| Quote #1 "At court, provided you have ever the honor to go there," continued M. D’Artagnan the elder, "--an honor to which, remember, your ancient nobility gives you the right--sustain worthily your name of gentleman, which has been worthily borne by your ancestors for five hundred years, both for your own sake and the sake of those who belong to you. […] You ought to be brave for two reasons: the first is that you are a Gascon, and the second is that you are my son. Never fear quarrels, but seek adventures. I have taught you how to handle a sword; you have thews of iron, a wrist of steel. Fight on all occasions. Fight the more for duels being forbidden, since consequently there is twice as much courage in fighting. I have nothing to give you, my son, but fifteen crowns, my horse, and the counsels you have just heard." (1.6) |
D’Artagnan’s pride is instilled in him by his father.
| Quote #2 This time there could be no doubt; D’Artagnan was really insulted. […] Unfortunately, as he advanced, his anger increased at every step; and instead of the proper and lofty speech he had prepared as a prelude to his challenge, he found nothing at the tip of his tongue but a gross personality, which he accompanied with a furious gesture. |
Compare this young hotheaded D’Artagnan with the D’Artagnan later in the novel. Does his pride abate over time or does he simply learn to better manage it?
| Quote #3 "And we say, ‘Proud as a Gascon,’" replied D’Artagnan. "The Gascons are the Scots of France." (21.63) |
Is D’Artagnan’s pride inherited from his father or from the area of France that he hails from?