Count of Monte Cristo: Chapter 32
Oct. 13th, 2016 08:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerThe Count of Monte Cristo continues to be amazing! Spoilers through chapter 32! No runaway lesbians yet.
I'VE REACHED THE HASHISH CHAPTER!!!! Assuming there is only one hashish chapter; perhaps there are random hashish chapters sprinkled throughout the book? IN ANY CASE, some random dude named Franz visited the island of Monte Cristo to shoot goats, and ended up meeting Dantes (who is going by the nom de guerre Sinbad the Sailor), who took him down to his luxurious grotto in the caves of Monte Cristo, fed him an enormous banquet, and then gave him hashish, informing him that hashish is the key to all happiness.
I now have a sneaking suspicion that Dumas was a total pothead.
ANYWAY. We seem to be following the Continuing Adventures of Franz now (he has fortuitously booked a hotel room in Rome next to the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo's. WHO COULD THAT BE?) and I am a bit impatient for Dumas to get back to the vengeancing, but I guess we just have to let Dumas do his Dumas thing.
Oh, and before beginning his vengeance spree/getting innocent wayfarers hooked on hash, Dantes took a little break to save his kindly old boss M. Morrel from bankruptcy. Does he do the sensible thing and forgive his debts weeks in advance??? NOOOO.
On the very day that M. Morrel is about to go bankrupt (and he is sitting in his study, gun in hand, ready to End It All rather than suffer than shame), Dantes sends Morrel's daughter Julie a note to pick up a purse in a hotel room across town, which sounds pretty rapey, so perhaps Dantes wants to be sure she is willing to risk it all to help her father? Or maybe he just didn't think this through.
IN ANY CASE, all that is waiting for her in the hotel room is the purse, which Julie brings back MOMENTS BEFORE Morrel was about to shoot himself. What if she had run just a little slower, Dantes? What then?
AND THEN DANTES SAILS A PERFECT REPLICA OF MORREL'S LAST LOST SHIP INTO THE HARBOR, FULL OF THE CARGO IT HAD WHEN IT SUNK. When you have a literal chest full of diamonds, anything is possible!
I'VE REACHED THE HASHISH CHAPTER!!!! Assuming there is only one hashish chapter; perhaps there are random hashish chapters sprinkled throughout the book? IN ANY CASE, some random dude named Franz visited the island of Monte Cristo to shoot goats, and ended up meeting Dantes (who is going by the nom de guerre Sinbad the Sailor), who took him down to his luxurious grotto in the caves of Monte Cristo, fed him an enormous banquet, and then gave him hashish, informing him that hashish is the key to all happiness.
I now have a sneaking suspicion that Dumas was a total pothead.
ANYWAY. We seem to be following the Continuing Adventures of Franz now (he has fortuitously booked a hotel room in Rome next to the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo's. WHO COULD THAT BE?) and I am a bit impatient for Dumas to get back to the vengeancing, but I guess we just have to let Dumas do his Dumas thing.
Oh, and before beginning his vengeance spree/getting innocent wayfarers hooked on hash, Dantes took a little break to save his kindly old boss M. Morrel from bankruptcy. Does he do the sensible thing and forgive his debts weeks in advance??? NOOOO.
On the very day that M. Morrel is about to go bankrupt (and he is sitting in his study, gun in hand, ready to End It All rather than suffer than shame), Dantes sends Morrel's daughter Julie a note to pick up a purse in a hotel room across town, which sounds pretty rapey, so perhaps Dantes wants to be sure she is willing to risk it all to help her father? Or maybe he just didn't think this through.
IN ANY CASE, all that is waiting for her in the hotel room is the purse, which Julie brings back MOMENTS BEFORE Morrel was about to shoot himself. What if she had run just a little slower, Dantes? What then?
AND THEN DANTES SAILS A PERFECT REPLICA OF MORREL'S LAST LOST SHIP INTO THE HARBOR, FULL OF THE CARGO IT HAD WHEN IT SUNK. When you have a literal chest full of diamonds, anything is possible!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2016-10-13 01:02 pm (UTC)I do think that, after all the betrayals, in his vengeance phase Edmond has developed a need to see that people deserve the good things (and the bad things) but more of that anon, as they say.
Also, where would be the drama in doing things sensibly? Do not expect sensible reward or revenge schemes, lol.
As far as I'm aware there's only one random hashish incident, so, um, yeah, that's it?
no subject
Date: 2016-10-13 02:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-10-13 04:57 pm (UTC)He went by the name of Sinbad the Sailor, huh! I was going to make a remark about the popularity of the One Thousand and One Nights, but checking Wikipedia, I find out the Sinbad tale was added by translators... all the same, though, those were what people would have been reading, including Dumas. Apparently the first translations were in French (!), in the early 1700s. So... yeah, interesting.
no subject
Date: 2016-10-16 01:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-10-14 03:40 am (UTC)But yes, the thing with Julie and the purse is either very naive or very sly and I feel like Dantes is hovering indistinctly between the two. SCHRODINGER'S MASTERMIND.
Oh, and those of you who were worrying about my edition not having the hashish -- it totally has the hashish.
I love this book. Why did I wait so long to read Dumas?
no subject
Date: 2016-10-16 02:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-10-14 03:23 pm (UTC)Um, good luck with the Rome chapters. I wasn't a fan of them, but maybe because I'm not a fan of pageantry.
no subject
Date: 2016-10-16 01:58 pm (UTC)