A very amusing and well constructed pastoral comic novel, with many
theatrical touches, set in the outskirts of Marseilles. Dumas probably
imagined this story as a play, but wrote it as a novel. It is similar in
tone to Dumas' other pastoral novels, such as
Catherine Blum,
Le meneur de loups, and
Conscience l'innocent,
in that the story takes place in a
rural setting among common people (no kings, musketeers, or aristocrats)
whose character and behavior are closely and affectionately observed.
Unlike the other pastorals, however,
Le Fils du Forçat
is not set among the scenes
of Dumas' youth, but in Marseilles.
As the play opens, we are introduced to the longshoreman, Monsieur
Coumbes, a quintessential French peasant, who, by thrift, hard work, and
shrewd dealing has earned sufficient money to retire. However, M. Coumbes
is disturbed by his neighbor, Pierre Manas, who returning home dead drunk
one night, attempts to hang his pretty young wife, Millette. M. Coumbes
rescues the wife, and Pierre is sent off to the galleys.
M. Coumbes retires to a deserted promontory overlooking the ocean, builds
himself a cabin (cabane) and a garden, and employs the destitute Milette as
a cook. Fourteen years pass, and Millette and Pierre's son, Marius, grows
to adulthood believing that M. Coumbes is his father.
This pastoral idol is disturbed when a wealthy young man, Jean Riouffe
builds a vacation home in the form of a Swiss chalet next door, and whom,
noticing M. Coumbes snooping, infuriates the old man by inflicting upon
him a series of increasingly elaborate practical jokes, involving a staged
vampire ritual, a fire hose, and a stuffed bird. M. Coumbes sends Marius
into town to challenge M. Riouffe to a duel. Instead, Marius encounters
Jean's sister, Madeleine, and promptly falls in love with her. Madeleine
is, by the way, the sole example of a successful professional woman in
Dumas' novels: she is running the family shipping business.
The plot thickens when Pierre returns from prison, and attacks Jean
Riouffe, a crime for which M. Coumbes is promptly arrested. Will Marius
betray his real father, Pierre, or the man he thinks is his father, M.
Coumbes? Can Madeleine find happiness with the son of a convict? Can
Millette persuade Pierre to confess his crime? Will Pierre escape justice?
Dumas delivers a dramatic dénouement that answers all questions in this
lost classic.
