Of all the stories ever written, The Count of Monte Cristo is my favorite. I think there is a strong possibility that Ian Flemming's secret agent, James Bond, might have been based to some degree on The Count of Monte Cristo. The man is a master at weaponry, languages, a master of disguise, travels to exotic lands, is an expert on poisons, knows everyone worth knowing from the circles of the elite to the dens of inequity, and, if the beautiful greek girl, Haydee, isn't a 'Bond girl', then I've never seen one.

Carly Simon's song, You're So Vain might very well have been written about the Count of Monte Cristo.

"Well, you're where you should be all of the time
And when you're not you're with
Some underworld spy or the wife of a close friend
Wife of a close friend,"

There are also strong elements of The Arabian Nights in this story. The Arabian Nights influenced many western writers. It introduced an element of the exotic and the wondrous that had been missing in western literature before Antoine Galland's translation was published in 1704. Once the Europeans had been exposed to such exotic literature, they quickly incorporated it into their own writings. Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo almost certainly borrows heavily from Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Edgar Allan Poe's story The Thousand-and-Second Night of Scheherazade is based on the central story of The Arabian Nights, and Robert Louis Stevenson's The Bottle Imp is very reminiscent of Aladdin and his Magic Lamp.

Today we think of the events related as happening a long time ago but the novel was written as a contemporary story taking place in the time in which Dumas lived. The locations he uses, such as restaurants and popular places to visit, were real places and very familiar to the French people of his time. The political events that occurred were the events that actually were taking place at the time that he wrote it. To the audience that first read this story it was not a historical romance, as we perceive it, but rather a tale of modern-day France.

Alexandre Dumas' father had been a general in Napoleon's army. Once Dumas had gained fame as a writer he became good friends with Napoleon's nephew. Once while they were travelling to Elba, the island where Napoleon had been kept in exile, Dumas saw another island and asked what the name of the island might be. It was the island of Monte Cristo. Dumas liked the name so much that he resolved to use it in a story. It was the chance sighting of a small island that was the genesis of the story.

The other influence for the story was the real life case of Francois Picaud. In 1807 Picaud was a young shoemaker who was engaged to marry Marguerite Vigoroux. Marguerite was good-looking and came with a dowry of 100,000 gold francs, so she was considered the most desirable girl in Marseilles. Picaud invited four men he that thought to be his friends to a cafe and told them of his coming marriage. One of the friends, Gilles Loupian, was secretly in love with Marguerite himself. He went to the authorities and accused Picaud of being an English spy, and he got the other three friends to go along with the story.

Picaud was completely innocent, but, none-the-less, he was secretly arrested and thrown into prison. He was not even told what crime he was charged with. Gilles Loupian and Marguerite Vigoroux were married shortly thereafter. During the seven years he spent in prison Picaud cared for an ill Italian priest. When the priest died he left Picaud his fortune which was hidden in Milan. When Picaud was freed in 1814 he began to travel under the assumed name, Joseph Lucher, and he started wearing numerous disguises. He spent the next ten years of his life seeking revenge against the men who had framed him.

Wearing a disguise he approached his old friend, Allut, and asked what ever happened to Francois Picaud. Allut told him the truth about what happened. Picaud destroyed Loupian's family and then killed Loupian. He stabbed another of the conspirators. He poisoned the third man.

By then Allut had started to figure out that his new friend was actually Francois Picaud. Allut turned the tables on Picaud. He captured Picaud and, rather than turn him over to the authorities, he locked Picaud in his cellar and attempted to starve him to death in an effort to get Picaud to reveal where his large fortune was hidden. But Picaud had great resolve and refused to talk. It was only when the man gouged out Picaud's eyes that he finally revealed where he hid his money. Allut got the money and fled to England.

The only name that you will see listed as 'author' on The Count of Monte Cristo is 'Alexandre Dumas' but Dumas published hundreds of works and often drew up only the basic outline of the story and had other writers who were part of his 'writing factory' fill in the rest. His most important collaborator was Auguste Maquet, a history professor. Maquet worked with him on The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, Queen Margot, The Queens Necklace, The Conspirators, and others. For The Count of Monte Cristo Maquet provided the chapter plans and did the historical research. Dumas squandered much of his fortune. He built a large estate called Monte Cristo. When Dumas died he was almost broke. Maquet, on the other hand, died a wealthy man.

The Count of Monte Cristo is the tale of Edmond Dantes, who is quite clearly based on the real character, Francois Picaud. At nineteen years of age Dantes was very blessed. He was engaged to marry the lovely Mercedes, a beautiful Catalonian girl. Catalonia was a former republic of northeastern Spain that bordered France on the north and the Mediterranean Sea on the east. Mercedes was based somewhat on the real character, Marguerite Vigoroux, although Mercedes was not from a wealthy family like Marguerite.

Mercedes cousin, Fernand Mondego, was wooing her with great vigor, but the girl only had eyes for Edmond Dantes. In Fernand we see the fictional counterpart of Gilles Loupian.

Even misfortune seemed to bring good luck to Edmond Dantes. Dantes served as first mate of the ship, Pharaon. When the captain died, Dantes temporarily took over command of the ship. Monsieur Morrel, the owner of the shipping company, planned to name Dantes as the new captain of the Pharaon. But there was a joker in the deck. Monsieur Danglars was the purser on the Pharaon and he felt that he deserved to be the new captain. He told Monsieur Morrel that Dantes wasted precious time on the voyage by stopping at the island of Elba. Before the captain died he had asked Dantes to deliver a letter to the Island of Elba. This simple act would lead to Dantes downfall.

Elba is a mountainous island off the coast of Italy where Napoleon Bonaparte was imprisoned after his fall from power. Napoleon had started out as a soldier, but he was a very able soldier and he rose through the ranks quickly. He led France to victory many times when defeat looked inevitable. When the French Revolution took place the Revolutionary Government of France brought complete chaos to the country. When Napoleon came to power he put an end to the turmoil and brought about order and democracy.

Outside of France, the royal families of Europe were horrified to see common people executing kings and queens during the French Revolution. They were not much happier later when a common soldier made himself emperor and starting putting democratic ideals into the law. It was the sort of trend that they didn't want spreading to their countries. Napoleon was continually fighting coalitions of European monarchies that wanted to see an end to French democracy. The French people loved Napoleon. Napoleon gave the French people order and freedom.

But when Napoleon met defeat on the battlefield the royalists in France regained power. Louis XVIII became king and Napoleon was exiled to the Island of Elba. Some say he was fed arsenic poison there in a slow attempt to keep him from returning to power. He is supposed to have written, 'Able was I ere I saw Elba' while imprisoned there. It reads the same backwards and forwards, which is rather clever, but why would a frenchman be playing around with English phrases?

The royal family of France and those loyal to that family feared that, if Napoleon ever returned to France, it might be the end of all the monarchies in Europe. At the time when Edmond Dantes visited Elba it was the center of intrigue. Many in France wanted to see the king overthrown and Napoleon returned to power.

When Dantes delivered the letter to Elba he was given another letter to deliver to a man in Paris. That letter would seal his fate.

Dumas was considered a romantic writer. The Romanticists were writers who stressed emotion over logic. Edmond Dantes was the perfect romantic hero at the beginning of this story. He had no political views, he thought well of very one, and had no desire for book-learning, or social advancement. All of this was about to change.

Dantes first visit, upon returning home was to his father. He had given his father 200 francs when he left and was very surprised to find his father starving when he came home. His father told him that a neighbor, Caderousse, had demanded payment of a debt that Edmond owed to him and that left him without enough money to buy food. One would expect Edmond to hate Caderousse for what he had done but Edmond was a kind and forgiving young man and he bore no animosity towards Caderousse.

Edmond Dantes had enemies, but he was such a kind, honest, good- hearted fellow that he didn't even realize it. When the ship's owner, Monsieur Morrel asked Dantes if Danglars had done a good job, Dantes spoke very highly of Danglars. The naive young man did not realize that Danglars was not speaking very well of him, and was, in fact, trying to undermine Dante's advancement. And then there was Fernand who obviously wanted Edmond out of the way so that he could have Mercedes.

There was a meeting between Danglars and Fernand where Dantes was much discussed. Monsieur Caderousse was there but he was too drunk to engage in the plotting that occurred. Not long after this the authorities received an anonymous letter stating that Dantes was conspiring to return Napoleon to the throne. It was not hard to guess who the rascals were that sent the letter.

Two betrothal parties took place. Dantes was announcing his engagement to Mercedes when he was arrested for treason and Monsieur Villefort, the deputy public prosecutor, was called way from his betrothal party where he had announced his engagement to the daughter of the Marquis of Saint-Meran to attend to the matter. The fact that both men were at exactly the same place in their lives (about to be married and launching promising careers) is very apt. It is a departure point. From here one of these men would rise and the other would fall, at least until we reach a turning point in the story.

At first Villefort was completely convinced of Dante's innocence. Dantes had no political views, one way or the other, and he told Villefort that the only views of any type he possessed where that he loved his father, he loved Mercedes, and that he respected his employer, Monsieur Morrel. Dantes admitted that Napoleon gave him a letter to deliver when he was on Elba but he swore that he did not know what was in the letter and that he'd never met or even heard of the man to whom the letter was addressed. He was only delivering the letter because, before the captain of his ship had died, he had asked Dantes to take care of some business on Elba for him. Villefort asked Dantes to name the recipient of the letter and Dantes readily replied that it was a Monsieur Noirtier.

Monsieur Noirtier was Villefort's father but Dantes did not know that. Villefort's father, Monsieur Noirtier, was a dedicated follower of Napoleon. He had even recently killed one of the king's generals. If it became known that the father of the deputy public prosecutor was plotting to return Napoleon to power, the royal family might not look too favorably upon Monsieur de Villefort and his career of government service might come to an abrupt end.

Villefort's relationship with his father was quite different than the relationship between Dantes and his father. Villefort did not even use the family name of Noirtier. He openly denounced his father's loyalty to Napoleon for his own social advancement. Villefort was also quite different from Dumas. Dumas' father had been a general in Napoleon's army and Dumas admired Napoleon because of the democratic ideals he espoused, so Dumas tends to portray those who opposed Napoleon as villains. Considering that they preferred a government where the wealthy and powerful led a life of privilege while the average man had no voice in government, they probably were villains or at least the fore-runners of today's Republican Party in the United States.

