back by the brutality of the execution, all the parties at the execution agree that the trial's verdict was the right choice. The executioner than gathered Milady's head and body, put them into his red cloak, wrapped it up into a red sack, got back into the boat and finally dumped the red sack into the river, as he said "let the justice of God be done".
Aliases[]
She uses or is referred to by the following names throughout the novel:
- Charlotte Backson (the name Milady's brother-in-law, Lord de Winter, attempts to bestow upon her in his plan to banish her to the colonies)
- Anne de Breuil (the name by which Athos knew Milady when he met her)
- Comtesse de La Fère (the title and name Milady assumed when she married Athos, who was Comte de La Fère at the time)
- Milady de Winter, Baroness of Sheffield (the general name Milady is referred to throughout the story)
- Lady Clarick (a variation on the previous name; in some English translations, this is translated as Clarisse or Clarice)
Portrayals[]
Actresses who have played Milady on screen include:
Faye Dunaway as Milady in The Three Musketeers (1973)
- The late Barbara La Marr as Milady, in The Three Musketeers (1921)
- The late Lana Turner plays Milady in The Three Musketeers (1948)
- The late Mylène Demongeot, in Les trois mousquetaires: Premiere époque-Les ferrets de la reine and Les trois mousquetaires: La vengeance de Milady (aka "The Fighting Musketeers" and "The Vengeance of Milady") (both 1961)
- Faye Dunaway, who also portrayed Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde, Jane Wilkinson in Thirteen at Dinner, Serena Joy in the 1990 film adaptation of The Handmaid's Tale, Selena in Supergirl, Elena Dubrow in Dunston Checks In, and Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest, in The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974)
- Margarita Terekhova in D'Artagnan and Three Musketeers (1978 miniseries)
- Rebecca De Mornay, who also portrayed Mrs. Mott in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Natalie Koffin in the 2010 remake of Mother's Day, and Tessa McKellan in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, in The Three Musketeers (1993)
- Pia Douwes in 3 Musketiers (2003 musical)
- Milla Jovovich, who also portrayed Katinka Ingaborgovinananananana in Zoolander 2, in The Three Musketeers (2011)
- Maimie McCoy Milady in The Musketeers (2014)
- Eva Green, who also portrayed Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale, Eve Connors in White Bird in a Blizzard, Artemesia in 300: Rise of an Empire, Angelique Bouchard in Dark Shadows, Miss Gribben in Cracks, and Ava Lord in Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, in The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan and The Three Musketeers: Milady.
Trivia[]
- Whilst she never gets the chance, Milady conspires to have revenge on Kitty and late in the novel is intrigued when she hears someone named Kitty is staying at the convent she's hiding in. However as Milady runs into Constance not much later, neither Milady nor the audience never finds out if this Kitty was the same person as Milady's maid.
- The French author, Agnès Maupré, wrote a comic series called Milady, which retold the story of The Three Musketeers from her perspective. Whilst the comic accurately follows the novel and includes all of Milady's crimes from the story, it also focused more on her relationships with the Duke of Buckingham, Rochefort and her son, John Francis De Winter AKA Mordaunt.
External Links[]
- Milady de Winter on the Wikipedia
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 Villains
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