Introduction

The Count of Monte Cristo takes place in France, Italy, and islands in the Mediterranean during the historical events of 1814–1838. The book's main themes are justice, vengeance, mercy and forgiveness.

The story was based on a true story Dumas found in a memoir written by a man name Jacques Peuchet. Peuchet related the story of a shoemaker named Francois Picaud, who was living in Paris in 1807. Picaud was engaged to marry a rich woman, but four jealous friends falsely accused him of being a spy for England. He was imprisoned for seven years. During his imprisonment a dying fellow prisoner bequeathed him a treasure hidden in Milan. When Picaud was released in 1814, he took possession of the treasure, returned under another name to Paris and spent ten years plotting his successful revenge against his former friends.

Jealousy and Betrayal

Edmond Dantes, a 19-year-old sailor aboard the ship Pharaon, returns home to Marseille. He is excited to be reunited with his family and friends, and eager to marry his fiancée, the Catalan beauty Mercédès. He is also proud of his recent promotion to captain. At the same time, he's saddened by the recent death of his friend Captain Leclère, his predecessor.

Captain Leclére, who was a staunch supporter of the now exiled Napoléon, had charged Dantès on his deathbed to deliver a package to former Grand Marshal Maréchal Bertrand, who had been exiled to the isle of Elba. During the Pharaon's stop at Elba, Dantès spoke to Napoléon himself, who asked the sailor to help deliver a confidential letter to a man in Paris.

Edmond's good fortune inspires jealousy in those he considers his friends. His promotion to captain offends the hubris of the ship's purser, Danglars. Dantès' windfall stuns his neighbor, the impoverished tailor Caderousse. Finally, a man named Fernand Mondego is in love with the aforementioned Mercédès, who is also his cousin. Danglars writes a letter to Villefort, the deputy crown prosecutor in Marseille, accusing Dantès of being a Bonapartist. Inflaming his jealousy, he instigates Fernand to send the letter, while Caderousse looks on in a drunken stupor. Villefort, acting on the anonymous tip, investigates the matter on Dantès' wedding day and does indeed find the incriminating letter. Dantès knows nothing of its contents, only that he was asked to deliver it. Although at first sympathetic to Dantès' case, when Villefort finally reads the letter, he discovers to his horror that it is addressed to his own father, Noirtier de Villefort.

Due to the restoration of King Louis XVIII, Villefort wants to distance himself from his Bonapartist father in the current political climate. The letter could potentially destroy his political career. Although Villefort would rather not imprison an innocent man, he ultimately chooses his own interests over that of Dantès, and condemns him to a life sentence in the isolated island prison at Château d'If.

Escape to Riches

While in prison, Dantès slowly sinks into despair and looks to God for salvation. After years of solitary imprisonment in a small, fetid dungeon, he loses all hope and attempts suicide by starving himself. His will to live is restored by the sounds of digging. He starts a tunnel of his own to reach a fellow prisoner, the Abbé Faria, an Italian priest whose escape tunnel has strayed off in the wrong direction. The two eventually connect their tunnels and quickly become inseparable friends.

The old man, a gifted scholar as well as a priest, provides Edmond with a comprehensive education in subjects, including languages, history, economics, philosophy and mathematics. Edmond also learns the manners of polite society, growing in confidence and sophistication. Aside from the lessons, the two discuss Edmond's betrayal and slowly piece together the plots that placed the young man in his current predicament.

Both continue to work assiduously on their tunnel, but the elderly and infirm Faria does not survive to see its completion. Knowing that he would soon die, Faria confides in Dantès the location of a great cache of treasure on the islet of Monte Cristo.

After his mentor dies, Dantès uses the opportunity to escape: he moves Faria's body into his own cell and then slips into Faria's body bag. His plan works, but instead of taking him to the burial ground as he had expected, the prison guards attach a cannonball to Edmond's feet and throw him into the sea. Surprised, he plummets into the icy cold Mediterranean Sea.

Dantès is able to free himself and swim ashore. The next day, Edmond flags down a passing ship. He pretends to be a survivor of a ship that sunk during the previous evening's storm and joins what he later finds out to be a group of smugglers. After gaining their trust and respect, Edmond suggests the isle of Monte Cristo as an ideal location to trade smuggled goods. On one of the crew's stopovers on the island, Edmond feigns an injury, asking to be left behind until the crew can return to pick him up. Although reluctant to leave Edmond, the crew eventually departs; with Edmond alone on the island, he is free to search for the treasure.

