Question

Why did milady want to kill Lord de winter. (The three musketeers)

Answer 1

To be a woman condemned to a painful and disgraceful punishment is no impediment to beauty, but it is an obstacle to the recovery of power. Like all persons of real genius, Milady knew what suited her nature and her means. Poverty was repugnant to her; degradation took away two-thirds of her greatness. Milady was only a queen while among queens. The pleasure of satisfied pride was necessary to her domination. To command inferior beings was rather a humiliation than a pleasure for her. (56.4)

Her many crimes reflect these personal qualities: as a young nun, she seduced a young priest and convinced him to steal from the church; later she seduced the son of her jailer, then married the Comte de la Fère (Athos) without revealing her criminal past; she re-married an English lord (the brother of Lord de Winter) who died under mysterious circumstances shortly thereafter; she attempted to have D’Artagnan assassinated on two separate occasions; she convinced John Felton to assassinate the Duke of Buckingham; she successfully poisoned Constance Bonacieux.

Milady is a classic dangerous beauty, and in a sense embodies men’s deepest fears. She shame