The Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo
Author Alexandre Dumas
in collaboration with Auguste Maquet
Original title Le Comte de Monte-Cristo
Country France
Language French
Genre Historical novel
Adventure
Publication date
 1844–1845 (serialised)

The Count of Monte Cristo (French: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel by French author Alexandre Dumas (père) completed in 1844. It is one of the author's most popular works, along with The Three Musketeers. Like many of his novels, it was expanded from plot outlines suggested by his collaborating ghostwriter Auguste Maquet.[1] Another important work by Dumas, written prior to his work with Maquet, was the short novel Georges; this novel is of particular interest to scholars because Dumas reused many of the ideas and plot devices later in The Count of Monte Cristo.[2]

The story takes place in France, Italy, and islands in the Mediterranean during the historical events of 1815–1839: the era of the Bourbon Restoration through the reign of Louis-Philippe of France. It begins just before the Hundred Days period (when Napoleon returned to power after his exile). The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book, an adventure story primarily concerned with themes of hope, justice, vengeance, mercy, and forgiveness. It centres on a man who is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes from jail, acquires a fortune, and sets about exacting revenge on those responsible for his imprisonment. His plans have devastating consequences for both the innocent and the guilty.

The book is considered a literary classic today. According to Luc Sante, "The Count of Monte Cristo has become a fixture of Western civilization's literature, as inescapable and immediately identifiable as Mickey Mouse, Noah's flood, and the story of Little Red Riding Hood."[3]

Background to the plot

Dumas wrote[4] that the idea of revenge in The Count of Monte Cristo came from a story in a book compiled by Jacques Peuchet, a French police archivist, published in 1838 after the death of the author.[5] Dumas included this essay in one of the editions from 1846.[6] Peuchet told of a shoemaker, Pierre Picaud, living in Nîmes in 1807, who was engaged to marry a rich woman when three jealous friends falsely accused him of being a spy for England. Picaud was placed under a form of house arrest in the Fenestrelle Fort, where he served as a servant to a rich Italian cleric. When the man died, he left his fortune to Picaud, whom he had begun to treat as a son. Picaud then spent years plotting his revenge on the three men who were responsible for his misfortune. He stabbed the first with a dagger on which were printed the words "Number One", and then he poisoned the second. The third man's son he lured into crime and his daughter into prostitution, finally stabbing the man himself. This third man, named Loupian, had married Picaud's fiancée while Picaud was under arrest.

In another of the "True Stories", Peuchet describes a poisoning in a family. This story, also quoted in the Pleiade edition, has obviously served as model for the chapter of the murders inside the Villefort family. The introduction to the Pleiade edition mentions other sources from real life: Abbé Faria existed and died in 1819 after a life with much resemblance to that of the Faria in the novel. As for Dantès, his fate is quite different from his model in Peuchet's book, since the latter is murdered by the "Caderousse" of the plot. But Dantès has "alter egos" in two other Dumas works; in "Pauline" from 1838, and more significantly in "Georges" from 1843, where a young man with black ancestry is preparing a revenge against white people who had humiliated him.

Plot

Summary

On the day of his wedding to Mercédès, Edmond Dantès, first mate of the Pharaon, is falsely accused of treason, arrested, and imprisoned without trial in the Château d'If, a grim island fortress off Marseilles. A fellow prisoner, Abbé Faria, correctly deduces that his jealous rival Fernand Mondego, envious crewmate Danglars, and double-dealing Magistrate De Villefort framed him. Faria inspires his escape and guides him to a fortune in treasure. As the powerful and mysterious Count of Monte Cristo (Italy), he arrives from the Orient to enter the fashionable Parisian world of the 1830s and avenge himself on the men who conspired to destroy him.

Edmond Dantès

The main character Edmond Dantès was a merchant sailor prior to his imprisonment. (Illustration by Pierre-Gustave Staal)

In 1815, Edmond Dantès, a young merchant sailor who has recently been granted the succession of his captain Leclère, returns to Marseille to marry his Catalan fiancée Mercédès. Leclère, a supporter of the exiled Napoléon I, found himself dying at sea and charged Dantès to deliver two objects: a package to General Bertrand (exiled with Napoleon Bonaparte on Elba), and a letter from Elba to an unknown man in Paris. On the eve of Dantès' wedding to Mercédès, Fernand Mondego (Mercédès' cousin and a rival for her affections) is given advice by Dantès' colleague Danglars (who is jealous of Dantès' rapid rise to captain) to send an anonymous note accusing Dantès of being a Bonapartist traitor. Caderousse (Dantès' cowardly and selfish neighbor) is drunk while the two conspirators set the trap for Dantès and stays quiet as Dantès is arrested, then sentenced. Villefort, the deputy crown prosecutor in Marseille, destroys the letter from Elba when he discovers that it is addressed to his own father, Noirtier (who is a Bonapartist), since if this letter came into official hands, it would destroy his ambitions and reputation as a staunch Royalist. To silence Dantès, he condemns him without trial to life imprisonment.

After six years of imprisonment in the Château d'If, Dantès is on the verge of suicide when he befriends the Abbé Faria ("The Mad Priest"), an Italian fellow prisoner who had dug an escape tunnel that ended up in Dantès' cell. Over the next eight years, Faria gives Dantès an extensive education in language, culture, and science. Knowing himself to be close to death, Faria tells Dantès the location of a treasure on the Italian island of Monte Cristo. When Faria dies, Dantès takes his place in the burial sack. When the guards throw the sack into the sea, Dantès breaks through and swims to a nearby island. He is rescued by a smuggling ship that stops at Monte Cristo. After recovering the treasure, Dantès returns to Marseille. He later purchases the island of Monte Cristo and the title of Count from the Tuscan government.