Villefort burned the letter. He believed that Dantes was an innocent pawn caught up in a game played by others. But Dantes could easily implicate Villefort's father; So Dantes needed to be silenced. He was send to jail. Edmond Dantes -

"passed through one of those long dark corridors which bring an involuntary shudder to all those who enter them."

Edmond Dantes was the epitome of innocence. He had not committed any crime and he was so incredibly innocent that he did not even suspect that those he trusted were conspiring to trample him to gain their own ends.

With Dantes out of the way, Villefort's secrets would be safe.

Danglars became the new captain of the Pharaon. And why shouldn't he be? Did not Edmond Dantes speak highly of him?

Fernand now had a clear field with Mercedes.

And Caderousse, who knew that Dantes was innocent, remained silent. Caderousse was envious of his neighbor and he was going to let him rot in prison.

For now these four men would profit from framing Edmond Dantes for a crime he did not commit but each of the four will be forced to pay a horrible price for this treachery before the story ends.

Edmond Dantes innocence would turn into bitterness and cynicism but that would only be one step along the way in the metamorphosis of the Count of Monte Cristo.

Once he was placed in his cell, Dantes could not sleep. He thought, as all condemned men think at first, that Villefort would return to free him and say that it had all been a mistake. It was not Villefort that came for him, but the jailers. They placed him in a police van and took him to the docks. He was put into a row boat and taken to Chateau d'If, the infamous prison, from which few men returned. The Chateau d'If was a former fortress that had been built by Francois I in 1524. It became a state prison in the 17th century.

At first he prayed to God for help. Eventually, he came to feel that either there was no God or that God had abandoned him and there is a certain similarity here to Matt 27:46 in the Bible where Christ asks, "Why hast thou forsaken me?". Dantes suffered and was imprisoned in a manner somewhat similar to the way Christ was tortured, crucified, and put into a tomb. God, as represented by Christ, was a kind and forgiving person, telling his followers to "turn the other cheek" and "let he who is without fault cast the first stone". But, after Christ is crucified and buried, he rises again "to judge the living and the dead". Likewise, Edmond Dantes would rise again also and he would judge everyone he came into contact with.

Dantes became indignant in the Chateau d'If. He demanded to see the governor. The guard there told him that his cell had formerly been occupied by a priest who also kept demanding to see the governor. The priest had gone mad and had to be sent to the dungeons. Dantes persisted with his demands and Dantes was sent to the dungeons.

"They have to put madmen with madmen."

While Dantes was undergoing his ordeal, Villefort visited Louis XVIII, the king of France. Villefort told the king he had been watching Edmond Dantes for quite some time and that Dantes had confessed to being involved in a plot to return Napoleon to the throne. At the very moment that Villefort was lying to the king about Dantes, word came that Napoleon had escaped from Elba and was marching towards Paris. The king promised Villefort that he would be rewarded for his loyalty. Villefort was given the post of public prosecutor in the city of Toulouse. Villefort had used the suffering of Edmond Dantes as a stepping stone in his path to higher office.

Napoleon did return to power, but his rein was brief. It lasted only one hundred days. During that time Dantes' father tried desperately to free his son. But when Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo and Louis XVIII returned to power, Dantes' father lost all hope and he died.

From this point forward Dantes would only be known by his prison number. His identity as an individual had been destroyed. This was the first identity change he went through. There would be more. The destruction of individual identity plays an important part in my novel, Intercourse With the Dead, where Jerry Hoyle undergoes a similar process.

For many years Dantes wallowed in despair in his lonely cell. But one night he heard the sounds of someone digging behind his wall. Dantes also began to dig. He dug into a tunnel that prisoner 27 had been working on for years. Unfortunately, due to a miscalculation, the tunnel led not to freedom, but to Dantes' dungeon.

Prisoner 27 was Abbe Faria, the mad priest that the jailer had spoken of. In reality Abbe Faria was a wise man. He was what might be termed a 'Renascence Man', a man who felt it important to gain all the knowledge he could about all things. He had written a book on rags detailing a plan to conquer and consolidate Italy. He used a bone for a pen, ashes for ink, and his own blood for red ink to highlight the most important parts.

Dantes told Faria of the events that lead to his imprisonment, Abbe Faria asked him to name the person to whom the Elba letter was addressed. When Dantes told him it was Monsieur Noirtier, he laughed and explained that Monsieur Noirtier was none other than Villefort's father.

Now Dantes realized why Villefort had burned the letter and why he had him locked away in a dungeon. He was filled with hatred and a desire for revenge. Faria also made Dantes realize that Fernand and Danglars were probably the authors of the letter that denounced him as traitor. But after Abbe Faria made Dantes realize the truth about what had happened to him, he regretted it because now the innocent young man who was so filled with goodness was filled with only hatred and a lust for revenge.

Many parts of the story seem to be based on events that are described in the Bible and that is part of what gives it such universal appeal. This particular scene is very similar to the scene where Adam, being totally innocent, ate the fruit from 'the tree of knowledge of good and evil' and was expelled from the Garden of Eden. While Dantes would gain much worldly wealth, he would not know happiness because he would become obsessed with rewarding good and punishing evil. He had been expelled from the world where he could just sit back and let God take care of such things and there would be no peace for him now.

Abbe Faria began to teach Dantes history, foreign languages, math, and other subjects. Dantes moved from having blind faith that God would help him to becoming firmly convinced that he must help himself. The only way out of his predicament was to gain wisdom and God-like knowledge. He could no longer be a simpleton who trusted his fate to God alone. Dumas is a romantic novelist, a writer who stresses emotion over logic, but he is realistic enough to know that knowledge is the ultimate weapon, and it is at this point in the story that the helpless Dantes begins to gain power.

I referred earlier to Dante metamorphosing into the Count of Monte Cristo and this is really the first step of the process. The happy, innocent Dantes dies here and the intelligent, vengeful Dantes is born. He has gone through a period of false hope, a period of despair, a period of resolute misery, a period of anger, and now, finally, he has reached a stage where he will grow in knowledge and power to become something very different than the man he was when he entered prison. This is a story of transformation.

One day Faria fell into a cataleptic seizure and nearly died from it. The seizure left him paralyzed in one arm and one leg. The incident made Faria decide to reveal a great secret to Dantes.

Faria told him a strange story involving Pope Alexander VI and his son, Caesar Borgia. The Borgias were famous for poisoning people that they did not like. When they needed money to carry out their plans to dominate Europe, they hatched a plan wherein the Pope would appoint two new cardinals. The richest men in Europe would be willing to pay dearly for such positions.

Caesar Spada was one of the two men chosen to become cardinals. After he had paid the Borgias a small fortune to become a cardinal, the Borgias invited him to dinner. He feared the worst. He knew the history of the family and he felt it would be a good precaution to make out his will before he dined with them. It was later reported that Monsieur Spada died from eating some bad mushrooms.

His estate was surprisingly small. It consisted of:

"my coffers and my books, including my gold-cornered breviary."

Coffers, of course, are strongboxes. A breviary is a prayer book. Throughout this story there will be many times when good fortune is portrayed as a gift from god.

The Borgias felt that a legacy so small wasn't even worth stealing. Spada's heirs were not anymore impressed with their inheritance than the Borgias were. Faria was secretary and close friend to the last of the Spada family line and eventually the breviary was bequeathed to him.

One night, when he awoke in a darkened room, Faria needed a piece of paper to start a fire in the fireplace. He grabbed a yellowed piece of paper from the breviary. When he ignited the paper he saw immediately that it was covered with invisible writing that could only be revealed by heat. That writing told him where to find a great treasure that been buried on the island of Monte Cristo. Faria now offered half of this treasure to Edmond Dantes.

Then Faria had another attack.

"Twisted limbs, swollen eyelids, bloody foam, a motionless body - this was all that remained of the intelligent being who had been there only a moment before."

To make matters even more intense, Dantes used a knife to pry the old man's teeth open and he poured medicine down his throat. There was a convulsion and Faria's eyes opened, he gasped, and then turned rigid in the final unescapable grip of death. Dantes tried to close the dead man's eyes several times and they always reopened.

The only personal relationship that Dantes still had came to an end. He was cut off from Mercedes, his father, and Monsieur Morrel. Now Abbe Faria was gone. From this point forward Dantes would become an unfeeling man, a man driven only by vengeance and logic, sort of a cross between Mr. Spock and Darkman.

When the jailers came to awaken Faria in the morning, Dantes hid in the tunnel that the two men had been digging. The jailers burned Faria's feet with hot irons to make sure that he was dead. When they were sure they put him in a burial sack and left. Dantes quickly dragged Faria's body though the tunnel and into his own cell and put it into his bed. Then he returned to Faria's cell and took his place in the sack.

The jailers had been told to take Faria's body to a priest, so that a mass might be said, but they found it easier to simply throw it into the sea. Dantes was a unique man in that he lead several lives; the carefree life of his youth when he looked at life through rose-colored glasses, the bitter hopeless life of his imprisonment, and now this plunge into the water would be a sort of baptism that would lead to a life where all things were once again possible. But what sort of a creature would this 'new' Edmond Dantes be?

This concept of leaving one life and being reborn would often be repeated in literature. Charles Dickens uses it 15 years later in 1859 in his story, A Tale of Two Cities. He even called the first part of the book, 'Recalled to Life'. Victor Hugo would use the concept in The Man Who Laughs. The theme would reoccur in movies, such as House of Wax and The Phantom of the Opera. Today's comic book characters, such 'DareDevil' and 'Darkman' are also reborn men seeking to right wrongs that were done to them. It is a powerful theme that we will undoubtedly see again in the future. There is an element of it in my novel, Intercourse With the Dead.

Once he was in the water, Dantes cut his way out of the sack and swam to a nearby island. When a boat passed, he swam to it. The boat that was passing was run by smugglers. They accepted Edmond and made him part of their crew. Edmond learned the fine points of smuggling and made the acquaintance of every scoundrel and felon up and down the coast. Dumas also mentions that he:

"learned all the masonic signs by which these semi-pirates recognized each other."

