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Due to differences in translation, the chapter titles and numeration may vary from those in the full text.
After the captain of the Pharaon dies, the young first mate, Edmond Dantès, brings the ship safely to Marseilles. Accused by the ship's envious supercargo, Danglars, Dantès tells the ship's owner, Morrel, they stopped to deliver a package to Maréchal Bertrand, per his captain's dying request. He adds that despite his personal dislike for Danglars, he thinks he does his work well. Morrel promises to name Dantès the new captain of the ship.
Dantès goes home and discovers his father has starved for months after paying a debt to their neighbor, the tailor Caderousse. Dantès tells his father about his promotion and gives him money. Caderousse visits and congratulates Dantès for his promotion. He meets Danglars, and they discuss their dislike for Dantès and how Dantès's fiancée, Mercédès, has been seen in the company of another man.
Dantès visits Mercédès and finds her in the company of her cousin Fernand Mondego, who loves her and leaves in a rage after she embraces Dantès passionately. Fernand meets Danglars and Caderousse on the road and shares their anger toward Dantès. When Dantès and Mercédès tell the three men they plan to marry next day, Danglars has an evil idea.
To have Dantès imprisoned, Danglars drafts a letter informing the public prosecutor that Dantès is delivering a letter from Napoleon to the Bonapartist Committee in Paris. Caderousse protests this defamation, Danglars tosses the letter, but Fernand retrieves and plans to mail it.
Royal guards arrest Dantès at his betrothal feast with Mercédès, and Danglars becomes the captain of the Pharaon until Dantès's release.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Chapters 1–5
During his betrothal party to the daughter of the Marquis of Saint-Méran, Villefort, the royalist deputy public prosecutor of Marseilles and son of a prominent Bonapartist, is called away to deal with a Bonapartist plot.
Despite Morrel's intercession and his own belief in Dantès's innocence, Villefort decides to send him away after Dantès mentions the Bonapartist letter was addressed to Villefort's father, Noirtier.
When Dantès is sent to the dungeon in the Château D'If prison, he hears about a prisoner who often promises the guards a fortune for his liberation.
As Villefort leaves his fiancée's home to see King Louis XVIII in Paris, he encounters Mercédès seeking information about Dantès and feels regret.
Villefort rushes to Paris and tells the king there is a conspiracy to bring Napoleon back to power.
Villefort's warning has come too late, as Napoleon is already marching on Paris, but he wins the king's gratitude.
Villefort tells his father the police are looking for someone like him who has murdered a royalist general. Noirtier shaves his beard, changes his clothes, and leaves, telling Villefort Napoleon is advancing.
After Napoleon is back in power, Morrel intercedes on Dantès's behalf to no avail, Danglars flees to Madrid afraid of Dantès's revenge, Fernand joins Napoleon's army, and Dantès's father dies. After one hundred days in power, Napoleon is deposed, and Louis XVIII reassumes the throne.
Dantès begs the inspector-general of prisons for a fair trial, but when he sees Villefort's note saying Dantès took an active part in Napoleon's return, he decides he cannot help him.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Chapters 6–14
When Dantès, after six years in prison, decides to kill himself, he hears a scratching sound coming from the other side of his cell. He manages to make a hole in the wall and meet his neighbor.
Dantès learns his neighbor is Abbé Faria, imprisoned for being an agitator for a unified Italy and who believed he was digging a tunnel to freedom.
After hearing Dantès's life story, Faria explains what Danglars, Fernand, and Villefort have done to Dantès, making him start thinking about revenge. Over two years, the abbé teaches Dantès everything he knows, and they plan their escape. Days before executing their plan, Faria becomes paralyzed and Dantès promises to stay with him until his death.
Faria tells Dantès about a hidden treasure left to him on the uninhabited island of Monte Cristo by the last member of a family he worked for. He says the treasure also belongs to Dantès now, as his spiritual son, and shows him a piece of paper with the treasure's location.
Faria makes Dantès memorize the directions to the treasure and, some days later, dies.
Dantès cuts open Faria's shroud, removes his corpse to his cell, and sews himself inside the shroud. He plans to dig his way out of the tomb with a knife after the guards bury him in a nearby cemetery, but then discovers they have instead tied a cannonball around his legs and cast him into the sea.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Chapters 15–20
Dantès manages to escape from the shroud and swim to an island. After a storm, he floats toward a ship and convinces the sailors to take him on as one of their crew.
