Aramis

From Free net encyclopedia

René Aramis is a fictional character in the novels The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After and The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas. He and the other two musketeers Athos and Porthos are friends of the novel's protagonist, d'Artagnan.

Aramis is quite an exception among the musketeers since his given name is mentioned twice by Dumas: he is christened René. We hear this name when d'Artagnan stumbles upon him and his mistress in the second book, and again when Bazin is talking about Aramis in the third. In Twenty Years After he is a Jesuit as l'abbé d'Herblay as well as Chevalier d'Herblay. In The Vicomte de Bragelonne he is known as the Bishop of Vannes, a title given to him by Nicolas Fouquet. When he comes back from exile, he is a Spanish noble and known as Duke of Alameda.

Aramis loves intrigues and women, which fits well with prejudices of the time regarding Jesuits and abbots (before the French Revolution, abbots benefited the incomes of an abbey, but were not required to follow the monastery rules - which Aramis understands well).

The fictional Aramis is loosely based on the historical musketeer Henri d'Aramitz whose name comes from the French village now named Aramits.

Film and television

Actors who have played Aramis on screen include:

fi:Aramis sv:Aramis fr:Aramis