The masons, at the time, were viewed as a sinister, secret society. We see this to some degree in Poe's The Cask of Amontillado. The freemasons basically started out as a labor organization for stone- cutters back in the days when many churches were being build in Europe. Masons would travel from town to town building cathedrals. They had secret signs, by which they knew each other. There is something about belonging to a secret society that appeals to people and eventually nobility and businessmen were all becoming masons. Most American presidents were masons. The general feeling in Dumas' day was that to be mason was sort of like being a 'made man' in the mafia.

On one exploit the crew of Dantes' ship negotiated with another band of smugglers to exchange some goods on the island of Monte Cristo. Once they had arrived on the island Dantes pretended to fall on some rocks and injure himself. He said he was in too much pain to travel and asked that his companions leave him some rations and pick him up when they sailed back in that direction. The requests seemed strange, but his friends agreed to do what he had asked of them.

Once he was alone, he sought out the cave where the treasure was hidden, entered it, and began to dig. And then:

"Dantes picked up handfuls of diamonds, pearls, and rubies. As they fell through his fingers in glittering cascade, they gave forth the sound of hail beating against the window pains."

What a lovely description of wealth: wealth so abundant that it might have fallen from the sky in the same manner that God bestows hail upon the earth.

In 1704 Antoine Galland introduced Europeans to 264 stories in a 12 volume set known as The Arabian Nights. It was a collection of stories from Ancient Persia, India, and Arabia that had been handed down orally for hundreds of years and the effect they had on European literature was unmistakable. Poe's The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade was based on The Arabian Nights tales. The scene we have just discussed where Dantes found a vast treasure in a cave almost certainly was inspired by the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves in the The Arabian Nights.

Edmond looked upon this treasure, not only as a gift from God, but as a sign from God that his plan to seek vengeance was whole- heatedly endorsed by God. He now saw himself as God's instrument on earth for bringing about justice.

Dantes filled his pockets with some of the best stones. Then he hid the entrance to the cave and waited for his smuggler friends to return. One of the smugglers, Jacopo, had been very devoted to Dantes and when they reached port Dantes sold the stones and bought Jacopo a small ship. This was Dante's first act of justice. Jacopo was good to him and Jacopo was rewarded with something purchased with a small part of God's treasure. In return he asked Jacopo to go to Marseilles and seek news of his father and Mercedes. The news that Jacopo returned with was not good. Dantes' father was dead and Mercedes had vanished.

Almost all of Dantes human relationships had now come to an end. His father was dead. Abbe Faria was dead. Mercedes was gone. The one single thread of human attachment left was Monsieur Morrel, his last friend in the world, and, although this thread was a thin one it would prove to be his lifeline back to the world where happiness was a possible thing.

Dantes travelled to Genoa and bought a large ship. He ordered that a secret compartment be built into the cabin. Then he sailed his fine ship to Marseilles.

The scene now shifted to a small inn that was owned by Dantes' former neighbor, Caderousse. A priest, named Abbe Busoni, visited the inn and told Caderousse that he had recently administered the last rites to Edmond Dantes in prison and he had a reward for anyone who could tell him the true story of how Dantes came to be imprisoned.

Caderousse told of how Edmond's father was so saddened by his son's imprisonment that he refused to eat. Monsieur Morrel and Mercedes visited the old man and did what they could to help him. Monsieur Morrel even left a red silk purse full of gold on the old man's mantel but he refused to take it. Eventually Dantes' father died.

Caderousse admitted to the priest that he was with Fernand and Danglars when they wrote the letter that denounced Edmond as a traitor. He said that he had tried to stop them but he was drunk and his protests didn't amount to much.

Monsieur Morrel did everything he could to free Dantes but his efforts failed. All of the ships Morrel's company owned, except for the Pharaon, had been lost at sea and Morrel was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Danglars had married a wealthy woman and made millions from investing. He was now the Baron Danglars.

Fernand was drafted into the army. He rose in rank quickly, although not always honestly. He was now the Count Morcerf. Eighteen months after Dantes had been imprisoned Mercedes married Fernand in the same church where she and Dantes had planned to wed. Madame Mercedes Morcerf and her husband had a son that they named Albert.

Caderousse remarked that evil people seemed to fare better than good ones but the priest, who was Dantes in disguise, told him that God always remembered and that sooner or later justice was dispensed. To show that he meant what he said, the priest gave Caderousse a large diamond. Dantes believed, at that time, that Caderousse was a true friend (a view he would change later) and for the second time he plays God by rewarding a person he believes to be good. But, while the act of giving Caderousse the diamond seems to be an act of generosity, Edmond Dantes has taken another step towards inflicting his vengeance on those who wronged him. The statements that Dantes made seemed very judgmental and that might be expected from a priest, but Dantes was doing more than just dressing up and playing a role; He really believed himself to be the agent of God.

This scene is very similar to the real-life incident were Francois Picaud visited his old friend, Allut, and learned the truth about why he was imprisoned.

The scene then shifted to Marseilles, where an Englishman, Lord Wilmore, who claimed to be the head clerk for a firm called Thompson and French presented himself to Monsieur de Boville, the Chief Inspector of Prisons. Monsieur de Boville held promissory notes from Monsieur Morrel, the ship owner that Dantes had worked for. The Englishman bought the notes from him and paid face value for these notes that the Inspector of Prisons thought were worthless.

Monsieur de Boville also happened to mention to him the case of Edmond Dantes, a prisoner who had drown while attempting to escape. Boville allowed the Englishman to look at the records concerning Dantes' case. The Englishman, who was, of course, Dantes, used the opportunity to steal the letter denouncing Dantes as a traitor.

Next the Englishman paid a visit to Monsieur Morrel to let him know that Thompson and French had purchased his notes. Morrel told him quite frankly that, if his last ship, the Pharaon, made it back to port safely, he could pay the debts, but if it was lost at sea like his other vessels he would be bankrupt.

Almost as soon as Monsieur Morrel made this statement news came that the Pharaon had sank. The Englishman was undaunted by this news and told Morrel that he would give him three months to pay the bills.

Morrel then went to see Danglars, who owed him a favor. But, even though Danglars was now immensely wealthy, he refused to loan Morrel the money he needed to stay in business.

When the three-month time period came to an end Morrel was still not in a position to pay his debts and Julie and Maximilien, Morrel's children, began to worry about their father's mental state. It was clear that Morrel was contemplating suicide. Then an Italian gentleman arrived unexpectedly and gave Julie a note. It requested her to go to a certain address and take the red silk purse from the mantel of the fireplace there and bring it to her father. It was signed by 'Sinbad the Sailor'. Here we have still another reference to The Arabian Nights. The red purse is, of course, the same red purse that Morrel had left for Dantes' father. There are those who suggest that, in using the red silk purse, Dantes was attempting to gain credit for his act of kindness, but I think, considering that this book in many ways is a story of man's relationship to God, that this is more likely based on part of the Bible, namely The Book of Matthew 25:31-40

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

And before him shall be gathered all nations:

And he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats:

And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

For I was hungry, and you gave me food: I was thirsty, and you gave me drink: I was a stranger, and you took me in:

Naked, and you clothed me: I was sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came unto me.

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry, and fed you? or thirsty, and gave you drink?

When did we see you a stranger, and took you in? or naked, and clothed you?

Or when did we see you sick, or in prison, and came unto you?

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Truthfully I say unto you, Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brothers, you have done it unto me.

The parts about visiting the sick and feeding the hungry seem to match what Morrel did for Dantes' father to a tee and the part about being in prison matches Morrel's efforts to free Edmond when he was in prison. Dantes' use of the red silk purse is a physical application of the philosophy contained in this passage.

Morrel had told his son, Maximilien, that he planned to end his life and Maximilien understood that his father's honor was more important to him than his life. It is a concept that is probably lost on today's readers. But before Morrel could complete his plans, Julie arrived with the red silk purse. It contained Morrel's notes and they had all been marked 'paid'. The purse also contained a large diamond and a note explaining that the diamond was Julie's dowry.

Many years pass and we are not told of what Edmond Dantes, or the Count of Monte Cristo, as he now called himself, had been doing, although there an inference that he had traveled the world and engaged in many exciting adventures. We next encountered him when he made his presence known in Rome at Carnival time. The scene reminds one to some degree of the James Bond stories; exotic locales, exciting activities transpiring in the background. It is very appropriate that it is the time of Carnival, what the French would call 'Mardi Grau'.

The French refer to the celebration as 'Mardi Grau' because that means 'Final Tuesday', or 'Fat Tuesday', as some people refer to it. It is the celebration that precedes 'lent' and is celebrated in most catholic countries. In the case of our story, it is being celebrated in Italy. Lent is a period of 40 days that precedes Easter. The basic order of events is Carnival, then Lent, starting on Ash Wednesday and ending on Good Friday, and, finally, Easter. Lent commemorates the time that Christ spent alone in the desert following his baptism by John the Baptist. He spent 40 days there. Supposedly, he fasted during this time and towards the end Satan tempted him three times. Some say that this is comparable to Adam's temptation in the Garden of Eden, except that where Adam gave in to temptation, Christ resisted it and remained faithful to God's commands.

It is traditional for Catholics to give up something they like for lent, smoking, candy, a favorite food, etc. This is a time to rise above human desires and devote one's self to a higher purpose. We are entering into a part of the story where Dantes will have to do exactly that. We can also see similarities to Christ's torture and crucifixion on a false charge and his resurrection from the dead on Easter Sunday.

But before the time of fasting there is Carnival, a time to party and get your kicks in before lent begins. Edmond will soon give up the most basic human pleasures, love, friendship, and companionship, in order to carry out what he believes to be God's plan. But first we're going to party at Carnival.

Baron Franz d'Epinay and Viscount Albert de Morcerf, son of Fernand and Mercedes Morcerf, were vacationing in Rome at the time of carnival. When the two young men tried to rent a carriage they found that every carriage in Rome was engaged. Luckily for them the Count of Monte Cristo had heard of their plight. He gladly gave them the loan of his carriage. He also arranged choice seats for an execution that was to take place before the carnival began.

Two men were to have been executed. One, Peppino, was reprieved. This was because the Count of Monte Cristo believed him to be innocent of the crime he was charged with and he bought his freedom.

