Interest
The fate of the mysterious prisoner – and the extent of apparent precautions his jailers took – created much interest and many legends. There are almost a hundred theories in existence and many books have been written about the case. Some were presented after the existence of the letters was widely known. Later commentators have still presented their own theories, possibly based on embellished versions of the original tale.
Theories about his identity made at the time included that he was a Marshal of France; or the English Richard Cromwell, son of Oliver Cromwell; or François, Duke of Beaufort. Later, many people such as Voltaire and Alexandre Dumas put forward other theories about the man in the mask.
It has even been suggested that he was one of the other famous contemporary prisoners being held at Pignerol at the same time as Dauger.
Read more about this topic: Man In The Iron Mask
Famous quotes containing the word interest:
“Whoever lives for the sake of combating an enemy has an interest in the enemy’s staying alive.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“My interest in desperation lies only in that sometimes I find myself having become desperate. Very seldom do I start out that way. I can see of course that, in the abstract, thinking and all activity is rather desperate.”
—Willem De Kooning (b. 1904)
“Where there is no exaggeration there is no love, and where there is no love there is no understanding. It is only about things that do not interest one, that one can give a really unbiased opinion; and this is no doubt the reason why an unbiased opinion is always valueless.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)