The Man In The Iron Mask

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1850

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Chapter 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary

Aramis, the Bishop of Vannes, arrives at Bastille prison to hear a prisoner’s confession. The governor of the prison, Baisemeaux, leads him to the cell but is denied entry. Only Aramis may hear the man’s confession. Once inside, Aramis notes that the man has not been eating; he called for a confessor since he felt ill, but upon seeing Aramis, he suddenly claims to feel better. The two men engage in a philosophical discussion about liberty, and it soon becomes clear that this is neither a standard confession nor an interrogation. Aramis claims to know the man from some 15-18 years ago in a village called Noisy-le-Sec, and he reveals himself to be the abbe and musketeer the prisoner occasionally saw when he was a young boy there.

Aramis explains to the prisoner that he is risking his own life to have this conversation. He reveals that the prisoner’s father is dead, but his mother is still alive and that the man cannot be released because his “presence in the world would lead to the revelation of a great secret” (16). The prisoner confirms that he has been in captivity since he was a child. Aramis tells him that his childhood nurse and tutor were both poisoned by his enemy. The prisoner shares a story from his youth: one afternoon, his tutor lost a letter from Queen Anne of Austria. The wind blew the letter down the garden well. While the tutor and the nurse, Dame Perronnette, made plans for how to retrieve the letter, the prisoner went down the well himself and fished the paper out. He hid inside and read the letter but only understood some of what it said. When Perronnette and the tutor learned what he had done, they returned the letter to the Queen; he was soon moved to the Bastille, and both adults disappeared.

The prisoner tells Aramis that his caretakers used to call him Philippe. Aramis asks Philippe if there were any mirrors in the house where he grew up; there were none, so Philippe does not know what his face looks like. Philippe was also not taught history; Aramis remarks that he was kept in ignorance of the past and the present. Aramis tells him that on September 5, 1638, Queen Anne of Austria gave birth to twin sons by her husband, King Louis XIII. Dame Perronnette was her midwife. The king was unhappy about having two sons and was fearful of the second son challenging the laws of primogeniture since they are twins. The second son was sent away, and the first son has since become king. Aramis presents Philippe with a portrait of King Louis XIV and a mirror to see his face. The two are identical, as Philippe is the sequestered twin. Aramis offers to help Philippe escape and take the throne from his brother—Philippe agrees.

Chapter 1 Analysis

The inciting incident of the novel is Aramis’s visit to the Bastille. His interaction with Baisemeaux, while minimal in this first chapter, is still significant. It establishes from the beginning that there is more to Aramis than what he lets other people see. In this chapter, Aramis is at the prison for little more than taking a prisoner’s confession, but Baisemeaux’s discomfort and insecurity at being in Aramis’s presence suggest that Aramis is not just a regular priest but rather holds a higher position in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. The fact that Aramis is the one called to take the confession of such a prisoner separated from the general population suggests to the reader two things: the prisoner is someone important, and Aramis must also be important. Aramis hints at the prisoner’s importance several times before he dives in, at one point calling him ”monseigneur” instead of “monsieur.” The prisoner visibly reacts to Aramis’s word choice, which is significant because “monsieur” is used for any Frenchman of high station, whereas “monseigneur” is reserved for French dignitaries—like a prince, for example. While the prisoner does not know his true heritage, he knows he is special. Aramis’s calling him “monseigneur” startles the prisoner because it confirms his belief that he is someone important while also opening up to him the possibility that he might be far more noteworthy than he initially thought.

Aramis’s plan to switch the two brothers highlights a significant facet of French society and law: primogeniture. Primogeniture is, simply, being the firstborn child. In law, one may find matrilineal or patrilineal primogeniture, which refers to the line of succession and inheritance moving to the firstborn female child (matrilineal) or the firstborn male child (patrilineal). After discovering he had twin sons, King Louis XIII's dilemma was that, in accordance with patrilineal primogeniture, the firstborn son would inherit the throne—but since the boys were identical twins, there could potentially be a great deal of confusion about who was actually the first child. The second son could easily argue that he had been switched and cheated out of his inheritance, or other church and state officials may debate what it means to be “first” among twins—Who was conceived first? Who was delivered first? Who was presented publicly first? The endless potential for questions and conflicts caused King Louis XIII to lock the second son away in hopes of guaranteeing an unchallenged path to the throne for Louis XIV.