After the executioner cut the throat of the remaining man, he repeatedly pressed his foot down on the man's chest, causing torrents of blood to spurt from the man's neck. The crowd enjoyed this and they applauded wildly. Monte Cristo also seemed to take delight in seeing vengeance acted out. There are those who would not classify Dumas as a horror author. Personally, I consider this to be the most horrifying piece of writing ever composed.

When Franz and Albert went riding in the Count's carriage they passed a carriage full of beautiful women. Albert threw a bouquet of flowers to one of the women and the next time the carriages passed each other the woman threw a bouquet of violets to Albert. Later Albert received a note from the lady asking him to meet her.

Albert went to the rendezvous in good spirits but when he failed to return Franz became concerned. Then Franz was informed that Albert had been captured by the famous Italian bandit, Luigi Vampa. A ransom was demanded for his return. The girl in the carriage had been Vampa's mistress.

Franz went to the Count for advice. He had come to the right person. The Count and Luigi Vampa were old friends. Vampa had taken Albert to the Catacombs of Saint Sebastian and was holding him prisoner there. It is very apt that Dumas should choose this location. The Catacombs of Saint Sebastian is a well known religious site that is still visited today. The Apostles Peter and Paul are supposed to be buried there. But it is the story of Saint Sebastian, himself, that fits in particularly well.

Saint Sebastian was a Roman soldier who gave comfort to Christians about to be put to death. When the emperor Diocletian found out that Sebastian was a Christian he had archers fire arrows into him. Sebastian was presumed to be dead. A woman named Irene came to take his body for burial and found that he was still alive. She nursed him back to health. When he regained his strength Sebastian confronted Diocletian again and this time Diocletian had him beaten to death. So once more we have a tie-in with someone who is thought to be dead returning to life, just as Edmond Dantes had done.

Out of friendship for the Count of Monte Cristo, Luigi Vampa gladly freed Albert without charge. The result was that the son of Fernand Morcerf now owed the Count of Monte Cristo his life. In return the Count asked that Albert introduce him to the cream of Parisian society. Albert readily agreed.

And, when the Count came to Paris, Albert kept his word. He introduced the Count of Monte Cristo to the Count of Chateau Renaud, a diplomat, Monsieur Lucien Debray, a secretary to a cabinet minister, Beauchamp, a journalist, and Maximilien Morrel, the son of Dantes former employer, who was now an officer in the army.

Everyone was quite intrigued when the Count told them that he went to sleep by taking pills that were a mixture of opium and hashish. The fascination with achieving altered states through drug use was not limited to the 1960's. When the Count showed them the pills they were in a case made from a large hollowed out emerald. The Count told them that he had two others like it, but he gave one to the Grand Seigneur (a sort of feudal lord) who granted a woman her freedom in return and the other to the Pope who spared a man's life in return. Albert correctly guessed that the man's whose life was spared was Peppino, the second prisoner who was to have been executed in Rome.

The mention and acceptance of drug use is not unusual for this time period. The Romantic writers emphasized emotion over logic and drugs, even though physically and psychologically harmful, produced deep felt emotions. The Count was a man who possessed every material thing that could be desired but he could not escape the horrors of his past except through the use of drugs.

The Count mentioned to his new friends that he had a mistress, a slave that he bought in Constantinople who spoke only Greek.

In many ways Monte Cristo was the Hugh Hefner of his day. He eat only the finest foods, wore only the best clothes, had all the latest gadgets and novelties, had travelled to the most intriguing places, knew everyone from the Pope on down, and was continually surrounded by beautiful, exotic women. To be invited to one of his parties was like being invited to the Playboy Mansion. Yet Monte Cristo seemed somewhat bored with all he had. Those who observed him seem to wonder what it was that he really desired in life.

Albert mentioned that he would probably soon be engaged to Eugenie Danglars, the daughter of Baron Danglars. The Count mentioned that he had not yet met the Baron Danglars, but it was likely that they would meet soon because he had an account with him arranged through the firm of Thomson and French, his bankers in Rome. Upon hearing this, Maximilien Morrel brought up the fact that his father's shipping company was saved from bankruptcy by Thompson and French.

After Albert's friends left, he showed the Count around his house. Monte Cristo displayed his knowledge of art by identifying the painters of the pictures on his walls without looking at the signatures. But when he came to a painting of Mercedes staring out at the sea as if she was waiting for a sailor to return to her, he paused. Albert said that his mother kept the picture at his house because his father detested it.

Albert introduced the Count to his parents. Mercedes turned quite pale when she saw him. After the Count left she asked her son many questions about him. It is clear that Mercedes was the one person who still recognized Edmond Dantes. She warned her son to be careful of him. The fact that only Mercedes recognized Edmond Dantes along with the picture of her looking out at the sea for her lost love (whom she thought was dead) indicate that Mercedes love for Edmond was true and that, even though she married Fernand Mondego, she still loved Dantes.

The Count bought a house that was formerly owned by the Marques de Saint Meran. The Marques' daughter had married Monsieur de Villefort, but the girl died shortly after the wedding. The Count's Corsician servant, Bertuccio, found the house unnerving. Years ago, when Bertuccio's brother was murdered, Villefort was the public prosecutor. Villefort refused to prosecute the people who had committed the crime. Being a Corsican, Bertuccio sworn vendetta against Villefort. The tradition of vendetta, or settling a score against an enemy and his family, is covered more fully in Dumas' novel, The Corsican Brothers.

One night, when Villefort was burying a small box in his garden, Bertuccio attacked him with a knife. He believed he had killed Villefort. He then turned his attention to the buried box, which he thought must surely hold valuables. Much to his surprise, it held an infant. The child's face was purple, as though someone had tried to smother it to death, but it was alive. Bertuccio took the child with him and, with his sister's help, they raised it. They named the boy Benedetto. But the child grew up with a total lack of morality and was a great disappointment to his adopted parents.

One day, while Bertuccio was away, Benedetto and some of his friends demanded that Bertuccio's sister give them all the money in the house. When she refused, they held her feet in the fireplace, but in the process, her dress caught fire and she was burned so badly that she died. Bertuccio had not seen Benedetto since that time.

Bertuccio, who was involved in smuggling for many years, also told the Count of a strange incident that occurred when he was hiding out at the inn owned by Monsieur Caderousse. A diamond merchant came to visit Caderousse and his wife to appraise a diamond that Caderousse had been given by a priest. Caderousse murdered the man, kept the diamond, and took the money that the diamond merchant had brought with him to buy the gem. In the struggle Caderousse's wife was killed. Bertuccio was almost blamed the two murders. Luckily, the Abbe Bussoni corroborated his story by saying that a diamond that had been given to him by a prisoner named Edmond Dantes and passed on to Caderousse. Caderousse was captured and he confessed his crime. The Abbe Busoni sent Bertuccio to the Count to become a servant. The Abbe Busoni was, of course, Monte Cristo in disguise.

The next day Baron Danglars stopped by to visit the Count but he was told by one of the Count's servants that the Count was too busy to see him. The Count observed Danglars through the window and admired the fine set of horses that pulled his carriage. He ordered Bertuccio to go and buy them. He also ordered him to purchase an estate on the sea coast where he could dock his ship.

The Count then went to visit Baron Danglars. Danglars had received a letter from the firm of Thomson and French instructing his firm to offer unlimited credit to the Count. When Madame Danglars saw that the Count now owned her prize horses she was greatly distressed. The Count graciously gave them back to her as a gift and earned the gratitude of both husband and wife.

The next day the Count told his servant, Ali, that a runaway carriage would soon pass by. Ali was to lasso the horses and stop the carriage in front the Count's estate. The Count had arranged for the horses to become frenzied and Ali did as he was instructed. It was Madame Danglars' carriage, but it was driven by Madame Heloise de Villefort, wife of Monsieur Villefort. The Count administered some medicine to her son, who was quite shaken by the incident, and then send her home in his own carriage. She was grateful to him for rescuing her.

It was now Monsieur Villefort's turn to pay a visit on the Count. Monte Cristo greeted him coldly and rudely. The Count did not show him the great respect that he showed to other people. In fact, he spoke in a strange philosophical manner.

"I want to be Providence, for the greatest, the most beautiful and sublime thing I know of in this world is to reward and punish."

Next the Count went to visit Haydee, the Greek girl he had bought out of slavery. The section of the house that Haydee lived in was decorated in Oriental style and seems to be very reminiscent of The Arabian Nights. It was clear that Haydee, who was about twenty, loved the Count, but the Count, who was much older than her, told her that, now that she was in France, she was free and that she should find a younger man.

Next the Count paid a visit to Maximilien Morrel and met his sister, Julie, and her husband Emmanuel. When the Count mentioned that he dealt with the banking firm of Thomson and French of Rome, Julie told him that it was a man from Thomson and French that saved her father's shipping company from bankruptcy. Her father had passed away but before he died he said that he felt sure that the money that saved his firm had come from Edmond Dantes. When the Count heard this he turned quite pale.

Throughout the story Monte Cristo is a man without emotion. The sole exception to this is when he interacts with the Morrel family. The devotion of his former employer still touches his heart and, while he tries to be passionless, human feelings still creep into his soul when he sees these people. The Count is also surprised to find that these people who are not wealthy or powerful are happy with their lives. It makes him wonder to some degree if it might not be possible for him to be happy with his life.

The Count's basic belief system seems to be founded on the idea that human beings are greedy self-centered creatures without compassion or gratitude but the Morrels contradict this theory and the Count finds himself re-evaluating his whole concept of life because of it.

The next item on the Count's agenda was a visit to Madame Villefort. There were two children in the Villefort household; Valentine, Monsieur Villefort's daughter by his first marriage was in her late teens, and Edouard, Madame Villefort's son by a previous marriage, who was much younger. When the conversation turned to medicines and poisons, the Count was quite surprised to find out that the lady was quite familiar with poisons, particularly brucine. She asked if the medicine that the Count had administered to her son after the runaway carriage incident was brucine and if it would help her fainting spells. The Count said that it would and he gave her some, but he sternly warned her to only take it in small portions because in large doses it was poisonous.