Actor James O'Neill as the Abbé Busoni

Traveling as the Abbé Busoni, Dantès meets Caderousse, now living in poverty, who regrets not intervening and possibly saving Dantès from prison. He gives Caderousse a diamond that can be either a chance to redeem himself or a trap that will lead to his ruin. Learning that his old employer Morrel is on the verge of bankruptcy, Dantès buys Morrel's debts and gives Morrel three months to fulfill his obligations. At the end of the three months and with no way to repay his debts, Morrel is about to commit suicide when he learns that his debts have been mysteriously paid and that one of his lost ships has returned with a full cargo, secretly rebuilt and laden by Dantès.

The Count of Monte Cristo


Reappearing as the rich Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès begins his revenge on the three men responsible for his unjust imprisonment: Fernand, now Count de Morcerf and Mercédès's husband; Danglars, now a baron and a wealthy banker; and Villefort, now procureur du roi. The Count appears first in Rome, where he becomes acquainted with the Baron Franz d'Épinay, and Viscount Albert de Morcerf, the son of Mercédès and Fernand. Dantès arranges for the young Morcerf to be captured by the bandit Luigi Vampa and then seemingly rescues him from Vampa's gang. The Count then moves to Paris and dazzles Danglars with his wealth, persuading him to extend him a credit of six million francs. The Count manipulates the bond market and quickly destroys a large portion of Danglars' fortune. The rest of it begins to rapidly disappear through mysterious bankruptcies, suspensions of payment, and more bad luck in the Stock Exchange.

Villefort had once conducted an affair with Madame Danglars. She became pregnant and delivered the child in the house that the Count has now purchased. To cover up the affair, Villefort told Madame Danglars that the infant was stillborn, smothered the child, and thinking him to be dead, buried him in the garden. While Villefort was burying the child, he was stabbed by the smuggler Bertuccio, who unearthed the child and resuscitated him. Bertuccio's sister-in-law brought the child up, giving him the name "Benedetto". Benedetto takes up a life of crime as he grows into adolescence. He robs his adoptive mother (Bertuccio's sister-in-law) and ends up killing her, then runs away. Bertuccio later becomes the Count's servant and informs him of this history.

Benedetto is sentenced to the galleys with Caderousse, who had sold the diamond but killed both his wife and the buyer out of greed. After Benedetto and Caderousse are freed by Dantès, using the alias "Lord Wilmore," the Count induces Benedetto to take the identity of "Viscount Andrea Cavalcanti" and introduces him into Parisian society. Andrea ingratiates himself to Danglars, who betroths his daughter Eugénie to Andrea (not knowing they are half-siblings) after cancelling her engagement to Albert. Meanwhile, Caderousse blackmails Andrea, threatening to reveal his past if he doesn't share his new-found wealth. Cornered by "Abbé Busoni" while attempting to rob the Count's house, Caderousse begs to be given another chance. Dantès forces him to write a letter to Danglars exposing Cavalcanti as an impostor and allows Caderousse to leave the house. The moment Caderousse leaves the estate, he is stabbed by Andrea. Caderousse dictates a deathbed statement identifying his killer, and the Count reveals his true identity to Caderousse moments before he dies.

Years before, Ali Pasha of Janina had been betrayed to the Turks by Fernand. After Ali's death, Fernand sold Ali's wife Vasiliki and his daughter Haydée into slavery. While Vasiliki died shortly thereafter, Dantès purchased Haydée. The Count manipulates Danglars into researching the event, which is published in a newspaper. As a result, Fernand is investigated by his peers and disgraced. When Albert blames the Count for his father's downfall and challenges him to a duel, Mercédès, having already recognized Monte Cristo as Dantès, goes to the Count and begs him to spare her son. During this interview, she learns the truth of his arrest and imprisonment but still convinces the Count not to kill her son. Realizing that Edmond now intends to let Albert kill him, she reveals the truth to Albert, which causes Albert to make a public apology to the Count. Albert and Mercédès disown Fernand, who is confronted with Dantès' true identity and commits suicide. Albert and Mercédès renounce their titles and wealth and depart to begin new lives.

Valentine, Villefort's daughter by his late first wife, stands to inherit the fortune of her grandfather (Noirtier) and of her mother's parents (the Saint-Mérans), while Villefort's second wife Héloïse seeks the fortune for her son Édouard. The Count is aware of Héloïse's intentions and introduces her to the technique of poison. Héloïse fatally poisons the Saint-Mérans, so that Valentine inherits their fortune. Valentine is disinherited by Noirtier in an attempt to prevent Valentine's impending marriage with Franz d'Épinay, whom she does not love. The marriage is cancelled when d'Épinay learns that his father (believed assassinated by Bonapartists) was actually killed by Noirtier in a fair duel. Afterwards, Valentine is reinstated in Noirtier's will. After a failed attempt on Noirtier's life which leaves Noirtier's servant Barrois dead, Héloïse targets Valentine so that Édouard will get the fortune. However, Valentine is the prime suspect in her father's eyes in the deaths of the Saint-Mérans and Barrois. On learning that Morrel's son Maximilien is in love with Valentine, the Count saves her by making it appear as though Héloïse's plan to poison Valentine has succeeded and that Valentine is dead. Villefort learns from Noirtier that Héloïse is the real murderer and confronts her, giving her the choice of a public execution or committing suicide.