Dantès discovers the sailors are smugglers, makes himself useful and respected by them, and learns the captain has decided to go to Monte Cristo for an illegal transaction.
On the island, Dantès pretends to injure himself and convinces the men to leave him behind and return after a week.
Once the men are gone, Dantès discovers the enormous treasure and prays to God in gratitude.
Dantès fills his pockets with precious stones, sells some diamonds, buys a ship and crew for his best friend, Jacopo, and requests he go to Marseilles and ask for news of Louis Dantès and Mercédès. He leaves the smugglers, buys a yacht with a secret compartment, sails back to Monte Cristo, and transfers the remainder of the treasure to the yacht. When Jacopo informs him that Louis Dantès is dead and Mercédès has disappeared, he sails for Marseilles. He buys his father’s house under the name Lord Wilmore.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Chapters 21–25
Disguised as an Italian priest named Abbé Busoni, Dantès visits Caderousse, who now owns an inn but is poverty-stricken, and tells him Dantès has died and left a diamond to be divided between the people he loved: his father, Caderousse, Danglars, Fernand, and Mercédès.
Trying to have the whole diamond for himself, Caderousse reveals the events behind Dantès's incarceration and his regret for them, convincing Dantès to give him the diamond. Dantès learns that Danglars became a millionaire, Fernand returned wealthy from his tour of duty as a soldier, married Mercédès, and they now live in Paris. Caderousse also tells Dantès that before his father, Louis, starved himself to death out of grief for his son, Morrel gave him a red silk purse with gold. Caderousse has this purse and, when Dantès asks for it, explains that Morrel is on the verge of financial ruin.
Disguised as an English representative of an investment firm, Dantès buys the inspector of prison's stakes on Morrel's firm. He asks to see the prison records for Abbé Faria, secretly finds his own prison documents, pockets the letter written by Danglars, and confirms that Villefort ordered him locked away for life.
Still disguised, Dantès visits Morrel, learns that his last ship, the Pharaon, has been lost and Morrel will be unable to honor his debts, and gives Morrel an extra three months to pay the debts Dantès has acquired. He also makes Morrel's daughter, Julie, promise to follow any instructions she receives from a man calling himself "Sinbad the Sailor."
On the day Morrel's debt is due, Julie receives a letter from Sinbad the Sailor and finds the red silk purse Morrel had given Louis Dantès filled with his debt notes marked "paid" and a diamond for Julie to use as dowry and marry her beloved, a clerk named Emmanuel Herbaut. Just as Morrel is about to take his own life in front of his son, Maximilian, Julie bursts in with her find, a ship that looks like the Pharaon pulls into the port with the same cargo, and Dantès leaves on his yacht.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Chapters 26–30
Ten years later, a young Parisian named Baron Franz d'Epinay stops on Monte Cristo to hunt and is brought to a palace to meet the wealthy man known as Sinbad the Sailor. Sinbad – actually, Dantès – stuns Franz with the luxury of his palace, tells him about his travels around the world, and indulges in hallucinogenic drugs with him.
The next morning, after trying unsuccessfully to find the opening to Sinbad's hidden grotto, Franz travels to Rome to meet Viscount Albert de Morcerf, the son of Fernand Mondego, now known as the Count de Morcerf.
To warn Franz and Albert of the danger of bandits, the hotel owner tells them the story of Vampa, a shepherd who loved learning and a beautiful shepherdess named Teresa. When the bandit leader Cucumetto stumbled upon Vampa and Teresa while fleeing the authorities, the couple hid him.
At a party, after Teresa lusted after the costume of their hostess, Vampa set the host's house on fire and seized the costume for Teresa. The next day, after giving directions to a lost traveler named Sinbad the Sailor, Vampa saw Teresa being kidnapped and killed the assailant, who turned out to be Cucumetto. He dressed himself in Cucumetto's clothes, approached the other bandits, and demanded to be their new leader.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Chapters 31–34
While visiting the Colosseum in Rome, Franz overhears Monte Cristo (Dantès) promising the bandit chief Vampa to buy the freedom of an innocent shepherd named Peppino arrested as an accomplice to bandits. The next evening, Franz and Albert see Monte Cristo at the opera. The following morning, Monte Cristo offers to lend the two friends his coach, and Franz confirms he is his mysterious host.
Monte Cristo invites Albert and Franz to watch a public execution from his private windows. They see Peppino granted a reprieve and Monte Cristo enjoying the execution of the other person condemned.
Eager to have several love affairs while in Rome, Albert flirts with a beautiful woman.