Brucine is made from the seeds of the strychnos tree which grows in Sri Lanka, India, and Northern Australia. The seeds contain strychnine as well as brucine. The fact that the Count would have such a chemical is more evidence of his travels around the world. Brucine is not used as medicine today because in large doses it causes convulsions and death.

Another member of the household was Monsieur Noirtier. Although Monsieur Noirtier was Villefort's father, Villefort did not use his name because of his father's pro-Napoleon views. The man to whom Edmond Dantes was to deliver the infamous letter to was now an invalid.

One day the Count spoke to Albert de Morcerf and Lucien Debray about Albert's upcoming engagement to Mademoiselle Danglars. Albert was not too keen on the idea. The Count promised that he would help Albert avoid the marriage if he could. Then the Count and Lucien Debray discussed Monsieur Danglars recent profits in the stock market. Debray told the Count that it was actually Madame Danglars who gambled in the stock market. Her husband just sort of went along for the ride. Monte Cristo found it quite interesting that Debray was secretary to an important government minister. Albert did not grasp the importance of this fact, but it was clear that the Count thought that Debray was using his position to leak stock tips to Madame Danglars. Shades of Martha Stewart.

Monte Cristo's next endeavor was to reunite Major Bartolomeo Cavalcanti, a very wealthy Italian nobleman, with his long lost son, the Viscount Andrea Cavalcanti. Major Cavalcanti was sent to the Count by Abbe Busoni. The viscount was sent by Sinbad the Sailor. The Count supplied both men with money, papers, and wardrobes. Both of these gentlemen were complete frauds. Yet, when the two con artists met each other they went along with the ruse and pretended to be a father and son that had been reunited. Each man hoped that the other would not expose him. The Count, of course, knew that both men were lying because in other guises he was Abbe Busoni and Sinbad the Sailor. He invited both men to a party that he was going to give.

Characters in this story often change their names which sometimes makes it hard to remember who used to be who. In most cases the name change also signifies a change of personality or social status. So just for a quick review here's who's who -

Edmond Dantes became the Count of Monte Cristo and, when the need presented itself, he would dawn disguises to become the Abbe Busoni, Lord Wilmore, or Sinbad the Sailor.

Fernand Mondego became the Count de Morcerf.

Mercedes became Madame de Morcerf.

Monsieur Danglars became Baron Danglars.

And Benedetto became Andrea Cavalcanti.

Now we deal with the problems of Maximilien Morrel. Maximilien waited outside the wall that surrounded Monsieur de Villefort's house so that he could rendezvous with Villefort's daughter, Valentine. But Valentine was busy complaining to Eugenie, the daughter of Monsieur Danglars, that her father, Monsieur Villefort, was trying to marry her off to Franz d' Epinay. Valentine loved Maximilien and certainly did not want to marry Epinay. Eugenie was promised to Albert de Morcerf, but she had no desire to go through with the marriage. In those days the father decided who the daughter would marry and unscrupulous fathers often thought more about increasing their family's wealth and prestige than about their daughter's happiness.

Valentine's step-mother was against the marriage because it would cause Valentine to come into money while Madame Villefort's son by her first marriage, Edouard, would not have the same advantages. This upset Madame Villefort greatly.

Monsieur Noirtier, the man to whom Dantes was to the deliver the letter regarding Napoleon, was now very old and feeble. A stroke had left him barely able move and he could not speak. He communicated with his family by blinking his eyes - once for 'yes', multiple times for 'no'. If the message he wished to convey was more complicated, then Valentine would go through the alphabet until he stopped her and then through the dictionary. Through these methods he made it very clear that he intended to leave his entire fortune to Valentine.

In earlier years Noirtier had been a devoted Bonapartist. In 1815 he assassinated a certain Monsieur d'Epinay, who was a Royalist. No one, except his son, Monsieur Villefort, knew that he was guilty of this act. Now Monsieur Villefort and his wife told Noirtier that Valentine was going to be promised in marriage to Franz d'Epinay, the son of the man Noirtier killed and that, after the wedding, Noirtier would be sent to live with them. Noirtier had no desire to live in the house of his enemy.

Valentine informed her grandfather that she did not want to marry Franz and Noirtier through eye signals told her to send for a notary. When the notary arrived Noirtier changed his will and disinherited Valentine. He still loved the girl, but he did not approve of Franz as a husband for her.

At about this time the Count of Monte Cristo arrived. He invited the Villeforts to a party at his new residence, which turned out to be a house that was formerly owned by Monsieur Villefort's father- in-law. Madame Villefort remarked that her husband was loath to put foot in the place when he owned it, but they agree to attend the party. Before he left, the Count casually mentioned that he had taken an interest in telegraphy and that he planned to visit a few telegraph offices when he left.

The next day Debray notified Madame Danglars that the deposed King of Spain had escaped and was attempting to regain the throne. He told her to have her husband sell all his Spanish bonds. But that evening, after Danglars had sold his Spanish bonds at a great loss, news came that the reports of the King's escape were false. It seemed that someone at one of the telegraph offices had made a serious mistake in a message that was send. Danglars had lost a fortune.

At the Count's party Bertuccio was quite surprised to see Madame Danglars, the pregnant woman he used to see with Monsieur Villefort at the house where the party was taking place. He was even more shocked to see Villefort, himself, because he thought he had killed the man.

Major Cavalcanti and his son were there being introduced as the cream of Italian society but Bertuccio quickly recognized Andrea Cavalcanti as Benedetto, the adopted son who had murdered his sister.

After dinner the guests had coffee in the garden. When the Count told them that some of his staff had found the remains of a wooden box and the skeleton of a baby while digging in the garden, Monsieur Villefort and Madame Danglars became quite unnerved. Major Cavalcanti asked what the penalty was for murdering a baby in France and the Count informed him that the murderer would be beheaded. Chills ran down the spines of the former lovers.

This scene bears a certain resemblance to the scene Shakespeare's Hamlet where Hamlet stages a play for his uncle that shows a man being murdered in the same way that his father was murdered. The uncle, being the murderer, is just as upset as Villefort was. As Hamlet put it -

'The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.'

Monte Cristo was using the same strategy.

When Benedetto left the party he was accosted by Caderousse. Caderousse had been in prison with him but the two of them had escaped by filing off their chains with a file provided by Lord Wilmore, who, of course was Monte Cristo in disguise. Now he threatened to reveal Benedetto's real identity if he did not give him a 150 francs a month. Benedetto agreed to pay him.

When Debray left the party he visited Madame Danglars and the fact that Madame Danglars was wearing only a negligee makes the relationship between them quite obvious. When Monsieur Danglars arrived and asked Debray to leave, Madame Danglars was shocked. The two of them had pursued love affairs outside of their marriage for years and, while each knew what the other was doing, neither spoke a word of objection. But now Debray's advice to Madame Danglars about the Spanish bonds had cost her husband 700,000 francs and this was a matter that took precedence over fooling around. Danglars demanded that she either pay back the amount he lost or stop seeing the man who caused him to lose it. He also told his wife that he was aware of lovers that she had in the past, including Monsieur Villefort.

The next day Danglars visited the Count and made inquiries regarding Andrea Cavalcanti. Danglars daughter, Eugenie, was promised in marriage to Albert de Morcerf but Danglars was beginning to think that Andrea would be a better catch because he had more money. Naturally, there would have to be a good reason to break the existing engagement. Danglars mentioned that, before Fernand Mondego became the Count de Morcerf, he was involved in some sort of scandal in Greece. He resolved to dig into the matter and perhaps find a reason to break his daughter's engagement. Danglar's lust for money was so strong that he was willing to trade his daughter for more wealth.

It was at this point that a series of strange deaths in the Villefort household began. The first was Monsieur Saint Meran, the father of Villefort's first wife. His death was followed almost immediately by the death of Madame Saint Meran. As Maximilien hid in the garden of the Villefort house waiting to see Valentine, he overheard Villefort's doctor declaring that the deaths were not natural. He was telling Monsieur Villefort that they were the result of poisoning by brucine. Brucine was regularly given to Monsieur Noirtier in small doses as a medicine but the amount necessary to kill a person would have had to have been administered on purpose.

When Valentine finally arrived in the garden, she took Maximilien to see her grandfather, Monsieur Noirtier. Noirtier told them through eye signals that he would see to it that Valentine did not marry Epinay. When the time came to announce the engagement Noirtier kept his word. He revealed that it was he who had murdered Epinay's father years ago. Noirtier had killed the man in a duel and then had thrown his body in the river. Under the circumstances, Epinay was compelled to cancel his engagement to Valentine. Noirtier revised his will a second time, reinstating Valentine as his sole heir.

The day after this happened Noirtier's servant, Barrois, drank a glass of lemonade that was meant for Monsieur Noirtier and quickly died. The doctor determined that the lemonade had been laced with brucine. Valentine was the one who had brought Monsieur Noirtier the lemonade. Valentine was also heir to his fortune. And now Valentine was the chief suspect in the murders that had taken place.

Elsewhere, Monsieur Caderousse was questioning Benedetto about the Count of Monte Cristo's house. The questions that Caderousse asked were of such a nature that Benedetto was quite sure that Caderousse was planning to rob the Count's house. Benedetto sent the Count a note warning that his house was about to be robbed.

When Caderousse entered the Count's house, believing it to be empty, he found the Count, disguised as the Abbe Busoni, waiting for him. Caderousse pulled a knife and attempted to stab him but the Count had taken the precaution of wearing a chain-mail vest beneath his outer garments. He quickly subdued Caderousse and made him sign a document denouncing Andrea Cavalcanti as the criminal Benedetto. It was addressed to Monsieur Danglars. As Danglars daughter was now engaged to marry Andrea, it was certain that this paper would put an end to the wedding plans. Abbe Busoni then allowed Caderousse to leave.

But Caderousse did not go far. As he left the Count's house, he was attacked and stabbed by Benedetto. The Abbe Busoni heard the cries and sent for a doctor but Caderousse's wounds were mortal. As Caderousse laid dying he signed a statement declaring that it was Benedetto who had killed him.

