#comc17

I didn’t take part in Daily Dracula because I had reread it right before it started, but I did take part in a Count of Monte Cristo read on tumblr back in 2017. I really enjoyed both of these things (in different ways, of course).

For @ratheralark and @needsmoreresearch, and anyone else who wants to read the *really* essential part of Count of Monte Cristo XD

The core Eugenie Story really can stand alone in just a few chapters, XCV-XCVIII.  Father And Daughter, The Marriage Contract, The Road For Belgium, and The Inn of the Bell and Bottle.   That's the story of Eugenie's almost-marriage and her escape with her lover, and it makes a good short story on its own,IMO. 

But she's mentioned and features in a few more chapters:

XXXIX (The Guests) I believe this is the first time she's mentioned? It's only in passing, as Albert says he's engaged, and is clearly Not Excited about it.  LIII- Robert le Diable -- The first time Eugenie actually shows up and gets described at any length.  She's not the focus character, but she does offer some useful commentary.

Here’s a cheat-sheet with facts that are relevant to where you are. Feel free to send follow-up questions or ask about other characters!

Edmond Dantes/The Count of Monte Cristo – Notable aliases:

Lord Wilmore. An eccentric, rich English businessman. Associated with thehouse of Thomson and French.

Abbe Busoni. An Italian priest, who claims to have been present at EdmondDante’s deathbed. Also was confessor to Bertuccio, and recommended him to theCount.

Sinbad the Sailor. An enigmatic adventurer who runs with friends on the shadyside of the law. Has a hideaway on the Isle de Monte Cristo.

The Count’s Household:

Haydee. aka The Beautiful Greek. Purchased as a slave, though Edmond likes to remind her that she’s free in France. I don’t think you’ve unlocked Haydee’s backstory yet, so I just deleted a chunk of text that was here. Haydee is presumed by society to be the Count’s mistress, but she clearly isn’t. She’s devoted to him and loves him, but he holds her at arm’s length and tries to treat her as a daughter.

Bertuccio. A servant. Bertuccio used to be a smuggler. He has a grudge againstVillefort and tried to kill him. This led to him discovering and adoptingBenedetto (see below, under “others”).

Baptistin. Another named servant.

Ali. Like Haydee, (formerly) enslaved, but free in France. Had his tongue cut out years ago, and can probably do anything. Like lasso stampeding horses.

The Mondego/Morcerf household.

Fernand Mondego, once a Catalan fisherman (in 1815). He joined the army and became a general at the court of Ali Pasha in Janina, who made Fernand fabulously wealthy. Fernandbought himself a whole new identity as the Count deMorcerf, and tried to hide all evidence of his life as simple Fernand Mondego.

Mercedes. Fernand’s wife, and thus the Countess de Morcerf.

Albert de Morcerf. Fernand and Mercedes’ only child. Fernand has no idea of hisparents’ humble past and believes that they’re from a long line of nobility. Idolizes both his parents.

The Villefort household:

Gerard de Villefort. Chief prosecutor, rose to power by exploiting theknowledge he gained from Edmond in 1815. A royalist who tries to hide hisBonapartist father from view.

Heloise. M. Villefort’s second wife. Much less rich than his first wife, whichshe resents. Interested in toxicology. Hates Valentine because she sees her as a rival to her own son, Edward. (Edward stands to inherit much less money than Valentine).

Valentine. Villefort’s daughter from his firsts marriage. She stands toinherent a massive fortune from her maternal grandparents, as their onlygrandchild, and from her doting paternal grandfather Noirtier. She’s engaged to Franz d’Epinay, but loves Maximilian Morrel.

Noirtier. Villefort’s father. Villefort changed his own name in order to escapeassociation with his father. An ardent Bonapartist. In 1815 he was involved inthe murder of a royalist, and Villefort helped him cover it up. Loves Valentinedearly, and she loves and takes care of him in return.

Barrois. Noirtier’ faithful servant.

Edward. Heloise’s son with Villefort. She spoils him and is extremely jealousover his well-being, leading to her hatred for Valentine. Edward is a generally unpleasant child, and doesn’t get along with Noirtier or Valentine. Noirtier plans to leave all his money to Valentine, none to Edward - another source of tension between Valentine and Heloise.

The Danglars household:

Danglars. An extremely rich banker. In 1815, he was first mate on the shipEdmond was to be captain of. Now a baron.

Hermine. Danglars’ wife. She and her husband don’t get along well, and heappears to know about and have no problem with her affairs. Her current loveris Lucien Debray, and years ago she had an affair with Villefort.

Eugenie. The Danglars’ only child. Eugenie is engaged to Albert, but the twodon’t much like each other. This is only partly because Eugenie is Super Gay.

Louise d'Armilly. Eugenie’s piano teacher and particular friend.

Lucien Debray. Madame Danglars’ current lover. Also a friend of Albert andmember of his social circle. Aspiring politician.

The Morrels:

M. Morrel. Edmond’s old boss, who was like a second father to him. Lord Wilmore and Sinbad the Sailor saved the family name and fortunes.