Using his mistress, Teresa, as bait, Vampa kidnaps Albert and sends a ransom note to Franz. Franz asks for Monte Cristo's help and goes with him to the Catacombs of Saint Sebastian, where Vampa frees Albert, who is now very grateful to Monte Cristo.
Monte Cristo asks Albert to introduce him to Parisian society when he visits the city. Franz, wary, tells Albert about his experience on the island of Monte Cristo and his conversation with Vampa at the Colosseum, but only makes Albert even more enchanted with his savior.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Chapters 35–39
On the day Monte Cristo is supposed to arrive at Albert's house, Albert invites several friends for breakfast, including the secretary to the minister of the interior, Debray, and a journalist, Beauchamp.
At the breakfast, Monte Cristo seems taken with one of the guests, Maximilian Morrel, a captain in the French army who always tries to do something heroic on the anniversary of the day his father was saved from ruin. Monte Cristo enchants the guests with the story of how he once captured Vampa and freed him on the condition he and his bandits never harm Monte Cristo or his friends.
After the guests leave, Albert shows Monte Cristo a portrait of his mother looking mournfully at the sea and introduces him to his parents. Fernand, now a senator, doesn't recognize Monte Cristo, but Mercédès does and warns Albert against him.
Monte Cristo purchases a summerhouse from the Marquis of Saint-Méran, whose daughter married Villefort and died soon after.
When Monte Cristo explores the grounds of his new summerhouse, his steward, Bertuccio, becomes frantic and starts telling him a story.
Years ago, after Villefort refused to prosecute the assassins of Bertuccio's brother, Bertuccio followed him to where Villefort kept his mistress, and stabbed him as he was burying a smothered baby. Bertuccio raised the baby, Benedetto, but the boy later disappeared. In the meantime, while running from the authorities for smuggling goods, Bertuccio witnessed Caderousse and his wife selling the diamond Abbé Busoni had given them to a jeweler.
Caderousse murdered the jeweler and his own wife and fled with the payment and the diamond. Bertuccio was arrested for the crime, but told the police about Abbé Busoni, and he visited him in prison, suggesting he contact the Count of Monte Cristo if he was freed. Caderousse confessed and was sentenced to a lifetime of hard labor. Bertuccio was released and went to work for Monte Cristo. Then, at age eleven, Benedetto tortured his adopted mother and killed her.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Chapters 40–46
Monte Cristo buys Madame Danglars's horses and visits Danglars with the horses attached to his coach to open a credit account.
After Madame Danglars becomes enraged with her husband for selling her horses, Monte Cristo returns them as a gift. The next day, knowing that Madame Villefort was borrowing these horses, Monte Cristo arranges to scare the horses in front of his house and then pretend to save her and her son, Edward.
Villefort visits Monte Cristo to thank him for saving his wife and son and reveals that his father, Noirtier, has been paralyzed by a stroke.
Monte Cristo visits his Greek slave, Haydée, tells her she is free to leave, but asks her not to reveal the secret of her birth to anyone in Paris.
Monte Cristo visits Maximilian Morrel at the house of his sister, Julie, and her husband, Emmanuel. They tell Monte Cristo their happiness is due to a benefactor they never identified and show him the red silk purse and the diamond he gave them. Monte Cristo suggests the benefactor might have been Lord Wilmore, but Maximilian reveals his father thought their benefactor was Dantès, making Monte Cristo leave abruptly.
At the gate of Villefort's garden, Maximilian meets Valentine, his secret love and Villefort's daughter from his first marriage. Valentine doesn't want to marry her fiancée, Franz d'Epinay, but Maximilian is too poor, and her father seems to hate the Morrel family.
Monte Cristo discusses poisoning with Madame de Villefort and promises to send her some of the potion he used to revive her son Edward, which is effective in small doses but lethal in large ones.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Chapters 47–53
Haydée recognizes Fernand as the man who betrayed her father, Ali Pacha, to the Turks and sold her into slavery.
Albert and Lucien visit Monte Cristo. Albert tells him he is reluctant to marry Eugénie Danglars as she is too erudite and masculine. Lucien reveals that Madame Danglars, his lover, gambles her husband's money in stocks, and Monte Cristo concludes Debray regularly gives her privileged information.
Monte Cristo instructs a man to pretend to be Marquis Bartolomeo Cavalcanti, an Italian nobleman who has searched for his kidnapped son for fifteen years.