Fleeing after Caderousse's letter exposes him, Andrea is arrested and returned to Paris, where Villefort prosecutes him. While in prison awaiting trial, Andrea is visited by Bertuccio, who tells him the truth about his father. At his trial, Andrea reveals that he is Villefort's son and was rescued after Villefort buried him alive. Villefort admits his guilt and flees the court. He rushes home to stop his wife's suicide but is too late; she has poisoned her son as well. Dantès confronts Villefort, revealing his true identity, but this drives Villefort insane. Dantès tries but fails to resuscitate Édouard, causing him to question if he has gone too far.

After the Count's manipulation of the bond market, Danglars is left with a destroyed reputation and 5,000,000 francs he has been holding in deposit for hospitals. The Count demands this sum to fulfil their credit agreement, and Danglars embezzles the hospital fund. Abandoning his wife, Danglars flees to Italy with the Count's receipt and 50,000 francs. While leaving Rome, he is kidnapped by the Count's agent Luigi Vampa and is imprisoned. Forced to pay exorbitant prices for food and nearly starved to death, Danglars signs away his ill-gotten gains. Dantès anonymously returns the stolen money to the hospitals. Danglars finally repents his crimes, and a softened Dantès forgives him and allows him to leave with his freedom and 50,000 francs.

Maximilien Morrel, believing Valentine to be dead, contemplates suicide after her funeral. Dantès reveals his true identity and explains that he rescued Morrel's father from bankruptcy years earlier; he then tells Maximilien to reconsider his suicide. On the island of Monte Cristo, Dantès presents Valentine to Maximilien and reveals the true sequence of events. Having found peace, Dantès leaves the newly reunited couple part of his fortune and departs for an unknown destination to find comfort and a new life with Haydée, who has declared her love for him. The reader is left with a final thought: "all human wisdom is contained in these two words, 'Wait and Hope'".

Character relationships in The Count of Monte Cristo

Characters

Edmond Dantès and his aliases

  • Edmond Dantès (born 1796): A sailor with good prospects, engaged to Mercédès. After his transformation into the Count of Monte Cristo, he reveals his true name to his enemies as each revenge is completed. During the course of the novel, he falls in love with Haydée.
  • 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 revenge.
  • Chief Clerk of the banking firm Thomson & French, an Englishman
  • Lord Wilmore: An Englishman, and the persona in which Dantès performs random acts of generosity.
  • Sinbad the Sailor: The persona that Dantès assumes when he saves the Morrel family and assumes while mixing with smugglers and brigands.
  • Abbé Busoni: The persona of an Italian priest with religious authority.
  • Monsieur Zaccone: Dantès, in the guise of the Abbé Busoni, and again as Lord Wilmore, tells an investigator that this is the Count of Monte Cristo's true name.
  • Number 34: The name given to him by the new governor of Château d'If. Finding it too tedious to learn Dantès' real name, he was called by the number of his cell.
  • The Maltese Sailor: The name he was known by after his rescue by smugglers from the island of Tiboulen.

Dantès' allies

  • Abbé Faria: Italian priest and sage. Imprisoned in the Château d'If. Edmond's dearest friend while in prison.
  • Giovanni Bertuccio: The Count of Monte Cristo's steward and very loyal servant; foster father of Benedetto.
  • Luigi Vampa: celebrated Italian bandit and fugitive.
  • Peppino: Formerly a shepherd, he is later a bandit and full member of Vampa's gang.
  • Ali: Monte Cristo's mute Nubian slave.
  • Baptistin: Monte Cristo's valet-de-chambre.
  • Jacopo Manfredi: A poor smuggler who helps Dantès survive after he escapes prison. When Jacopo proves his selfless loyalty, Dantès rewards him with his own ship and crew.
  • Haydée (sometimes spelled as Haidee): Monte Cristo's young, beautiful slave. She is the daughter of Ali Tebelen. She is a major part of Dantès' plan to get revenge on Fernand. At the end, she and Monte Cristo become lovers.