As Caderousse died he had a long discussion with Abbe Busoni about God and it went to the central theme of the story. Busoni pointed out that time and time again God had lifted Caderousse out of poverty and saved him from bad situations. Caderousse had been given a valuable diamond, been saved from the guillotine after committing murder, had been allowed to escape from prison, and had been given a generous sum of money by Benedetto. But each time he received a blessing he wanted more and his greed continually proved to be his undoing.

Caderousse said that he did not believe in God and that his downfalls were merely the result of chance. At this point Edmond Dantes removed his wig and revealed that he was Abbe Busoni, The Count of Monte Cristo, and Lord Wilmore. It was not chance that continually saved Caderousse; It was Edmond Dantes. Throughout the conversation Dantes always spoke of himself as an agent of God.

"God gives me strength to subdue wild beasts like you."

"If I had found you humble and repentant I might have saved your life, but I found you haughty and bloodthirsty and I allowed God's will to be done."

"You don't believe in God but you have just been stuck down by God."

With his last breath Caderousse states that he now believed in God. Dantes' cryptic reply was, "One." His vengeance was complete against one of the men who had wronged him. Caderousse was the anti-thesis, the complete opposite, of Julie and Emmanuel. Where the two young people in love with each were satisfied with a humble existence, Caderousse was never satisfied and it lead to his downfall. Caderousse was one of those guys who wakes up in the morning and says, 'Who can I take advantage of today?' and Monte Cristo turned the tables on him by taking advantage of him.

The scene where Caderousse dies is unlike the scene one might expect when a priest is with a dying man. Abbe Busoni did not offer comfort to the dying man. It was more like Caderousse was meeting Saint Peter at the golden gates and being asked to give an accounting of his life and then being told that he would not be allowed to enter. If heaven is the state of eternal happiness than Caderousse, who was never able to find satisfaction in this world, would not be allowed to know it in the next. Only his admission that God exists offered some hope for his salvation. Dumas is having us examine the most fundamental of beliefs, why we exist, what the purpose of life is, how we should treat others, and in what manner we should live our lives. He asks if there is a higher power that we must answer to and, in this novel, the resounding answer is 'yes'.

A monumental twist is coming and, just as Caderousse had to give an accounting of his life and evaluate himself, Monte Cristo will find himself in the same situation.

The relationship between Albert and Monte Cristo is one of the most interesting in the story. At first Monte Cristo had an aversion towards Albert. This was the son that would have been his if he would have married Mercedes, but instead Albert is product of her marriage to his worst enemy. Yet Albert's personality was much more similar to Mercedes' personality than to that of his father's, so Monte Cristo began to see qualities in Albert that he had formerly admired in Mercedes. In some ways I think Monte Cristo had started to think of Albert as his own son (a complete change of heart) but always with an air of regret that he was the son of his enemy.

One day the Count invited Albert de Morcerf to vacation with him in Normandy. Albert and the Count were only there a short time when a servant brought news that he must return home. A newspaper story had been published saying that Albert's father, the Count de Morcerf, had surrendered the castles of Ali Pasha to the Turks back in the days when he was Fernand Mondego, a French officer. He had betrayed his country and his benefactor. Albert rushed home immediately. It might be argued that the Count took Albert to Normandy to spare him the grief of learning the truth about his father.

An investigation was called for, supposedly to clear the Count de Morcerf of these awful charges. The Count claimed that Ali Pasha had sent him on a secret mission and that when he returned he found the fortifications overrun, Ali pasha dead, and Ali Pasha's favorite mistress and his daughter missing. This explanation was generally accepted until a surprise witness showed up.

Haydee, Ali Pasha's daughter, declared that the Count de Morcerf had betrayed her father and murdered him and then sold her and her mother into slavery. She remained a slave until the Count of Monte Cristo bought her and her mother and freed them. And she had papers to prove every word she said.

Albert swore to kill the man who had exposed his father. He had heard that Monsieur Danglars had been making inquiries into what happened in Yanina, but when Albert confronted Danglars, Danglars told him that it was the Count of Monte Cristo who suggested that he do it.

Albert went to the Count's box at the opera, insulted him, and challenged him to a duel. The Count accepted. In some ways Albert had become a young Monte Cristo, a man who saw the destruction of his father and swore vengeance on those responsible. Many times in the story it seems that Dantes' hatred is driven more by the fact that his father suffered and died as a result of the conspiracy, than by his own imprisonment and the loss of his fiancee. Monte Cristo understood Albert's need for vengeance. It was the same as his own.

When Mercedes learned that her son and the Count of Monte Cristo were to duel at dawn, she went to the Count and pleaded with him to spare her son's life.

Mercedes told him that she knew he was Edmond Dantes. He was shocked to learn that she knew who he was the whole time. Part of the hatred in Dantes' heart was caused by the fact that Mercedes, the woman he loved, had married the man who had done so much evil to him. He had held the belief that the innocent young lovers, Edmond and Mercedes, were no more. Now there was only the Count of Monte Cristo and Madame de Morcerf. Mercedes convinced him that he was wrong and that she was still the same woman that loved him years ago. It was only her husbands lies that caused her to marry. She believed Edmond to be dead. Dantes told her the full story of what her husband, Fernand, had done to him and showed her the letter that had condemned him. Both now knew the truth of what had happened and for a moment it seemed as if the lovers might be reunited. Dantes agreed not to kill Albert. Mercedes admitted that she still loved Edmond Dantes.

"'You won't have long to love him', replied the Count. 'The dead man is about to go back into his grave; the phantom is about to disappear into the night.'"

The Count had been insulted by Albert and his honor demanded that he fight but by granting Mercedes' request he was agreeing to let Albert kill him. It is interesting to note that the Count thinks of himself as having died the day he was taken away to prison. He really has no life now, other than to seek revenge. The Count of Monte Cristo is more a ghost of Edmond Dantes than a real man with hopes and plans for the future.

"'How stupid I was,' he said to himself, 'not to have torn my heart out the day I swore to avenge myself.'"

This cuts to the question, 'Is God all just or all merciful?'.

The Count made out his will and at 8 o'clock on the appointed morning he was quite ready to die at the hands of Albert de' Morcerf. But Mercedes had revealed to Albert the true reasons behind the Count's actions and when Albert arrived he apologized to the Count and shook his hand. The Count had been willing to forgive, to put his quest for vengeance aside for a moment, to deviate from his reason for existence and spare Albert's life. For the first time in many years he acted as Edmond Dantes, the sailor, would have acted rather than as the Count of Monte Cristo would have acted. Just as the Count was willing to spare Albert's life, Mercedes was willing to spare Edmond Dantes' life by telling Albert the whole truth and revealing that his father was a cad who deserved the fate that was delivered to him. Mercedes had shown that when she said she still loved Edmond she meant it.

Albert and his mother wanted to leave and start a new life without the Count de Morcerf. This was a very noble act. They left a life of luxury to lead a life of honesty. Albert went into the army and Mercedes talked about entering a convent. During these times the best hope that woman had for a happy life was in marriage, as the idea of an upper-class woman working was unheard of. But if the prospect of marriage was unavailable the alternate route was to enter a convent and become a nun. So this was the accustomed thing for women who had misfortune in love to do. We see it most poignantly in Dumas' novel, The She-Wolves of Machecoul, where twin sisters, Mary and Berthe, both fall in love with the same man. One sister marries him, while the other goes to a convent and spends the rest of her days caressing a lock of his hair and remaining silent so that her sister might enjoy happiness.

But Dantes did not want Mercedes to suffer such a fate. He gave her three thousand francs to begin again and he would have undoubtedly given her much more if he thought that she would have accepted it. To get her to take what he did offer he told her that it was a dowry that he had saved when he was a sailor for him and Mercedes to start their lives together. Mercedes settled into the little cottage where Dantes father had lived.

The outraged Count de Morcerf paid a visit to Monte Cristo and demanded to know why he had ruined his life. When Monte Cristo revealed that he was really Edmond Dantes, Fernand de Morcerf left devastated. He returned home to find his wife and son leaving him. He went upstairs and put a bullet in his head.

The second of Monte Cristo's enemies was dead.

At about this time Valentine de Villefort started to become ill. Her grandfather, Monsieur Noirtier, had began to give her small doses of the brucine that he took and he had increased the doses slowly to develop a resistance to the poison in Valentine's system. But in spite of this Valentine became very ill.

Maximilien went to Monte Cristo for advice. He told the Count of the conversation he had overheard between Villefort and the doctor regarding poisoning. The Count's response was -

"It may well be that the justice of God has entered that house, Maximilien; if so, turn away your eyes and let that justice do its work."

But when Maximilien explained that he loved Valentine, the Count's attitude changed dramatically. If Valentine should die then the Count's vengeance would wound the son of the one man who had stood by him during his time of torment. We see a marked change in Monte Cristo, He was no longer a man who considered revenge to be the most important thing in the world. The goodness of Edmond Dantes was re-emerging in him.

"I laughed like an avenging angel at the evil that men do to one another, but now I, myself, have been bitten by the serpent I was watching."

Because of Monsieur Noirtier's precautions Valentine was able to survive the poisoning. The Count of Monte Cristo moved into the house next door to the Villeforts disguised as the Abbe Busoni so that he could keep a close watch on the situation.

A great party was given not long after these events occurred to announce the engagement of Eugene Danglars to Andrea Cavalcanti. Monsieur Villefort did not attend the party and the Count of Monte Cristo explained that it was his fault that Villefort was not there. He related that a blood-stained vest had recently been found on his property that belonged to Caderousse, the man who had been murdered there not long ago. The Count had found letters in the pocket of the vest that he had turned over to Villefort as evidence. One of the letters had been addressed to Baron Danglars.

When the Count mentioned that the man's name was Caderousse, Danglars turned quite pale. Just then the police arrived looking for an escaped convict named Benedetto who was using the alias of Andrea Cavalcanti. But Andrea had vanished. Eugene Danglars used the event as an excuse to flee to Rome. She disguised herself as a man and left with one of her friends to pursue a career on the stage. Eugene often comes across as having strong lesbian characteristics. Women in Dumas' day were generally expected to do as they were told. Eugene broke this pattern and wanted to have the same sort of freedom that men did but her pursuit of this freedom was not just a desire to develop her own talents; In Eugene's case it seemed to be a rejection of womanhood and all things considered feminine.

