Let´s get ready for the show. In a few days, we are watching the play "The Three Musketeers" performed by the stage company. Read the plot synopsis and do the activities. E-mail the answers to your teacher. Best of luck and enjoy the show!!!!!
THE THREE MUSKETEERS
Synopsis
D´Artagnan was a young and brave boy from Gascony. He arrived in Paris because he wanted to be a musketeer to serve France. He had a letter of recommendation to present at their headquarters. A thief saw the opportunity and stole the letter from him, so D´Artagnan had to prove that he was good enough to join the King´s Musketeers by his own actions.
D´Artagnan and Constance
He met Athos, Aramis and Porthos. They were three young, loyal and honest musketeers, but they didn´t become friends with D´Artagnan, on the contrary, they engaged in a duel with him. Later, the three musketeers learnt to respect the young man who loved France, the King and the Queen and wanted to be one of them to fight against traitors.
Anyway, destiny and the wrongdoings of Minister Richelieu, his henchman, Captain Rochefort and the intriguing Milady de Winter divided the musketeers from D´Artagnan.
The Queen received the Royal Seal from King Louis, who was far away at war.
The Royal Seal was a ring that the King had and was the symbol of the monarch´s power. The person who had the Seal could pass decrees and laws and make them legal by stamping the Royal Seal on the documents. The ring was, then, an instrument of much power.
The Queen did not trust Minister Richelieu because he was an ambitious and cruel man.
So, she asked her chambermaid, Constance, to hide it. Constance was a pretty young lady who respected the Queen and loved France. She was very worried because she did not know where to put the Royal Seal. When she met D´Artagnan, she decided to ask him for help. Then, D´Artagnan went to a tavern and waited for Constance there to take the Seal to a safe place.
When Minister Richelieu got to know that the Queen had the Royal Seal and wanted to hide it from him, he immediately made plans to steal the Seal and become the most powerful man in France and dominate the King and Queen. But how could he do so?
He thought of Milady de Winter She was a very attactive and sexy woman who knew how to convince a man to do her a favour. So, he sent her to seduce the musketeers and find information about the Royal Seal using her charms.
But this was not enough, to have the ring in his finger, Richelieu had to destroy the three musketeers and D´Artagnan.
Do you think this was posible? Could Minister Richelieu get all the power he wanted? Could he defeat the Musketeers?
1 – Read the text and find words that mean the following:
………………….. showing no fear of dangerous or difficult things.
…………………… the principal offices of an organization such as the army or the police.
…………………… a person who steals.
…………………… sufficient.
…………………… a formal fight in the past using guns or swords.
…………………… opposite of loyal
……………………when someone does something badly or illegal.
…………………….. someone who does unpleasant or illegal things for a powerful person.
……………………… a woman employed to clean and tidy bedrooms.
………………………. a rule, usually made by a government
2 – There are several characters in the play. Who are the good? Who are the devil? Classify them and write two adjectives describing their personality for each of them.
3 - How do you imagine the play characters? Look at the pictures to find help. Write a physical description of two of them. What´s their personality like? Use adjectives from exercise 2.
