A Cautionary Tale

The section of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers I just read seems to me to be a cautionary tale about false accusations, drinking, and gambling. Because of falsely accusing Athos of giving him fake money, one unfortunate hotel keep found all his food eaten and wine drunk, to his incredible dismay. Athos, however, due to the eating of the keep's food but especially to the drinking of all his fine wine, learns that wine will loosen the tightest tongue and tells D'Artagnan a secret that he regrets telling in the morning. Finally, all four heroes independently are cheated out of their horses through foolish, sometimes drunken, gambling.

However, despite the debauchery of the section, the most evil people in the section I read seem to be the Church, as the controlling Jesuit and the hypocritical, faking priest attempt to talk Aramis out of his musketeer uniform and into a the priesthood, writing a thesis on a topic he neither cares for nor understands. When the churchmen too succumb to wine, it is portrayed as a victory for the young heroes. Hmmmmm.