Monte Cristo instructs a younger man to play the part of Andrea Cavalcanti, Bartolomeo's son, reunited with his father by Monte Cristo. He invites them to a dinner party he is giving the following Saturday.
At the Villefort garden, Maximilian and Valentine talk about Franz's eminent return to Paris, her stepmother's wish to send Valentine to a convent so that her son Edward will receive her inheritance, and Eugénie's wish to lead an independent life as an artist.
After Valentine's parents enrage Noirtier by telling him about her engagement to Franz, son of his greatest political enemy, Valentine tells her grandfather she doesn't want to marry Franz, and he promises to help her.
Noirtier has his will rewritten to provide that if Valentine marries Franz, all his inheritance will go to the poor, but Villefort refuses to call off the engagement.
Monte Cristo invites the Villeforts to his upcoming dinner party and says he would like to visit a telegraph office, and they suggest he visit the Spanish line.
Monte Cristo bribes the operator of a telegraph post to pass along a false report. Debray hears about an eminent revolution in Spain and urges Madame Danglars to sell her husband's Spanish bonds. She follows his advice, the evening's paper confirms the news, and the Danglars save a fortune. But the following day, the newspaper retracts the news, and the Danglars lose a lot of money.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Chapters 54–62
At Monte Cristo's dinner party, he introduces the two impostors and tells the Danglars Andrea Cavalcanti wants to find a wife. Bertuccio tells Monte Cristo that Madame Danglars was the baroness who used to meet Villefort, is surprised to see Villefort alive, and recognizes Andrea is Benedetto.
Monte Cristo leads the party to a bedroom where he feels a horrible crime was committed, describes what happened between Madame Danglars and Villefort, then takes the guests to the garden and shows them a spot where he claims to have found the skeleton of a newborn baby. Villefort whispers to Madame Danglars he must see her next day.
After the party, Caderousse, who has escaped from prison, surprises Benedetto and forces him to agree to a monthly allowance.
Back home from the party, Danglars bursts into Madame Danglars's room, asks Debray to leave, complains about Debray not helping defray the costs of his loss with the Spanish bonds, reveals he knows she bore Villefort's child and that her first husband killed himself as a result.
Danglars tells Monte Cristo about his intention to marry his daughter to Andrea Cavalcanti, who is richer than Albert, reveals Fernand's past, and agrees to make inquiries about Fernand's involvement in the Ali Pacha affair.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Chapters 63–67
Villefort tells Madame Danglars that their child must still be alive and that Monte Cristo knows about their crime. He promises to find out more about Monte Cristo's past.
Albert invites Monte Cristo to his family's ball.
Villefort discovers that Monte Cristo has two old acquaintances in Paris: Abbé Busoni and Lord Wilmore. The police commissioner hears from Busoni (Dantès in disguise) that Monte Cristo is the son of a rich shipbuilder and Villefort hears from Wilmore (Dantès in disguise again) that Monte Cristo made his fortune with a silver mine in the Middle East and is digging up a mineral spring.
At the Morcerf's ball, Mercédès notices that Monte Cristo refuses to eat or drink anything.
Mercédès draws Monte Cristo to the garden and tries to convince him to eat some fruit, which he refuses. They discuss their past in a roundabout way, and Monte Cristo promises he considers her a friend. Villefort announces his former father-in-law, the Marquis de Saint-Méran, is dead.
The Marquise de Saint-Méran, dying, describes seeing someone moving the glass on her nightstand during the night and orders Valentine to be married to Franz when he returns to France.
Maximilian informs Valentine that Franz is back and convinces her to elope with him. That night, as she doesn't show up, Maximilian approaches her house and overhears a doctor telling Villefort the marquise has died and might have been poisoned. Anxious about Valentine, Maximilian finds her, and she introduces him to Noirtier, who says he has a plan to prevent Valentine from marrying Franz.
After the burial of the marquis and marquise, Franz comes to Villefort to sign the marriage contract and is summoned by Noirtier.
Noirtier reveals to Franz he killed his father in a duel, and Villefort flees the room.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Chapters 68–76
When Monte Cristo and Andrea visit the Danglars's home, Eugénie goes to play music with her teacher, Louise d'Armily, and Danglars insists Andrea joins them. Albert arrives and Danglars mistreats him.
Monte Cristo allows Albert to meet Haydée on the condition he doesn't mention his father's name. Haydée bewilders Albert with the story of how her father and ruler of the Greek state of Yanina, Ali Pacha, had been betrayed by his right-hand man, a French soldier, who allowed their castle to be taken and her father to be murdered by the Turks.
