Edmond Dantès and Aliases
Note: This SparkNote refers to
Dantès by his given name through Chapter 30,
after which it generally refers to him as Monte Cristo.
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Edmond Dantès
The
protagonist of the novel. Dantès is an intelligent, honest, and
loving man who turns bitter and vengeful after he is framed for
a crime he does not commit. When Dantès finds himself free and enormously
wealthy, he takes it upon himself to act as the agent of Providence,
rewarding those who have helped him in his plight and punishing
those responsible for his years of agony.
Read an
in-depth analysis of Edmond Dantès.
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The Count of Monte Cristo
The identity Dantès assumes when he emerges from
prison and inherits his vast fortune. As a result, the Count of
Monte Cristo is usually associated with a coldness and bitterness
that comes from an existence based solely on vengeance.
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Lord Wilmore
The
identity of an eccentric English nobleman that Dantès assumes when
committing acts of random generosity. Lord Wilmore contrasts sharply
with Monte Cristo, who is associated with Dantès’s acts of bitterness
and cruelty. Appropriately, Monte Cristo cites Lord Wilmore as one
of his enemies.
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Abbé Busoni
Another
of Dantès’s false personas. The disguise of Abbé Busoni, an Italian
priest, helps Dantès gain the trust of the people whom the count
wants to manipulate because the name connotes religious authority.
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Sinbad the Sailor
The name Dantès uses as the signature for his anonymous
gift to Morrel. Sinbad the Sailor is also the persona Dantès adopts
during his time in Italy.
Other Characters
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Mercédès
Dantès’s
beautiful and good fiancée. Though Mercédès marries another man,
Fernand Mondego, while Dantès is in prison, she never stops loving
Dantès. Mercédès is one of the few whom Dantès both punishes (for
her disloyalty) and rewards (for her enduring love and underlying
goodness).
Read an
in-depth analysis of Mercédès.
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Abbé Faria
A
priest and brilliant thinker whom Dantès meets in prison. Abbé Faria
becomes Dantès’s intellectual father: during their many years as
prisoners, he teaches Dantès history, science, art, and many languages.
He then bequeaths to Dantès his vast hidden fortune. Abbé Faria
is the most important catalyst in Dantès’s transformation into the
vengeful Count of Monte Cristo.
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Fernand Mondego
Dantès’s rival for Mercédès’s affections. Mondego
helps in framing Dantès for treason and then marries Mercédès himself
when Dantès is imprisoned. Through acts of treachery Mondego becomes
a wealthy and powerful man and takes on the name of the Count de
Morcerf. He is the first victim of Dantès’s vengeance.
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Baron Danglars
A
greedy, envious cohort of Mondego. Danglars hatches the plot to
frame Dantès for treason. Like Mondego, he becomes wealthy and powerful,
but loses everything when Monte Cristo takes his revenge. Danglars’s
obsession with the accumulation of wealth makes him an easy target
for Monte Cristo, who has seemingly limitless wealth on hand to
exact his revenge.
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Caderousse
A
lazy, drunk, and greedy man. Caderousse is present when the plot
to frame Dantès is hatched, but he does not take an active part
in the crime. Unlike Danglars and Mondego, Caderousse never finds
his fortune, instead making his living through petty crime and
the occasional murder.
Read an
in-depth analysis of Caderousse.
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Gérard de Villefort
The blindly ambitious public prosecutor responsible
for sentencing Dantès to life in prison. Like the others, Villefort
eventually receives punishment from Dantès. Villefort stands out
as Monte Cristo’s biggest opposition, as he employs his own power
to judge people and mete out punishments.
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Monsieur Morrel
The kind, honest shipowner who was once Dantès’s
boss. Morrel does everything in his power to free Dantès from prison
and tries to save Dantès’s father from death. When Dantès emerges
from prison, he discovers that Morrel is about to descend into financial
ruin, so he carries out an elaborate plot to save his one true friend.
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Louis Dantès
Dantès’s
father. Grief-stricken, Louis Dantès starves himself to death when
Dantès is imprisoned. It is primarily for his father’s death that
Dantès seeks vengeance.
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Maximilian Morrel
The son of Monsieur Morrel. Brave and honorable
like his father, Maximilian becomes Dantès’s primary beneficiary.
Maximilian and his love, Valentine, survive to the end of the story
as two good and happy people, personally unaffected by the vices
of power, wealth, and position.
