# A Procurator's Dinner explained — The Three Musketeers

> Chapter companion for The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.

## What happens

Porthos visits the home of the procurator's wife, Madame Coquenard, anticipating a lavish dinner and a comfortable household. Instead, he finds a meager meal and a stingy atmosphere. After dinner, he negotiates with Madame Coquenard for funds and equipment for the upcoming campaign, securing eight hundred livres, a horse, and a mule, but leaves hungry and dissatisfied.

## Themes in this chapter

### Class and Social Mobility

Porthos, a soldier without fortune, seeks to improve his station through a relationship with the procurator's wife, hoping for financial gain and a comfortable life.

### Deception and Disguise

Porthos pretends to be a cousin to gain access to the procurator's household and resources, while Madame Coquenard hides the true nature of their relationship.

## Character check-ins

### Porthos

Visits the procurator's wife for dinner, hoping for a lavish meal and financial support, but is disappointed by the meager fare and stingy household.

### Madame Coquenard

The procurator's wife who hosts Porthos, attempts to provide a modest dinner, and later negotiates the terms of his campaign equipment.

### M. Coquenard

The old procurator, physically frail and suspicious of Porthos, reluctantly accepts the cousinly relationship and participates in the dinner.

### Mousqueton

Porthos's lackey, mentioned in the negotiation for a mule to carry him to glory.

## Key lines

> His heart beat, but not like d'Artagnan's with a young and impatient love. No; a more material interest stirred his blood.

Porthos's excitement was not romantic like d'Artagnan's, but driven by material gain.

_Highlights Porthos's mercenary motives in visiting Madame Coquenard._

> The musketeer could not forget the evil reports which then prevailed, and which indeed have survived them, of the procurators of the period—meanness, stinginess, fasts

Porthos was aware of the common reputation of procurators as miserly and frugal.

_Sets up the contrast between Porthos's hopes and the reality of the dinner._

> Molière had not written his scene in L'Avare then. Madame Coquenard was in the dilemma of Harpagan.

Madame Coquenard faced a situation similar to the miser Harpagon in Molière's play, before that play was written.

_Directly references Molière's 'L'Avare' to emphasize the theme of avarice._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_three_musketeers_se/chapters/xxxii-a-procurator-s-dinner
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_three_musketeers_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_three_musketeers_se/chapters