Franz calls off his engagement to Valentine. Noirtier changes his will again, leaving his fortune to Valentine on the condition she is never separated from him. Danglars tells Fernand he has changed his mind about the engagement between Albert and Eugénie. An article reports that a man named Fernand betrayed Ali Pacha to the Turks. Albert gives Beauchamp the option to retract the article or fight a duel, and Beauchamp asks for three weeks to investigate the matter before deciding.
Noirtier's servant dies after drinking from his master's lemonade, and the doctor finds poison in the glass.
The doctor deduces the poison was meant for Noirtier and concludes Valentine must be the murderer, as she is the sole heiress of all the victims so far.
As Caderousse presses Benedetto for more money, Benedetto reveals he thinks Monte Cristo is his father and that he will receive a large inheritance, so Caderousse decides to break into Monte Cristo's home while he is away.
Warned about the robbery, Monte Cristo stays in his home and, disguised as Abbé Busoni, forces Caderousse to reveal how he and Benedetto escaped prison with the help of Lord Wilmore, threatens to reveal that Andrea is Benedetto, and makes him write a note to Danglars about Andrea. Busoni lets Caderousse leave the house, aware that Benedetto is outside waiting to kill him.
Benedetto stabs Caderousse, and Monte Cristo makes the latter sign a statement naming Benedetto as his murderer. Monte Cristo reveals his identity to Caderousse, who dies, and the police search for Benedetto.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Chapters 77–84
Beauchamp tells Albert he found proof of the allegations against Fernand in Yanina, but promises to suppress the information, for which Albert is grateful.
Monte Cristo takes Albert to his home in Normandy, but Beauchamp urges him back with a letter and a newspaper clipping linking Morcerf to the Ali Pacha affair.
Beauchamp tells Albert that, after a man brought condemning documents from Yanina to a rival newspaper and the article was printed, the government body to which Morcerf belongs opened an investigation. Haydée testifies and produces documents incriminating Morcerf, and the judges find him guilty.
After swearing to kill the man responsible for his father's disgrace, Albert talks to Danglars and concludes Monte Cristo is behind the plot.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Chapters 85–88
Albert asks Mercédès whether she knows of any reason why Monte Cristo should consider Fernand his enemy, and she tries to dissuade him from fighting Monte Cristo. Albert meets Franz, Debray, and Maxilian at the opera and storms into Monte Cristo's box, challenging him to a duel. Monte Cristo asks Maximilian and Emmanuel to be his assistants at the duel.
Mercédès visits Monte Cristo, and he explains why he hates Fernand, showing her the false accusation he mailed against Dantès. She begs his forgiveness and pleads him to spare his son's life.
On the day of the duel, Monte Cristo confides to Maximilian and Emmanuel that he plans to let himself be killed, but when Alberto arrives, he apologizes to Monte Cristo, saying he was right to avenge Fernand's wrongdoing.
As Albert and Mercédès are about to leave their home and possessions, Monte Cristo sends her a letter instructing her to retrieve and use the money Dantès buried in front of his house in Marseilles. She accepts the gift and plans to use it to enter a convent.
Fernand bursts into Monte Cristo's home, challenges him to a duel, and demands to know who Monte Cristo really is. When Monte Cristo puts on sailor clothes, Fernand recognizes Dantès, flees to his house, see his wife and son departing, and shoots himself in the head.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Chapters 89–93
Maximilian visits Valentine and Noirtier and finds her ill and complaining that all drinks taste bitter. As Madame Danglars and Eugénie visit, announcing that Eugénie will marry Andrea in a week, Valentine loses consciousness.
Maximilian begs Monte Cristo to help Valentine. In Villefort's home, Noirtier tells the doctor that Valentine has been poisoned, like all the other victims, but is still alive because he has been accustoming her to brucine. Monte Cristo, dressed as Abbé Busoni, rents the house next to Villefort’s.
Danglars convinces Eugénie to marry Andrea to save himself from financial ruin, but she asks him not to use any of Cavalcanti's money.
As the marriage contract is being signed at the Danglars's residence, Monte Cristo mentions the letter Caderousse wrote to Danglars, and two gendarmes come in to arrest Andrea, who has disappeared.
After the wedding guests leave, Eugénie plans to run away to Italy, via Belgium, with Louise and make a living from their music. Eugénie cuts her hair, dresses like a man, and the two women leave in a carriage.