Morcerf family

  • Mercédès Mondego (née Herrera): A Catalan girl, Edmond Dantès' lover and fiancée at the beginning of the story. She later marries Fernand and they have a son named Albert. Despite being in a totally not unhappy marriage with Fernand and being adored and respected by him, and vice-versa, part of her heart can't ignore the past love for Edmond or completely forget him, remaining in love with him. It is due to her love for Edmond that she is able to recognize him when she meets him again, which frightens her. At the end, she returns in Marseilles, living in the house that belonged to father Dantès, given to her by Monte-Cristo himself (to allow the woman a safe and stable place to spend in quietness the rest of her days, with a little financial support: the same francs the young Dantès, before the arrest, used to keep aside in view of their wedding, in a little bag remained hidden in the house’s garden for all the time), praying for Albert, who left France for Africa as a soldier to start a new and more honorable life. Left all alone, she and Edmond talked for the last time: once young and in love, they choose to take different paths, saying farewell to each other. While the Count went away to complete his plan, Mercédès decides to stay in her hometown, with only her memories left of the happiest years, waiting for Albert's return, wishing for Edmond to find peace for his wounded heart and praying on her husband's grave for his soul. She is portrayed as a compassionate, kind and caring woman who prefers to think for her beloved ones than for herself.
  • Fernand Mondego: Count de Morcerf (former Catalan fisherman in the Spanish village near Marseilles), Dantès's rival and cousin of Mercédès, for whom he swore undying love and the person he eventually marries. Fernand helped frame Edmond (by sending the accusation letter) in an ultimate desperate attempt to not lose Mercédès forever. He would later achieve the high-rank of general in the French army and become a peer of France in the Chambre des Pairs, keeping secret his betrayal to the Pasha Alì Tebelen, and the selling of both his daughter Haydée and her mother Vasiliki. With the money earned he bought the title of "Count de Morcerf" to bring wealth and a more pleasant life to him and his family. Through the book he shows a deep affection and care for his wife and son. He would meet his tragic end in the last chapters, by committing suicide, in the despair of having lost Mercédès and Albert, disowned by them when they discovered his hidden crimes.
  • Albert de Morcerf: Son of Mercédès and Fernand, and the Viscount de Morcerf. He is described as a very kind-heart, joyful and carefree young man, and fond of Monte Cristo, whom he sees as a friend. After acknowledging the truth of his father's war crimes and the false accusation towards the sailor Edmond Dantès, he decides to leave his home with Mercédès and start a new life as a soldier under the name of "Herrera" (his mother's maiden name), leaving for Africa in search of fortune and to give new honor upon his family name.

Danglars family

  • Baron Danglars: Dantès' jealous junior officer and mastermind behind his imprisonment, later a wealthy banker.
  • Madame Hermine Danglars (formerly Baroness Hermine de Nargonne née de Servieux): She had an affair with Gérard de Villefort. They had an illegitimate son, Benedetto.
  • Eugénie Danglars: Daughter of Baron Danglars and Hermine Danglars. She is free-spirited and aspires to become an independent artist.

Villefort family

  • Gérard de Villefort: chief deputy prosecutor who imprisons Dantès, later becoming acquaintances as Dantès enacts his revenge.
  • Renée de Villefort, Renée de Saint-Méran: Gérard de Villefort's first wife, mother of Valentine.
  • The Marquis and Marquise de Saint-Méran: Renée's parents.
  • Valentine de Villefort: The daughter of Gérard de Villefort and his first wife, Renée. In love with Maximilien Morrel. Engaged to Baron Franz d'Épinay. She is 19 years old with chestnut hair, dark blue eyes, and "long white hands".
  • Monsieur Noirtier de Villefort: The father of Gérard de Villefort and grandfather of Valentine, Édouard (and, without knowing it, Benedetto). A committed anti-royalist. He is paralysed and only able to communicate with his eyes, but retains his mental faculties and acts as protector to Valentine.
  • Héloïse de Villefort: The murderous second wife of Gérard de Villefort, mother of Edouard.
  • Édouard de Villefort (Edward). The only legitimate son of Villefort.
  • Benedetto: The illegitimate son of de Villefort and Baroness Hermine Danglars (Hermine de Nargonne), raised by Bertuccio and his sister-in-law, Assunta, in Rogliano. Becomes "Andrea Cavalcanti" in Paris.

Morrel family

  • Pierre Morrel: Dantès's employer, owner of Morrel & Son.
  • Maximilien Morrel: Son of Pierre Morrel, an army captain who becomes a friend of Dantès. In love with Valentine de Villefort.
  • Julie Herbault: Daughter of Pierre Morrel, wife of Emmanuel Herbault.
  • Emmanuel Herbault: an employee of Morrel & Son, who marries Julie Morrel and succeeds to the business.

Other characters

  • Gaspard Caderousse: Originally a tailor and later the owner of an inn, he was a neighbour and friend of Dantès who fails to protect him at the beginning of the story and then turns to crime.
  • Louis Dantès: Edmond Dantès' father, who dies from starvation during his son's imprisonment.
  • Baron Franz d'Épinay: A friend of Albert de Morcerf, first fiancé of Valentine de Villefort.
  • Lucien Debray: Secretary to the Minister of the Interior, a friend of Albert de Morcerf, and a lover of Madame Danglars, whom he provides with inside investment information, which she then passes on to her husband.
  • Beauchamp: Journalist and friend of Albert de Morcerf.
  • Raoul, Baron de Château-Renaud: Member of a noble family and friend of Albert de Morcerf.
  • Louise d'Armilly: Eugénie Danglars' music instructor and her intimate friend.
  • Monsieur de Boville: Originally an inspector of prisons, later a detective in the Paris force.
  • Barrois: Old, trusted servant of Monsieur de Noirtier.
  • Monsieur d'Avrigny: Family doctor treating the Villefort family.
  • Major (also Marquis) Bartolomeo Cavalcanti: Old man who plays the role of Prince Andrea Cavalcanti's father.
  • Ali Tebelen (Ali Tepelini in some versions): An Albanian nationalist leader, Pasha of Yanina, whom Fernand Mondego betrays, leading to Ali Pasha’s murder at the hands of the Turks and the seizure of his kingdom. His wife and daughter Haydée are sold into slavery by Fernand.
  • Countess Teresa Guiccioli