Unfortunately for Andrea, his escape was short-lived. The police surrounded the hotel where he was hiding after he fled the city. As fate would have it, he tried to hid in the room occupied by Eugenie Danglars, who was on her way to Rome. As Andrea was being arrested he could not resist the temptation to leave the impression that his former fiancee was running away with him. There is a certain amount of humor here in the fact that Eugene, who scorned all things feminine and disliked men in general, ended up being portrayed to the public as an infatuated romantic girl running off with her male lover.

There was a secret passageway that connected the Villefort house with the one next door that the Count had rented under the guise of Abbe Busoni. At night the Count entered Valentine's room and emptied out the poison that she was being given. When she began to regain her senses he told her that it was Madame Villefort who was attempting to kill her. Madame Villefort wanted Valentine's inheritance to go to her son, Edouard.

Even though Madame Villefort was attempting to kill Valentine, Valentine pitied her rather than responding with hatred. Up until this point Monte Cristo had looked at her as the daughter of his enemy and only wanted to save her life because his friend, Maximilien Morrel, loved her. Now Monte Cristo saw her in a new light. He saw in her the same innocent forgiving person that he had once been himself. He began to realize that innocent people were being hurt in this scheme that he felt was ordained by God.

One day Valentine's nurse attempted to wake her and found her dead. When Maximilien came to visit her he was overwhelmed by the news. He had put his faith in Monte Cristo's promise and for the first time Monte Cristo had failed him. He was sure that Valentine had been poisoned and he promised to avenge her death. So for the third time we have someone setting out on a path of vengeance.

Later, when Monsieur Noirtier was alone with his son, he revealed who the poisoner was. Villefort ordered that a priest be sent for. The closest one was the Abbe Busoni.

Shortly thereafter, Baron Danglars was about to pay five million francs to the hospital fund that was due to them. But the Count of Monte Cristo arrived looking for five million francs that was owed to him on his note of credit. This left Danglars without enough money to pay his debt to the hospitals. When the gentleman who represented the interests of the French hospitals showed up, Danglars asked him if could possibly wait until tomorrow to collect the money. The gentleman agreed and left. Danglars immediately snatched up Monte Cristo's letter of credit and skipped town.

After Valentine's funeral the Count followed Maximilien home. The young man locked himself in a room with a glass door. The Count, knowing that Maximilien was probably contemplating suicide, broke the glass, entered, and told Maximilien he would not allow him to kill himself. Maximilien asked him -

"Who are you to behave so tyrannically towards a man who is free to make his own decisions?"

The Count replied that he was Edmond Dantes and that it was he who saved the life of Maximilien's father, Monsieur Morrel. Monte Cristo said that he intended to save him just as he had saved his father. The Count would have preferred that Maximilien would have kept this secret to himself, but he immediately told Julie and Emmanuel. The Count made him promise to delay his suicide for one month and, if at the end of that time, he was not happy the Count would help him to kill himself.

Bertuccio visited his adopted son, Benedetto, in prison. He looked upon the young man with contempt, but, none-the-less, he delivered the message from the Count of Monte Cristo that Benedetto would be saved from the death sentence that now hung over him.

Before the trial of Benedetto began, Monsieur Villefort confronted his wife. He told her that he knew that it was she who committed the murders that took place under his roof. He asked her if she had any of the poison left. As he left for the trial he said -

"I'm going to the Palace of Justice now to demand the death penalty for a murderer. If I find you alive when I return, you will be in prison by nightfall."

Again we have the concept that death is preferable to dishonor. We also have Villefort going to the Palace of Justice. Justice would be dispensed there, but not to Benedetto.

The trial did not go as planned. When he was asked to give his name Benedetto said that he did not know his name. He began to relate the circumstances of his birth. Madame Danglars, who thought that her son had died at birth, went into a fit of hysteria and to had be removed from the courtroom. The Public Prosecutor, Monsieur Villefort was forced to admit that he was Benedetto's father. Villefort fled the Palace of Justice, entered his carriage, and rushed home.

At this point Dumas provides us with one of the most suspenseful scenes in all of literature. Villefort now realized that he was wrong to condemn his wife to death when he, himself, was guilty of such heinous crimes. He realized, that while he pretended to be upholding the highest standards of morality, he, himself, had violated all of those standards. He had asked his wife to forfeit her life and he now realized that he truly loved her. He had to reach home before the awful sentence he had pronounced was carried out.

He found Heloise alive and was thankful for a moment, but -

"'Its done,' she said with a groan that seemed to tear her throat. 'What more do you want from me?'"

After a brief moment of shock and grief, Villefort's thoughts turned to his young son. He found Edouard dead too. He ran to his father. He found Monsieur Noirtier with Abbe Busoni. Busoni, knowing nothing of the two deaths that had taken place, threw off his robes and told Villefort that he was Edmond Dantes. His revenge was complete. But Villefort grabbed Dantes' hand and lead him downstairs.

"'Look, Edmond Dantes!' he said pointing to the bodies of his wife and son. 'Is your vengeance complete now?'"

Up until this point, the question of whether or not it was right for Edmond Dantes to embark on his plan for revenge had not been broached. But now its thrown in our faces. Dantes grabbed the boys body and did what he could to restore life to the child, but he failed. This was the same boy that he revived with brucine after the runaway carriage incident. This boy was dead from the same poison, the poison that Dantes had so slyly mentioned to his mother, the woman who had administered it.

Villefort went stark-raving mad. He ran to his garden and began to dig for the body of the son he had buried years before, the son that had grown into the murderer, Benedetto. Villefort, as public prosecutor, made his living judging men. Monte Cristo had made judging men his life's work. So now that these to have clashed we see some interesting things involved with a life of judging others. When Villefort was forced to judge his own evil deeds he lost his mind. Monte Cristo saw for the first time that the same fate might befall him. Both, he and Villefort, had acted as though the punishments that they imparted on evil doers were just and deserved, but when forced to actually evaluate their actions, that was not the case. Perhaps Monte Cristo saw his own future in Villefort's fate and decided it was time to abandon the path that he travelled.

Dantes had caused an innocent child to die and, now, playing God was no longer enjoyable. Also, by telling Madame Villefort about the effects of the poison, brucine. and even giving her some, knowing that she would use it to murder the people who stood between her son and his inheritance, Dantes was indirectly responsible for the deaths of Monsieur Saint-Meran, Madame Saint- Meran, and Barrois, the butler. He had also harmed the innocent Mercedes and her son, Albert. Dantes had become so wrapped up in making his enemies pay for their crimes that he forgot that it was still possible for him to commit crimes for which he might be held accountable.

This is a critical point in the novel. Just as Caderousse and Fernand were forced to face the evil that they had done and judge themselves, now Edmond Dantes had to judge himself and find to his shocking dismay that he was not the good agent of God that he pretended to be, but rather a man, who not unlike his enemies, had become blind to the evil that his schemes left in their wake.

When Dantes was thrown into prison for a crime that he did not commit he felt that God was being unjust in allowing this to happen to him, so he decided to take God's place and put justice back into the world, but he found himself to be a poor replacement for God. While throughout the story Dantes refers to himself as the agent of God, this was merely a rationalization he used to cover up the fact that he had lost faith in God and decided take over God's role in the universe.

There are comparisons between this deed and events that take place in our modern society which are worth looking at. When Timothy McVieh blew up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City he was asked how he could kill innocent women and children. His response was that in an operation of that type there was always bound to be some 'collateral damage'. We were shocked, and rightly so, to hear the deaths of women and children referred to as 'collateral damage'. Yet when we bombed Iraq and innocent women and children, many of whom were fighting on our side, were killed our officials stated that in an operation of that type there's always bound to be some 'collateral damage'. Dantes realized that the death of the child was due to his blind pursuit of revenge without regard for the lives of the innocent. Do we have the same degree of honesty to look at ourselves and ask if our actions are really just and ordained by God?

Dantes told Maximilien that they needed to leave Paris. They travelled to Marseilles and the Count visited Mercedes. To have the two lovers be reunited might have seemed appropriate but they had lived separate lives for many years and the past could not be undone. Yet, as the Count leaves her life for the last time, she softly whispers his name.

The Count visited the Chateau d'If which had not been a prison since the July Revolution. It had been turned into a museum and Dantes took the tour. He saw his old cell and that of Abbe Faria. The guard even gave him Faria's notebook written on rags with his own blood as a souvenir. In this act it seemed as if he was going back to where it all begin to try to vindicate his acts of vengeance and prove to himself that what he did was justified. It was in Chateau d'If that the innocent Edmond Dantes ceased to exist and the cynical Count of Monte Cristo was born and by going back to the place where this occurred he seemed to questioning his own existence.

Monsieur Danglars had fled to Rome with the Count's notes of credit from Thomson and French for five million francs. Unfortunately for Danglars, he was captured by the bandit, Luigi Vampa, as soon as he left the banking house. Vampa's men did not try to rob him. After a while, Danglars grew hungry and his captors offered to sell him a chicken dinner but their price was one hundred thousand francs. A loaf of bread was also one hundred thousand francs. A bottle of wine was twenty-eight thousand francs. Little by little, Danglars hunger depleted his bankroll. When he had only fifty thousand francs left he tried to starve himself so that, at least, he might have some money left when he was set free.

The tortures Danglars experienced where very similar to what Dantes had gone through in the Chateau d'If and what Dante's father had gone through before he died. There is also a definite resemblance to the real life incident where Francois Picaud was starved by his former friend, Allut, so that Allut might learn where hid his money. Danglars began to pray to God and to beg Vampa to spare his life.

The Count of Monte Cristo came to visit him and revealed that he was really Edmond Dantes. Unlike his other enemies, Danglars repented and, surprisingly, Dantes forgave him. Dantes had set out to teach the conspirators the true meaning of justice and in the process he had learned something, himself; the meaning of mercy. Danglars was allowed to leave with what money he had left.