Benedetto flees Paris, stops overnight at an inn, wakes up to find gendarmes around the hotel, tries to escape, and falls into the room where Eugénie and Louise are staying. They give the alarm, and Benedetto is arrested.
Madame Danglars begs Villefort not to pursue the case against Andrea for her family's dignity. He refuses, and they hear Andrea has been arrested.
Monte Cristo visits Valentine, who's been sick, explains he has been watching her from his window next door, replacing the poison put into her glass with curative contents, and advises her to pretend to be asleep to find out who is trying to kill her.
After Valentine sees Madame de Villefort pour poison into her glass, Monte Cristo explains she wants her inheritance for Edward, asks Valentine to trust him, and gives her a pill.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Chapters 94–102
Madame de Villefort enters Valentine's room, who seems dead, and empties the cup and cleans it. When she comes back, after the household has been notified of Valentine's death, the glass is filled again, the doctor detects the poison in it, and she faints.
When Maximilian demands that Valentine's murder be avenged, Noirtier signals he knows who the murderer is and talks to Villefort alone. They ask the other people in the household to keep the crime secret, Abbé Busoni is called to pray over the body, and Monte Cristo locks the doors of the room.
Monte Cristo convinces Danglars to give him five checks of one million francs each that Danglars was making out for the hospital. When the Commissioner of Hospitals learns his five million francs have been given to a single individual, Danglars promises he will have the money the next day but actually plans to run away.
After Valentine's funeral, to prevent Maximilian from killing himself, Monte Cristo reveals he is Dantès and makes Maximillian promise to remain alive for one month and never leave his side. If Maximillian is unhappy after a month, he will help him commit suicide.
The day after Danglars leaves, Madame Danglars shows Debray his letter explaining why he ran away. Debray gives her half of the profits they have made, indicating he is no longer interested in her. In the same hotel, Albert tells his mother he has enlisted in the army and gives her the check he received for joining. Observing them, Debray is struck by the contrast between Mercédès and Madame Danglars's reactions to misfortune, and Monte Cristo swears to restore Mercédès's and Albert's happiness.
Bertuccio visits Benedetto in prison to reveal the identity of his father, but they are interrupted, and Bertuccio promises to return the next day.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Chapters 103–108
Before leaving for Benedetto's trial, Villefort tells his wife he knows she is a murderer and that she should take her own life to avoid bringing shame on their family. He adds that, if she has not done that before he returns from court, he will denounce her.
Benedetto's trial is a major event, and all of the fashionable Parisians discuss it and turn out at the courthouse to watch.
During the trial, Benedetto announces he is Villefort's son and tells the story of his birth, rescue, and adoption. The court asks for proof, but Villefort declares himself guilty.
Villefort regrets telling his wife to kill herself and decides to flee France with her. However, when he comes home, he finds her and Edward dead. He runs to Noirtier and finds him with Abbé Busoni, who reveals himself to be Dantès. Dantès tries to revive Edward, Villefort goes insane, and Dantès doubts his revenge project.
Maximillian leaves Paris with Monte Cristo, who declares his work of vengeance done.
In Marseilles, Maximillian and Monte Cristo see Albert boarding a ship for Africa, Maximillian visits his father's grave, and Monte Cristo visits Mercédès, promising to help her son. Monte Cristo asks Maximilian to wait in Marseilles while he takes care of some business in Italy.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Chapters 109–113
Danglars goes to Italy and uses Monte Cristo's receipt to retrieve five million francs. But next day, Vampa's bandits kidnap and incarcerate him.
Danglars requests food but has to pay a ridiculously high price for it.
After several days and having spent most of his money on food, Danglars tries to fast, but ends up crying for mercy. When he swears that he repents of his evil ways, Monte Cristo appears, forgives him, reveals his true identity, and lets Danglars go.
On the day Maximilian's one month expires, he goes to Monte Cristo's island, still determined to die. Monte Cristo tests his resolve and, pretending to relent to his wishes, puts him into a deep sleep. Valentine appears, and Monte Cristo tells her not to leave Maximilian's side and to look after Haydée. He tells Haydée he is going to restore her position as a princess and orders her to forget him and be happy. She says she would die if she has to leave him, so he accepts her love as a sign that God has forgiven him, and they withdraw. Maximilian wakes up and finds Valentine and a letter from Monte Cristo, instructing them to go to Leghorn, where Noirtier is waiting to marry them, and giving him and Valentine his properties.
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