Count of Monte Cristo, The, is a long historical novel by the French author Alexandre Dumas père. He is called père, which means father in French, to distinguish him from his son, author Alexandre Dumas fils (son). The novel was published in 1844 and 1845.
The Count of Monte Cristo is a wonderful story because it incorporates two themes that appeal to the human imagination, the fantasy of possessing immense wealth and the thrill of cleverly planned revenge. The hero of the story is Edmond Dantès. The story begins in the early 1800’s in the French port city of Marseille. The 19-year-old Dantès is about to become the captain of a ship, and he is engaged to the beautiful Mercédès. Dantès is popular with people who know him. However, several men he considers his friends, including a rival for the love of Mercédès, have reasons for wanting him to disappear. They conspire to have him falsely accused of treason as an agent of Napoleon Bonaparte, the former French emperor, then living in exile on the island of Elba. On the day of his marriage, Dantès is arrested and eventually sentenced to life imprisonment in the feared island fortress called the Château d’If.
While in prison, Dantès becomes friends with another prisoner, the Italian priest Abbé Faria. The priest educates Dantès, teaching him history, languages, mathematics, and science. He also tells Dantès about a vast treasure hidden on the island of Monte Cristo and how to locate the treasure should Dantès ever escape. The priest dies, and Dantès hides in the dead man’s shroud, which is thrown into the sea. Dantès frees himself and swims to freedom.
Dantès sails to Monte Cristo aboard a smuggler’s ship and finds the priest’s treasure. He then returns to Marseille, disguised as an Italian priest. There he learns that his father has died of grief over his son’s absence, and Mercédès has married Fernand, Dantès’s enemy. Years later, Dantès settles in Rome as the wealthy and mysterious Count of Monte Cristo and begins to plot his revenge against his betrayers. The rest of the novel describes how Dantès returns to France to destroy the men who sent him to prison and assists those who tried to help him since his arrest. He has the opportunity to include Mercédès and her son, then living in Paris, in his vengeful plans, but he decides instead to ensure their safety after ruining Fernand. Dantès finds happiness in the love of the beautiful Haydée, the daughter of an Albanian ruler who had been unjustly sold into slavery by the evil Fernand. Dantès had purchased her freedom.
The Count of Monte Cristo became one of the most popular adventure novels of the 1800’s. The novel inspired many movie, stage, and television versions since the early 1900’s.