Publication

The Count of Monte Cristo was originally published in the Journal des Débats in eighteen parts. Serialization ran from August 28, 1844 to January 15, 1846. The first edition in book form was published in Paris by Pétion in 18 volumes with the first two issued in 1844 and the remaining sixteen in 1845.[7] Most of the Belgian pirated editions, the first Paris edition and many others up to the Lécrivain et Toubon illustrated edition of 1860 feature a misspelling of the title with "Christo" used instead of "Cristo". The first edition to feature the correct spelling was the L'Écho des Feuilletons illustrated edition, Paris 1846. This edition featured plates by Paul Gavarni and Tony Johannot and was said to be "revised" and "corrected", although only the chapter structure appears to have been altered with an additional chapter entitled La Maison des Allées de Meilhan having been created by splitting Le Départ into two.[8]

English translations

The first appearance of The Count of Monte Cristo in English was the first part of a serialization by W. Francis Ainsworth in volume VII of Ainsworth's Magazine published in 1845, although this was an abridged summary of the first part of the novel only and was entitled The Prisoner of If. Ainsworth translated the remaining chapters of the novel, again in abridged form, and issued these in volumes VIII and IX of the magazine in 1845 and 1846 respectively.[8] Another abridged serialisation appeared in The London Journal between 1846 and 1847.

The first single volume translation in English was an abridged edition with woodcuts published by Geo Pierce in January 1846 entitled The Prisoner of If or The Revenge of Monte Christo.[8]

In April 1846, volume three of the Parlour Novelist, Belfast, Ireland: Simms and M'Intyre, London: W S Orr and Company, featured the first part of an unabridged translation of the novel by Emma Hardy. The remaining two parts would be issued as the Count of Monte Christo volumes I and II in volumes 8 and 9 of the Parlour Novelist respectively.[8]

The most common English translation is an anonymous one originally published in 1846 by Chapman and Hall. This was originally released in ten weekly installments from March 1846 with six pages of letterpress and two illustrations by M Valentin.[9] The translation was released in book form with all twenty illustrations in two volumes in May 1846, a month after the release of the first part of the above-mentioned translation by Emma Hardy.[8] The translation follows the revised French edition of 1846, with the correct spelling of "Cristo" and the extra chapter The House on the Allées de Meilhan.

Most English editions of the novel follow the anonymous translation. In 1889 two of the major American publishers Little Brown and T.Y Crowell updated the translation, correcting mistakes and revising the text to reflect the original serialised version. This resulted in the removal of the chapter The House on the Allées de Meilhan, with the text restored to the end of the chapter called The Departure.[10][11]

In 1955 Collins published an updated version of the anonymous translation which cut several passages including a whole chapter entitled The Past and renamed others.[12] This abridgement was republished by many Collins imprints and other publishers including the Modern Library, Vintage, the 1998 Oxford World's Classics edition (later editions restored the text) and the 2009 Everyman's Library edition.

In 1996 Penguin Classics published a new translation by Robin Buss. Buss's translation updated the language, making the text more accessible to modern readers, and restored content that was modified in the 1846 translation because of Victorian English social restrictions (for example, references to Eugénie's lesbian traits and behavior) to reflect Dumas' original version.

In addition to the above there have also been many abridged translations such as an 1892 edition published by F.M Lupton, translated by Henry L. Williams (this translation was also released by M.J Ivers in 1892 with Williams using the pseudonym of Professor William Thiese).[8] A more recent abridgement is the translation by Lowell Bair for Bantam Classics in 1956.

Many abridged translations omit the Count's enthusiasm for hashish. When serving a hashish jam to the young Frenchman Franz d'Epinay, the Count (calling himself Sinbad the Sailor), calls it, "nothing less than the ambrosia which Hebe served at the table of Jupiter." When he arrives in Paris, The Count brandishes an emerald box in which he carries small green pills compounded of hashish and opium which he uses for sleeplessness. (Source: Chapters 31, 32, 38, 40, 53 & 77 in the 117-chapter unabridged Pocket Books edition.) Dumas was a member of the Club des Hashischins.

In Japan

The first Japanese translation by Kuroiwa Shūroku was entitled "Shigai Shiden Gankutsu-ou" (史外史伝巌窟王, "a historical story from outside history, the King of the Cavern"), and serialized from 1901–1902 in the Yorozu Chouhou newspaper, and released in book form in four volumes by publisher Aoki Suusandou in 1905. Though later translations use the title "Monte Cristo-haku" (モンテ・クリスト伯, the Count of Monte Cristo), the "Gankutsu-ou" title remains highly associated with the novel and is often used as an alternative. As of March 2016, all movie adaptations of the novel brought to Japan used the title "Gankutsu-ou", with the exception of the 2002 film, which has it as a subtitle (with the title itself simply being "Monte Cristo").

The novel is popular in Japan, and has spawned numerous adaptations, the most notable of which are the novels Meiji Gankutsu-ou by Taijirou Murasame and Shin Gankutsu-ou by Kaitarō Hasegawa. Its influence can also be seen in how one of the first prominent cases of miscarriage of justice in Japan, in which an innocent man was charged with murder and imprisoned for half a century, is known in Japanese as the "Yoshida Gankutsu-ou incident" (吉田岩窟王事件).