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Albert de Morcerf
The son of Fernand Mondego and Mercédès. Unlike his
father, Albert is brave, honest, and kind. Mercédès’s devotion to
both Albert and Dantès allows Monte Cristo to realize her unchanging
love for him and causes him to think more deeply about his sole desire
for revenge.
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Valentine Villefort
Villefort’s saintly and beautiful daughter.
Like Maximilian Morrel, her true love, she falls under Dantès’s
protection.
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Noirtier
Villefort’s
father. Once a powerful French revolutionary, Noirtier is brilliant
and willful, even when paralyzed by a stroke. He proves a worthy opponent
to his son’s selfish ambitions.
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Haydée
The
daughter of Ali Pacha, the vizier of the Greek state of Yanina.
Haydée is sold into slavery after her father is betrayed by Mondego
and murdered. Dantès purchases Haydée’s freedom and watches her
grow into adulthood, eventually falling in love with her.
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Signor Bertuccio
Dantès’s steward. Though Bertuccio is loyal
and adept, Dantès chooses him as his steward not for
his personal qualities but because of his vendetta
against Villefort.
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Benedetto
The
illegitimate son of Villefort and Madame Danglars. Though raised
lovingly by Bertuccio and Bertuccio’s widowed sister-in-law, Benedetto
nonetheless turns to a life of brutality and crime. Handsome, charming,
and a wonderful liar, Benedetto plays the part of Andrea Cavalcanti
in one of Dantès’s elaborate revenge schemes.
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Madame d’Villefort
Villefort’s murderous wife. Devoted wholly to her
son Edward, Madame d’Villefort turns to crime in order to ensure
his fortune.
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Julie Herbaut
The
daughter of Monsieur Morrel and sister of Maximilian. Angelically
good and blissfully in love, Julie and her husband, Emmanuel, prove
to Monte Cristo that it is possible to be truly satisfied with one’s life.
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Emmanuel Herbaut
Julie’s husband. Emmanuel is just as noble and perpetually
happy as his wife, Julie.
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Madame Danglars
Danglars’s wife. Greedy, conniving, and disloyal,
Madame Danglars engages in a never-ending string of love affairs
that help bring her husband to the brink of financial ruin.
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Eugénie Danglars
The Danglars’ daughter. A brilliant musician, Eugénie
longs for her independence and despises men. On the eve of her wedding,
she flees for Italy with her true love, Louise d’Armilly.
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Louise d’Armilly
Eugénie Danglars’s music teacher and constant companion.
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Lucien Debray
The
secretary to the French minister of the interior. Debray illegally
leaks government secrets to his lover, Madame Danglars, so that
she can invest wisely with her husband’s money.
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Ali
Dantès’s
mute Nubian slave. Ali is amazingly adept with all sorts of weapons.
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Luigi Vampa
A
famous Roman bandit. Vampa is indebted to Dantès for once setting
him free, and he puts himself at the service of Dantès’s vengeful
ends.
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Major Cavalcanti
A poor and crooked man whom Dantès resurrects as
a phony Italian nobleman.
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Edward d’Villefort
The Villeforts’ spoiled son. Edward is an innocent
victim of Dantès’s elaborate revenge scheme.
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Beauchamp
A
well-known journalist and good friend to Albert
de Morcerf.
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Franz d’Epinay
Another
good friend to Albert de Morcerf. D’Epinay is the unwanted fiancé
of Valentine Villefort.
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Marquis of Saint-Méran
The father of Villefort’s first wife, who dies shortly
after her wedding day.
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Marquise of Saint-Méran
The wife of the Marquis of Saint-Méran.
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Jacopo
A
smuggler who helps Dantès win his freedom. When Jacopo proves his
selfless loyalty, Dantès rewards him by buying the poor man his
own ship and crew.
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Ali Pacha
A
Greek nationalist leader whom Mondego betrays. This betrayal leads
to Ali Pacha’s murder at the hands of the Turks and the seizure
of his kingdom. Ali Pacha’s wife and his daughter, Haydée, are sold
into slavery.
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Baron of Château-Renaud
An aristocrat and diplomat. Château-Renaud is nearly
killed in battle in Constantinople, but Maximilian Morrel saves
him at the last second. Château-Renaud introduces Maximilian into
Parisian society, which leads to Maximilian and Dantès crossing paths.
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Peppino
An
Italian shepherd who has been arrested and sentenced to death for
the crime of being an accomplice to bandits, when he merely provided
them with food. Monte Cristo buys Peppino his freedom.
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Countess G—
A
beautiful Italian aristocrat who suspects that Monte Cristo is a
vampire.
