Count of Monte Cristo: Chapter 106

[osprey_archer]

I'm racing toward the end of The Count of Monte Cristo! Only about a dozen chapters left now - and so many threads to wrap up!!!



He still has to produce Valentine from the dead - and honestly I'm a bit worried that the book continues to behave as if Valentine is actually dead; surely if she were alive, the Count would mention that to Morrel while Morrel was sitting at his desk, writing his suicide note with his pistol at his side?

(So many people commit or try to commit suicide in this book. Papa Dantes starves to death from despair, Edmond Dantes also tries to starve himself, M. Morrel almost shoots himself, Fernand does shoot himself, and not we have the younger Morrel trying to shoot himself too...)

But I refuse to believe she is dead. Doubtless the Count is just hiding her continued existence from Morrel from reasons of wanting to make a truly dramatic entrance with her at some point.

And he also has to save Albert and Mercedes from the unhappiness he has inadvertently pushed them into. In fact the last chapter I read ended with him gloomily contemplating The Law of Unintended Consequences, which caused his schemes of vengeance rebounded badly on the unsuspecting and innocent Mercedes and Albert. (They also are vaguely suicidal. I guess being caught up in an epic melodrama does that to you.) How can the Count save them from the awkward consequences of his own actions??

I'm still rooting for him to marry Mercedes. Be happy again, you crazy kids! Have the honeymoon you deserved all those years ago!

Also he may still have to complete his revenge on Villefort? At very least, I don't think Dantes will see it as complete until Villefort is toppled from his post as Crown Prosecutor, even if Villefort doesn't shoot himself like Fernand did. And if Dantes wants Danglars dead, he will probably have to hunt him down and kill him himself, and he doesn't have very many chapters left.

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

Doubtless the Count is just hiding her continued existence from Morrel from reasons of wanting to make a truly dramatic entrance with her at some point.

What would give you the impression that Dantes would do a thing like that? :loL:

:-D

(I... don't think you are allowed to marry women who've resolved to become nuns in repentance for marrying the wrong person in 19th C lit., though. I could be wrong, of course...)

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THAT MERCEDES/DANTES IS DOOMED. I mean, you are probably right, but I will relinquish hope only when the book itself wrests it from my clawlike grasping hands.

[evelyn-b.livejournal.com]

I BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF THE DRAMATIC ENTRANCE. If Dantes can make A SHIP come back to life, he can do the same with a human! There is. . . not really any logic to that statement, except Monte Cristo logic, which is THE ONLY KIND THAT MATTERS HERE.

SPEAKING OF SHIPS, I want Dantes and Mercedes to patch it up, too, but the book seems to be laying in foundations for Dantes/Haidee instead. :| Maybe it's for the best? I mean, there's so much bitterness in Dantes; it's in his bones now; it's what his life is built of. I'd like to believe he and Mercedes could reconcile, but maybe I also can't blame them if they don't want to try. :(

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think the book is setting out for Dantes/Haydee, which is not what I wanted, alas, but at least if it happens I will only have to deal with it for a couple of chapters. BUT STILL, now that Dantes has had all his vengeance, couldn't he and Mercedes give it another go? Doesn't she deserve a chance at happiness with a man who hasn't betrayed everyone ever?

[evelyn-b.livejournal.com]

You know Mercedes deserves all the best things on earth, but will she get them?? That's what I don't know.

I am Team Another Chance always, but . . . we'll see.

Haidee is clearly gunning for Dantes/Haidee (Haydee? Is it spelled differently in different translations?) but honey please take a quick walk around the world before settling down with your fake dad who rescued you from sexual slavery. The world is large and there are more than five people in it.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I think the different translators must spell it differently. Maybe it bolsters their sense of individuality? Anyway, although I don't have much hope for Haydee's Trip Around the Globe, I still hold out some hope that she will fall for Franz or Albert or one of the other unattached young men and marry him instead. Dantes will nobly let her go without a whisper, of course.