Reception and legacy

The original work was published in serial form in the Journal des Débats in 1844. Carlos Javier Villafane Mercado described the effect in Europe:

The effect of the serials, which held vast audiences enthralled ... is unlike any experience of reading we are likely to have known ourselves, maybe something like that of a particularly gripping television series. Day after day, at breakfast or at work or on the street, people talked of little else.[13]

George Saintsbury stated: "Monte Cristo is said to have been at its first appearance, and for some time subsequently, the most popular book in Europe. Perhaps no novel within a given number of years had so many readers and penetrated into so many different countries."[14] This popularity has extended into modern times as well. The book was "translated into virtually all modern languages and has never been out of print in most of them. There have been at least twenty-nine motion pictures based on it ... as well as several television series, and many movies [have] worked the name 'Monte Cristo' into their titles."[13] The title Monte Cristo lives on in a "famous gold mine, a line of luxury Cuban cigars, a sandwich, and any number of bars and casinos—it even lurks in the name of the street-corner hustle three-card monte."[15]

Modern Russian writer and philologist Vadim Nikolayev determined The Count of Monte-Cristo as a megapolyphonic novel.[16]

The novel has been the inspiration for many other works, from Lew Wallace's Ben-Hur (1880),[17] a science fiction retelling in Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination,[18] to Stephen Fry's contemporary The Stars' Tennis Balls.[19]

Historical background

The success of Monte Cristo coincides with France's Second Empire. In the book, Dumas tells of the 1815 return of Napoleon I, and alludes to contemporary events when the governor at the Château d'If is promoted to a position at the castle of Ham.[Notes 1] The attitude of Dumas towards "bonapartisme" was conflicted. His father, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas,[Notes 2] a Haitian of mixed descent, became a successful general during the French Revolution. New racial-discrimination laws were applied in 1802, and the general was dismissed from the army and became profoundly bitter toward Napoleon. In 1840, the ashes of Napoleon I were brought to France and became an object of veneration in the church of Les Invalides, renewing popular patriotic support for the Bonaparte family.

In "Causeries" (1860), Dumas published a short paper, "État civil du Comte de Monte-Cristo", on the genesis of the Count of Monte-Cristo.[Notes 3] It appears that Dumas had close contacts with members of the Bonaparte family while living in Florence in 1841. In a small boat he sailed around the island of Monte-Cristo accompanied by a young prince, a cousin to Louis Bonaparte, who was to become Emperor of the French ten years later. During this trip he promised the prince that he would write a novel with the island's name in the title. At that time the future emperor was imprisoned at the citadel of Ham – a name that is mentioned in the novel. Dumas did visit him there,[20] although he does not mention it in "Etat civil".

A chronology of The Count of Monte Cristo and Bonapartism

During the life of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas:

  • 1793: Thomas-Alexandre Dumas is promoted to the rank of general in the army of the First French Republic.
  • 1794: He disapproves of the revolutionary terror in Western France.
  • 1795–97: He becomes famous and fights under Napoleon.
  • 1802: Black officers are dismissed from the army. The Empire re-establishes slavery.
  • 1802: Birth of his son, Alexandre Dumas père.
  • 1806: Thomas-Alexandre Dumas dies, still bitter about the injustice of the Empire.

During the life of Alexandre Dumas:

  • 1832: The only son of Napoleon I dies.
  • 1836: Alexandre Dumas is famous as a writer by this time (age 34).
  • 1836: First putsch by Louis Napoleon, aged 28, fails.
  • 1840: A law is passed to bring the ashes of Napoleon I to France.
  • 1840: Second putsch of Louis Napoleon. He is imprisoned for life and becomes known as the candidate for the imperial succession.
  • 1841: Dumas lives in Florence and becomes acquainted with King Jérôme and his son, Napoléon.
  • 1841–44: The story is conceived and written.
  • 1844–46: The story is published in parts in a Parisian magazine.
  • 1846: The novel is published in full and becomes a European bestseller.
  • 1846: Louis Napoleon escapes from his prison.
  • 1848: French Second Republic. Louis Napoleon is elected its first president but Dumas does not vote for him.
  • 1857: Dumas publishes État civil du Comte de Monte-Cristo

Selected notable adaptations

Classic Comics, The Count of Monte Cristo,
Issue #3, published 1942.

Film and television

Hobart Bosworth (right) in The Count of Monte Cristo (1908)
Edmond Dantès (James O'Neill) loosens a stone before making his escape from the Château d'If in The Count of Monte Cristo (1913)

Literary adaptations

Sequels (books)

  • 1853: A Mão do finado, Alfredo Hogan
  • 1881: The Son of Monte Cristo, Jules Lermina (1839–1915). This novel was divided in the English translation into two books: The Wife of Monte Cristo and The Son of Monte Cristo). Both were published in English in New York, 1884, translated by Jacob Arbabanell (1852–1922). Lermina also penned Le Trésor de Monte-Cristo [The Treasure of Monte-Cristo] (1885)
  • 1884: Edmond Dantès: The Sequel to Alexander Dumas' Celebrated Novel The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmund Flagg (1815–1890). Published in English by T.B.Peterson and Bros. in 1886 (no translator credited).
  • 1884: Monte-Cristo's Daughter sequel to Alexander Dumas' great novel, the "Count of Monte-Cristo," and Conclusion of "Edmond Dantès", Edmund Flagg. Published in English by T.B.Peterson and Bros. in 1886 (no translator credited).
  • 1869: The Countess of Monte Cristo, Jean Charles Du Boys (1836-1873). Published in English by T.B.Peterson and Bros. in 1871 (no translator credited).
  • 1887: Monte Cristo and his wife, presumably by Jacob Ralph Abarbanell
  • 1902: Countess of Monte Cristo, by Abarbanell

Plays and musicals scripts

Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet wrote a set of four plays that collectively told the story of The Count of Monte Cristo: Monte Cristo Part I (1848); Monte Cristo Part II (1848); Le Comte de Morcerf (1851) and Villefort (1851). The first two plays were first performed at Dumas' own Théâtre Historique in February 1848, with the performance spread over two nights, each with a long duration (the first evening ran from 18:00 until 00:00). The play was also unsuccessfully performed at Drury Lane in London later that year where rioting erupted in protest at French companies performing in England.