We know that Valentine is alive and yet Dantes kept this knowledge from his friend, Maximilien. The explanation lies in Dantes' statement:

"there is neither happiness nor unhappiness in this world; there is only the comparison of one state with another"

There was once a belief that an artist must suffer to become great and a similar theory runs through this story. To appreciate the good things in life, a person needs to go through the bad things. To be able to walk about wherever you want to go seems like no big thing, but to a man who has been imprisoned for many years it is a great blessing to be relished. To a man who has money and can afford to eat as much as he wants wherever he wants, hunger seems like an abstract idea, but to a starving man the most bland of foods tastes exquisite. Much of Dantes revenge involved putting his enemies in the same type of position that he had been in. The affluent lack compassion because they have never been in the position of the wretched. Dantes delighted in putting them in such a position.

Maximilien had promised the Count that he would not kill himself for a month and, when the last day of that month arrived, the two men met on the island of Monte Cristo. Dantes believed, that to know the joy of living, one must suffer so much agony that they wished to die. He repeatedly tested Maximilien's desire to die. He offered him wealth and power, but without Valentine, life and the treasures that it might contain meant nothing to the young man. There is a certain similarity here to Satan's attempt to tempt Christ near the end of his 40 days in the desert and, like Christ, Maximilien resists all the things that are offered to him. This is interesting in that it casts Monte Cristo, who once considered himself the agent of God, in the role of Satan.

This novel concerns itself with justice and Monte Cristo spends much of his time passing moral judgement on those around him. In the end, like Villefort, he has to pass judgement on himself.

"I regard this restitution as a weight thrown into the scale to balance the evil I have done."

After employing every argument he could think of to get Maximilien to abandon the idea of killing himself, the Count offered him a spoonful of "a greenish substance" and Maximilien was sure that it was poison. As Maximilien slipped into slumber Valentine entered the room and Maximilien felt that surely he must be entering the kingdom of heaven.

Haydee entered and the Count told her that he would soon he be leaving and that he did not want to darken her life. But Haydee truly loved the Count. She did not want to leave him and she told him that if he left her, she would have no desire to live. So, immediately after the scene where Maximilien proves his love for Valentine by showing that he wants her more than life itself, we have Haydee doing the same thing in regard to the Count.

Dantes had devoted his life to revenge and he had thought, that once that his revenge was complete, his life would be over. But when Haydee declared that she loved him with the same depth of emotion that Maximilien had shown for Valentine, he realized that perhaps there was life for him after revenge. Once he stepped down from his position as God and the high judge of morality, all the joys of being human were once again available to him. It was quite a revelation to him to find out that it was better to be an ordinary man than a superior being.

When Maximilien awoke to find himself and Valentine both alive he felt as much joy as it is possible to know. His life was now very, very much worth living. By that time the Count had left with Haydee, but he had left a note which said in part -

"pray, now and then, for a man, who like Satan, believed himself for an instant to be the equal to God, but who realized in all humility that supreme power and wisdom are in the hands of God alone."

He closed with the message that all anyone can really do in this life is "wait and hope".

This statement, "wait and hope", shows us that Dantes had abandoned his idea that man could play God and shows us that he once again actually believed in God because he now believed that good things actually existed in the world and that it was God who put them there.

Monte Cristo had used the weakness of each of his enemies against them. Caderousse's continual dissatisfaction led to his downfall. If Caderousse would have been content with the blessings that came his way he might have made out alright. With Villefort it was the desire to improve and protect his social position that lead him to imprison Dantes. Dantes publicly destroyed Villefort's standing the in community by exposing him for what he was. Danglars greed and desire to be captain of the Pharaon led him to conspire against Dantes. Dantes allowed that same greed to lead to Danglars financial ruin. De Morcerf (Mondego) wanted Dantes out of the way so that he could have Mercedes. Dantes showed Mercedes what sort of a man her husband really was and she left him. Each punishment fit the crime and each man's vulnerability lead to his destruction.

The three alter-egos that Dantes adopted, Lord Wilmore, Abbe Busoni, and Sinbad the Sailor, represent three different parts of his personality. Lord Wilmore was kind and generous. Monte Cristo at one point described him as an enemy because he wanted to deny that part of his personality. Wilmore was the side of Dantes that wished to do good. Abbe Busoni in some ways was a re-incarnation of Abbe Faria, representing the unity of God and wisdom, and representing the side of Dantes that felt that he was all-knowing, all-wise, all-just. Sinbad the Sailor was the part of Dantes that longed to be the simple sailor that he once was and also the part of him that would like to sail out to sea (or use hallucinogenic drugs) and put aside the vendetta and pretend that the past never happened.

The concept of honor as it was known in Dumas time probably seems alien to modern readers, many of whom have no such concept. Today we have a sort of New York concept of morality - Sometimes ya gotta lie a little, sometimes ya gotta cheat a little. We've become used to important people doing disgraceful things and retaining their high positions in society. Many people today may consider it barbaric to hear about two people who had a disagreement meeting to kill each other, but in those days insults and disagreements between men of high standing were settled in that manner. This custom started in the 16th century and continuing up to the early twentieth century in some countries.

Early duels were fought with swords or, on rare occasions, daggers. Later pistols became as common as swords. Three steps lead up to a duel. First a challenge was issued. This sometimes involved slapping the person you were mad at in the face with your gloves or some other public form of embarrassment to them. At that point the challenged person could accept the challenge and retain their honor or do nothing and be branded a coward. Today the challenged person would probably go running for a lawyer and sue for damages. The last part of the ritual was choosing the weapons. This was the privilege of the challenged person.

Duels did not always end in death. Injury of some type was generally sufficient. German students, who dueled well into the 20th century, generally stopped when blood was drawn and dueling scars on the face were considered a badge of honor. President Andrew Jackson killed several men in duels. The first Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton, was killed in a duel with Thomas Jefferson's Vice-President, Aaron Burr, in New Jersey. Commodore James Barron killed naval hero, Stephen Decatur, in a duel because he thought that Decatur had ruined his naval career. Unfortunately, women and cowards brought an end to the practice.

The state of West Virginia still has a law on the books, Citation 61-2-24, which states that, if you belittle someone for refusing to fight a duel with you, you can be fined up to one hundred dollars and put in jail for up to six months. Hopefully, after six months in the slammer your blood will have cooled down a little and you won't want to duel anymore.

The basic concept lived on into my lifetime in some ways. In my youth in 1950's and 60's there would dances at the South Omaha Youth Center. Whenever there would be a dispute over a girl, or whatever, the management would have the two guys go up to the top floor where there was a boxing ring and gloves. The two guys would duke it out and, when one had enough, it was over. Often times they were good friends afterwards. Disputes in school were settled in much the same way. A place would be selected, behind the Chief Theater, Hanson Park, etc., and the two guys would fight. There were sometimes crowds of forty or fifty people watching. Sometimes teachers watched. As long as it was a fair fight nobody broke it up.

Unfortunately, today's teachers think 'anger management' is a substitute for honor and the end result is kids who resolve their differences with cowardly drive-by shootings. It would be far better to let the kids put on the gloves and settle the matter, than to let them take it into the streets where it almost always explodes into something bigger than it should have been. Where men of Dumas' day believed that honor was more important than life itself, today we have people eating insects to win money, marrying people they even know to win money, biting the heads off of chickens to draw an audience of rock fans, and as for death before dishonor - forget about it.

Even the villains had a sense of honor in Dumas' time. Fernand Mondego (Count de Morcerf) committed suicide when he was exposed for what he really was. Madame de Villefort poisoned herself when her husband threatened to expose her as murderer. Its a pity that Richard Nixon, or the managers of Enron, or members of the current administration who lied to us about weapons of mass destruction didn't have that kind of class. But, alas, these are different times and the concept of honor has been hung up in a museum somewhere next to the dueling pistols and rapiers.

The difference between the good people and the bad people in this story is that the good people are even more ready to kill themselves than the bad people. Monsieur Morrel considered suicide when he couldn't pay his bills. Can you imagine how few customers Visa and Mastercard would have if people did that today?

Maximilien and Haydee threatened to kill themselves if they lost the people they loved. This concept too is gone from today's society. Larry King, the often-married CNN talk show host, once played a few bars of, I'd Rather Be Blue Thinking of You, Than Be Happy With Somebody Else, and described it as the perfect theme for masochists. We have a society where true love has been replaced by most recent love. If Romeo and Juliet died for love today there would be an investigation to find out why they didn't get counselling.

The theme of a man seeking vengeance occurs often in literature in stories such as Shakespeare's, Hamlet, Poe's, The Cask of Amontillado, and Herman Melville's, Moby Dick. We see it in movies, particularly westerns, such as Nevada Smith and The Last Train From Gun Hill and gangster films, such as The Godfather. But without a doubt, The Count of Monte Cristo is the most famous tale of revenge ever written.

In your travels you may encounter novels or movies with titles like The Son of Monte Cristo or The Countess of Monte Cristo. These were not written by Dumas. He often considered writing a sequel, but he never did.

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Project Gutenberg Edition of The Count of Monte Cristo

Downloadable versions of Dumas' works. Project Gutenberg Presents. The Count of Monte Cristo. by Alexandre Dumas.

Litrix: The Count of Monte Cristo

Online text of 'The Count of Monte Cristo' by Alexandre Dumas.

Alexandre Dumas (Pere)

An excellent page on Dumas. Biography, bibliography, photographs, and links.

The Internet Movie Data Base Dumas Site.

Movies based on Dumas' novels. Filmography, Awards, Biography, Agent, Discussions, Photos, News Articles, Fan Sites.

Penn State's Electronic Classics Series Alexandre Dumas Page.

Links to works by Alexandre Dumas in PDF (English). From this site you can download works by Alexandre Dumas.

Tri-County. Community. College. ENG 252. The Life of Alexandre Dumas.

A nice Dumas site by Tri County Community College North Carolina. The Life of Alexandre Dumas. Alexandre Dumas. The Most Successful French Author of the 19th Century.

Ex Libris Archives: Alexandre Dumas

Will and Jane Duquette's web site about Alexandre Dumas. Let's buckle some swash.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.

A searchable online version at The Literature Network. Includes author information.

Plume Noire: The Count of Monte Cristo

Information about the book, the films, and the real Chateau d'If.

Chateau d'If - Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Information about Chateau d'If. View from a cell in the Château d'If.

Tom Galvin's Travel Page

Some nice pictures of the Chateau d'If.

The Church of Santa Susanna

Tourist information about The Catacombs of Saint Sebastian and other catacombs.

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