Angel Pitou by Alexandre Dumas [PDF]

Information: Angel Pitou

• Author: Alexandre Dumas
• Publication Date: 1851
• Main Characters:
  • Ange Pitou: A young, good-hearted orphan from Villers-Cotterets who travels to Paris and becomes an unlikely participant in the storming of the Bastille.
  • Billot: A sturdy farmer and Pitou's companion who is driven to Paris after government agents seize papers he was keeping for Dr. Gilbert.
  • Dr. Gilbert: An intellectual and political idealist imprisoned in the Bastille whose ideas about freedom deeply influence Pitou.
  • Marie Antoinette: The Queen of France, portrayed with complexity as she faces the growing threat of revolution and the collapse of royal authority.
  • Catherine Billot: Billot's daughter, a young woman whose personal story adds an emotional counterpoint to the political upheaval surrounding her.
• Brief Summary: Angel Pitou follows a young orphan from the village of Villers-Cotterets who becomes entangled in the events of the French Revolution. After the farmer Billot discovers that government agents have seized papers belonging to the imprisoned Dr. Gilbert, Pitou and Billot travel to Paris seeking answers. There, Pitou witnesses the rising fury of the people and joins the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789. The novel interweaves fictional characters with real historical figures, including Marie Antoinette and the Marquis de Lafayette. It is the third installment in Dumas' four-part "Marie Antoinette" series.
• Thematic Analysis: The novel explores the tension between individual freedom and collective revolution, asking what ordinary people owe to the cause of liberty. Dumas examines class divisions through Pitou's peasant perspective, contrasting the luxury of Versailles with the hunger of Paris. Loyalty, betrayal, and the corrupting nature of power run through the personal relationships that drive the plot forward.
• Historical Context: Ange Pitou is set in the weeks immediately before and after the fall of the Bastille in July 1789, one of the defining moments of the French Revolution. Dumas published the novel as a serial in 1851, drawing on decades of historical research and his own family's connection to revolutionary France. The book reflects the political tensions of Dumas' own era, when France was once again grappling with questions of democracy and monarchy.