The adaptation differs from the novel in many respects: several characters, such as Luigi Vampa, are excluded; Whereas the novel includes many different plot threads that are brought together at the conclusion, the third and fourth plays deal only with the fate of Mondego and Villefort respectively (Danglars fate is not featured at all); the play is the first to feature Dantès shouting "the world is mine!", an iconic line that would be used in many future adaptations.

Two English adaptations of the novel were published in 1868. The first, by Hailes Lacy, differs only slightly from Dumas' version with the main change being that Fernand Mondego is killed in a duel with the Count rather than committing suicide. Much more radical was the version by Charles Fechter, a notable French-Anglo actor. The play faithfully follows the first part of the novel, omits the Rome section and makes several sweeping changes to the third part, among the most significant being that Albert is actually the son of Dantès. The fates of the three main antagonists are also altered: Villefort, whose fate is dealt with quite early on in the play, kills himself after being foiled by The Count trying to kill Noirtier (Villefort's half brother in this version); Mondego kills himself after being confronted by Mercedes; Danglars is killed by The Count in a duel. The ending sees Dantès and Mercedes reunited and the character of Haydee is not featured at all. The play was first performed at the Adelphi in London in October 1868. The original duration was five hours, resulting in Fechter abridging the play, which, despite negative reviews, had a respectable sixteen-week run. Fechter moved to the United States in 1869 and Monte Cristo was chosen for the inaugural play at the opening of the Globe Theatre, Boston in 1870. Fechter last performed the role in 1878. In 1883 John Stetson, manager of the Booth Theatre and The Globe Theatre, wanted to revive the play and asked James O'Neill to perform the lead role. O'Neill, who had never seen Fechter perform, made the role his own and the play became a commercial, if not an artistic success. O'Neill made several abridgements to the play and eventually bought it from Stetson. A motion picture based on Fechter's play, with O'Neill in the title role, was released in 1913 but was not a huge success. O'Neill died in 1920, two years before a more successful motion picture, produced by Fox and partially based on Fechter's version, was released.

The Count of Monte Cristo is a musical based on the novel, with influences from the 2002 film adaptation of the book. The music is written by Frank Wildhorn and the lyrics and book are by Jack Murphy. It debuted in Switzerland in 2009.[23]

Audio adaptations

Newspaper advertisement for The Campbell Playhouse presentation of "The Count of Monte Cristo" (October 1, 1939)
  • 1938: The Mercury Theatre on the Air with Orson Welles (Dantés), Ray Collins (Abbé Faria), George Coulouris (Monsieur Morrel), Edgar Barrier (de Villefort), Eustace Wyatt (Caderousse), Paul Stewart (Paul Dantés) Sidney Smith (Mondego), Richard Wilson (the Officer), Virginia Welles (Mercédès); radio broadcast August 29, 1938.[24]:345
  • 1939: The Campbell Playhouse with Orson Welles (Dantés), Ray Collins (Caderousse), Everett Sloane (Abbé Faria), Frank Readick (Villefort), George Coulouris (Danglars), Edgar Barrier (Mondego), Richard Wilson (a Jailer), Agnes Moorehead (Mercédès); radio broadcast October 1, 1939.[24]:354
  • 1939: Robert Montgomery on the Lux Radio Theater (radio)
  • 1947–52: The Count of Monte Cristo radio program starring Carleton Young
  • 1960s: Paul Daneman for Tale Spinners For Children series (LP) UAC 11044
  • 1961: Louis Jourdan for Caedmon Records (LP)
  • 1964: Per Edström director (radio series in Sweden)[25]
  • 1987: Andrew Sachs on BBC Radio 4 (later BBC Radio 7 and BBC Radio 4 Extra)
  • 1989: Richard Matthews for Penguin Random House ( ISBN 978-141-591-221-8)
  • 2005: John Lee for Blackstone Audio
  • 2010: Bill Homewood for Naxos Audiobooks ( ISBN 978-962-634-134-6)
  • 2012: Iain Glen on BBC Radio 4 written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz and directed by Jeremy Mortimer and Sasha Yevtushenko, with Richard Johnson as Faria, Jane Lapotaire as the aged Haydee, Toby Jones as Danglars, Zubin Varla as Fernand, Paul Rhys as Villefort and Josette Simon as Mercedes.[26]
  • 2017:The Count of Monte Cristo musical adaption by Berry & Butler[27]

Video games

  • 1996: Jīdū Shān En Chóu Jì – Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (基督山恩仇記), a Chinese-language Nintendo Famicom game produced by Waixing Computer Science & Technology
  • 2014: Count of Monte-Cristo phone app (in English and Romanian). A puzzle game that comes with a level editor.
  • 2016: In Fate/Grand Order, Edmond Dantès was available for summoning as an Avenger-class servant. Type-Moon also produced an accompanying drama CD about Monte Cristo and various people from his past including Haydée and Abbe Faria.

