The Man in the Iron Mask

A Drama in Five Acts

By Alexandre Dumas, Narcisse Fournier, and Auguste Arnould
Translation by Frank J. Morlock

Category: Play
Genre: Tragedy
Page count: 65

When revolutionaries stormed the Bastille of Paris, so the story goes, records were found of a mysterious masked prisoner. This tale sparked imaginations throughout France, and the identity of the prisoner remained a hot topic of speculation. Theories as to the identity of the Man in the Iron Mask ranged from an out-of-favor duke to the younger son of English Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell.

Alexandre Dumas is best known today for his musketeer series, the d'Artagnan romances; and among these books, for The Three Musketeers and a portion of The Vicomte de Bragelonne commonly referred to as The Man in the Iron Mask. But the latter was not Dumas's first exploration of the enigmatic historical figure.

Dumas made his name and reputation in his own time as a dramatist. Long before Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and d'Artagnan discovered the secret of the twin princes, Dumas collaborated on a five-act play, examining his favored theory as to why "the secret of the name, age, and features of the captive, which was so perseveringly kept through long years at the cost of so much care, was of vital importance to the government."

The story opens in 1638, with the lords of King Louis XIII's court anxiously awaiting word of whether France is to gain a prince or a princess. When the king and his most trusted advisors discover that the queen has given birth to twins, they realize that two princes, both with equal claim to the throne, would lead to civil war. The king determines to hide one son away, raised in ignorance of his birth. But when Gaston grows up to learn of his birthright, his brother and Cardinal Mazarin take more drastic steps to keep Gaston's existence a secret and their own power secure.

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Read a review of The Man in the Iron Mask from the Midwest Book Review.