Edmond's sufferings have had a profound effect on him and even changed his physical appearance--to the extent that even his closest former associates would not recognize him. Intellectually, his studies with the Abbé give him a much greater depth and breadth of knowledge, and his wealth grants him access to the highest levels of society. Perhaps the greatest change to Dantès is psychological. His betrayal by men whom he trusted removes the naiveté of his idealistic youth, and replaces it with the cynicism of bitter experience.

Revenge

Ten years after his return to Marseilles, Dantès puts into action his plan for revenge. He reinvents himself as the Count of Monte Cristo, a mysterious, fabulously rich aristocrat. He surfaces first in Rome, where he becomes acquainted with Franz d'Epinay, a young aristocrat, and Albert de Morcerf, Mercédès's and Mondego's son. He subsequently moves to Paris, where he becomes the sensation of the city. Due to his knowledge and rhetorical power, even his enemies find him charming, and because of his status, they all want to be his friend.

He meets Danglars, now a banker, dazzles him with his seemingly endless wealth, and eventually convinces him to extend him a line of "unlimited credit", of which the first installment is six million francs. The Count manipulates the bond market and quickly destroys a large portion of Danglars' fortune. After a few months, all Danglars is left with is the six million he lent to the Count. With this as his only asset, Danglars flees to Italy, where the Count's personal bank, the house of Thompson and French, is based.

Monte Cristo owns a Greek slave, Haydée. Her noble father, Ali Pasha, had implicitly trusted Fernand, only to be betrayed by him in a war. After his death, she and her mother were sold into slavery. The Count manipulates Danglars into researching the event, which is published in a newspaper. As a result, Fernand is brought to trial for his crimes. Haydée testifies against him, and Fernand is disgraced.

Mercédès had married Fernand and borne him a son, Albert. She alone recognizes Monte Cristo. She recounts the story of her youth to Albert before he is supposed to fight a duel with Monte Cristo over his role in his father's downfall. Albert and Mercédès disown Fernand, who subsequently commits suicide. The mother and son depart to build a new life free of disgrace.

Last to feel Monte Cristo's vengeance is Villefort. Villefort's family is divided. Valentine, his daughter by his first wife Renée, stands to inherit the entire fortune of her mother's family and that of her grandfathers, but his second wife, Heloise, seeks the fortune for her son Edward. Monte Cristo is aware of Heloise's intentions, and, in a seemingly innocent fashion, provides her with a toxin capable of curing people with one drop, but killing people with an overdose. Heloise murders a house servant, Barrois (unintentionally), Villefort's in-laws Saint-Mérans, and attempts to murder Valentine and Villefort's father, Noirtier.

Meanwhile, Monte Cristo haunts Villefort with his past affair with Danglars' wife and the son they had. Years before, Mme Danglars had borne a child by Villefort, at a house in Auteuil. Villefort had buried the child, telling her it was stillborn. However, the boy was rescued from his grave and raised by Bertuccio, an enemy of Villefort who attempted to kill the judge on the night of his child's birth. Monte Cristo, whose servant Bertuccio now is, and who now owns the house in Auteuil, is able to use them against Villefort. As a grown man, the son enters Paris in disguise as Count Andrea Cavalcanti, only revealing his identity to Villefort after he is arrested for the murder of Caderousse.

Valentine is saved from poisoning by Monte Cristo, and through Noirtier, Villefort learns that Heloise is a murderer. When Heloise is confronted, she panics and kills both Edward and herself. These shocking events, coupled with Monte Cristo's revelation of his true identity, drive Villefort mad.

Redemption

Matters, however, are more complicated than Dantès had anticipated. His efforts to destroy his enemies and reward the few who had stood by him become horribly intertwined. This problem reaches its zenith when Edmond learns that Maximilien Morrel, the son of one of his steadfast friends, is in love with Valentine de Villefort, and soon thereafter that the child Edward de Villefort has been poisoned by his mother. These tragic complications, especially the latter, cause Dantès to question his role as an agent of a vengeful God. This temporarily deters him from his course of action. During this period of doubt, he comes to terms with his own humanity and is finally able to forgive both his enemies and himself. It is only when he is sure that his cause is just and his conscience is clear, that he can fulfill his plan. Maximillien Morrel is distraught because he believes his true love, Valentine, to be dead. He contemplates suicide after witnessing her funeral. Monte Cristo reveals himself to be the person who rescued Mr. Morrel from suicide years earlier. Maximillien is grateful and is persuaded by Monte Cristo to delay his suicide for a month. A month later, on the island of Monte Cristo, the count presents Valentine to Maximillien and reveals that he saved her from the poison attempt. Monte Cristo then leaves the island and sends Jacopo to deliver a letter to them which reveals that he has left all his treasure to Maximillien. Haydée offers Edmond a new love and life. The two leave together, seemingly to begin anew.

References:

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