Notes

  1. ↑ On p. 140 of the Pléiade edition the governor at the Château d'If is promoted to a position at the castle of Ham, which is the castle where Louis Napoleon was imprisoned 1840–46.
  2. ↑ Thomas Alexandre Dumas was also known as Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie.
  3. ↑ "État civil du Comte de Monte-Cristo" is included in the Pléiade edition (Paris, 1981) as an "annexe".

References

  1. ↑ Schopp, Claude, Genius of Life, p. 325
  2. ↑ "The Alexandre Dumas père Web Site". Georges.Retrieved 2006-04-06
  3. ↑ Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo 2004, Barnes & Noble Books, New York. ISBN 978-1-59308-333-5. p. xxv (TCMC)
  4. ↑ Etat civil du Comte de Monte-Cristo in Causeries, chapter IX (1857). See also the introduction of the Pléiade edition of Le comte de Monte-Cristo (1981)
  5. ↑ Le Diamant et la Vengeance in Mémoires tirés des Archives de la Police de Paris, vol. 5, chapter LXXIV, p. 197
  6. ↑ True Stories of Immortal Crimes, H. Ashton-Wolfe, 1931, E. P. Dutton & Co., pp. 16–17
  7. ↑ David Coward (ed), Oxford's World Classics, Dumas, Alexandre, The Count of Monte Cristo, p. xxv
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Munro, Douglas (1978). Alexandre Dumas Père: a bibliography of works translated into English to 1910. Garland Pub. pp. 91–92.
  9. ↑ "The Morning Post Front Page". The Morning Post. February 26, 1846. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  10. ↑ Dumas, Alexandre (1889). The Count of Monte Cristo. Little Brown and Company.
  11. ↑ Dumas, Alexandre (1889). The Count of Monte Cristo : or, The Adventures of Edmond Dantès. T.Y Crowell.
  12. ↑ Dumas, Alexandre (1955). The Count of Monte Cristo with an introduction by Richard Church. Collins.
  13. 1 2 TCMC p. xxiv
  14. ↑ TCMC p. 601
  15. ↑ TCMC pp. xxiv–xxv
  16. ↑ (in Russian)Shakespeare and Le Comte de Monte-Cristo | The electronic encyclopedia World of Shakespeare
  17. ↑ Lew Wallace (1906), Lew Wallace; an Autobiography p. 936 ISBN 1-142-04820-9
  18. ↑ (in French)The Stars My Destination, Pastiche Dumas site
  19. ↑ Fry says The Stars' Tennis Balls (2000) (entitled Revenge in the US, is "a straight steal, virtually identical in all but period and style to Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo"; most character names are anagrams or cryptic references from Dumas' work. See Fry, Stephen (2003) Revenge (Introduction) Random House Trade Paperbacks. ISBN 0-8129-6819-0
  20. ↑ Pierre Milza (2004) Napoléon III. Perrin.
  21. ↑ "Once Upon a Time books Legend of the Seeker star — exclusive". Entertainment Weekly. 20 July 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  22. ↑ "David Goyer to Direct 'Count of Monte Cristo' Remake (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. 18 March 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  23. ↑ Gans, Andrew.Borchert to Star in World Premiere of Wildhorn's Count of Monte Cristo" Archived 2009-04-25 at the Wayback Machine., playbill.com, February 18, 2009
  24. 1 2 Welles, Orson; Bogdanovich, Peter; Rosenbaum, Jonathan (1992). This is Orson Welles. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0-06-016616-9.
  25. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-04-20. Retrieved 2013-05-19.
  26. ↑ "BBC Radio 4 – Classic Serial, The Count of Monte Cristo, Episode 1". BBC. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  27. ↑ "Home". The Count Of Monte Cristo.

Further reading

  • Maurois, André (1957). The Titans, a three-generation biography of the Dumas. trans. by Gerard Hopkins. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers. OCLC 260126.
  • Schopp, Claude (1988). Alexandre Dumas, Genius of Life. trans. by A. J. Koch. New York, Toronto: Franklin Watts. ISBN 0-531-15093-3.
  • Salien, Jean-Marie. La subversion de l’orientalisme dans Le comte de Monte-Cristo d’Alexandre Dumas, Études françaises, vol. 36, n° 1, 2000, pp. 179–190
  • Toesca, Catherine (2002). Les sept Monte-Cristo d'Alexandre Dumas. Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose. ISBN 2-7068-1613-9.
  • Lenotre, G. La conquête et le règne in Revue des Deux Mondes, Jan/Feb 1919
  • Blaze de Bury, H. (1885). Alexandre Dumas : sa vie, son temps, son oeuvre
  • Maccinelli, Clara; Animato, Carlo (1991). "Il Conte di Montecristo" : Favola alchemica e massonica vendetta, Edizioni Mediterranee. ISBN 88-272-0791-0
  • Cécile Raynal, Promenade médico-pharmaceutique à travers l'œuvre d'Alexandre Dumas, in Revue d'histoire de la pharmacie, 2002, Volume 90, N. 333, pp. 111–146
  • Reiss, Tom,(2013), The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, ISBN 0307382478

Reis, Tom, The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo

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