Maximilian. Morrel’s son, who is in the army and recently returned fromservice. Maximilian loves Valentine, but she’s betrothed to Franz d'Epinay andher father would never allow the match. He’s recently become friends with theCount of Monte Cristo.

Julie. Morrel’s daughter. Married to Emmanuel. Super nice people, both of them. Emmanuel inherited the family business.

Albert’s circle:

Franz d'Epinay. Albert’s bff, who went to Rome with him. Franz’s fatherdied when he was young, and he has no other family. Hence, Franz is the Baron d’Epinay.Franz is engaged to Valentine, and shows no particular feeling one way or theother about the match.

Lucien Debray. See above. A rising young politician, cynical and snarky.

Charles Beauchamp. A journalist. Often seen snarking with Debray.

Chateau-Renaud. “He’s just zis guy, ya know?” (CR is another rich dude whohangs around and doesn’t do anything important except introduce Morrel toAlbert and company. You can safely forget about him.)

Others:

Gaspard Caderousse. A small time criminal (ex-innkeeper),who hasn’t made it big like the rest of Team Screw Over Edmond. Has worked withBenedetto in the past. He’s lying low after committing a murder and losing hiswife, La Carconte.

Benedetto: Bertuccio found Villefort trying to bury a box inhis garden at Auteuil, and in that box he found a baby. Bertuccio’s sisteradopted the baby and named him Benedetto. Benedetto’s Trouble with a capital T,and nearly killed his own adopted mother while trying to extort money out ofher. Bertuccio hasn’t seen him since.

“Andrea Cavalcanti”: An entirely ficticious identity spuninto existence by the count. “Andrea” is a rich, Italian nobleman who has recentlybeen reunited with his lost father. He’s looking for a wife to bestow hismassive wealth on. In reality, Andrea is just Benedetto, whom the count summonedand is paying a huge allowance to appear in society as Andrea. (Benedetto doesn’t know why the Count is interested in him, but he has A Theory. ...it is wrong.)

I finished it, ages from when I first started and for a story that was supposed to be a light hearted revenge tale, it dealt with a few themes I was not expecting. For instance, this is less a story about revenge then about redemption. The theme of God was pretty prominent when Edmond was in prison and he felt that God had given him a purpose which was to take his revenge on the people who had wronged him, but through the entire journey, he comes to realize that maybe that was not actually God’s plan. He seemed horrified at some instances about the revenge taken to extremes affecting even people who were innocent, such as Albert and his mother, Eugenie, nearly all of Villefort’s family and resulting in nearly casting suspicions over poor Valentine.

Edmond too undergoes his “tempest in the head”, which is a memorable moment, it is when he realizes that he might be wrong and that he has taken everything to extremes.

I am only vaguely aware of how the real life events that this novel is based on played out, so I am kind of pleased that Dumas chose this alternative and chose to put his main protagonist in the role of a sudden villain and blur the distinctions between the protagonist/antagonist. I like that Edmond realizes that he has gone too far, even his attempts to save people from his own revenge seemed like playing God too much.The way he rescued Valentine from the clutches of death, ‘playing God’ and a matchmaker, annoyed me.

I liked though that somehow he and Mercedes don’t rekindle the romance, there is an appreciation that they have both suffered and many years have gone past and things cannot be the same as they were, so Mercedes instead goes to live in his old house. I also really liked that Dumas did not blame Mercedes for what had happened all those years ago, yes initially Edmond does, but he is hurt but their conversation later on shows that he understands her situation and there was a definite realization that she too has suffered. I think all her scenes were handled really well. I have to say that Dumas is a lot better at writing women, the women don’t appear much in the story, but when they do, they are properly fleshed out (I love the way Eugenie’s arc was played, still my favourite parts of the book).

My favourite characters were definitely Eugenie, Mercedes, Noirtier, Valentine and Albert. I really love how Noirtier’s character was handled throughout the book, even being disabled and having no proper dialogue, he was such a memorable character and I legitimately loved his relationship with Valentine.

Even though some of the villains, like Danglars became sort of caricatures, I did like the parallels between his situation at the end and Edmond’s, since he was the one who was directly responsible for Edmond’s imprisonment, I like that we see a bit more of Danglars character in those scenes and that Edmond ends up seeking redemption instead of revenge. The only person who I think I’m still dissatisfied, how things ended for, is probably Villefort. He was a very worthy antagonist and somehow, I guess I’ve become used to Hugo letting his villains go free and not giving me my satisfying ending (still bitter over Lantennac being allowed to go free) that I sort of wished there was something more than Villefort going mad with grief at the deaths of his family. I didn’t like him, but I respected him as a worthy adversary for Edmond and out of all the antagonists, he was the better fleshed out. 

Also one minor minor point, not related at all, I like how Luigi Vampa (for a cut throat murderer/gang leader) really enjoys reading books. That is somehow very amusing to me. 

I dropped the ball while I was traveling last week (and just in general my June has been Very Hectic), so I’m just going to go ahead and make this week 9 by moderator fiat.

Week 9 6/26 - 7/2: LXIX (69) – LXXVII (77)