Kelly and I are back with the discussion of Part 2 of The Count of Monte Cristo. Does it ever happen with you that you are reading an amazing book, whether it is well written or the storyline is just captivating, that you find others books don’t come close? I have been feeling that more and more as I spend more time with this book.
The Count of Monte Cristo: Goodreads Link
First Published in 1844
Content Notes for Part 2: Depictions of death, illness, injustice, kidnapping, murder, suicidal thoughts, bankruptcy.
The Count of Monte Cristo
Part 2 (Chapters 22-38)
Constituting chapters 22-38 and almost 250 pages, Part 2 of The Count of Monte Cristo was an interesting section. I noticed that the storytelling changed a little. While in Part 1, we had access to Dantès thoughts and struggles, Part 2 is about seeing him through the lens of other people. After finding his fortune on the island of Monte Cristo, Dantès spends time finding out what happened to the people he used to know and confirming the revelations he had about his situation while Abbe was still alive.
I felt that too. Many times another chapter started and a few pages in I noticed that that character was in fact Dantès. But I think it was fair for him to track the people he used to know.
Dantès pretends to be a priest and meets up with Caderousse to learn more about his people. This was quite cleverly done in my mind. He dangled a fortune in front of Caderousse and gained all the information he needed. After this, we meet Dantès as the representative of Thompson and French, Sinbad the Sailor and then finally in Rome as the Count of Monte Cristo. When the point of view switched to Franz, I was not too thrilled about it though I kept reading out of curiosity and to figure out the connection between Dantès and him. Was there a particular encounter or disguise of Dantès that you enjoyed?
I felt the same, first, as I mentioned before, it could take a while to see that the person talking to Franz was Dantès, and I had to go back too and check if I had missed something or read something and forgot it (it happens sometimes). I also asked myself why he was helping Franz and his friend so much, what is he going to get from it? And where did Franz come from? There must be something, I don’t think he would just help out of the goodness of his heart. But I think that how he handled the people he knew was fair. He helped those who were good and didn’t do anything against him, and intends to punish those who did.
Part 2 showed how much Dantès has grown in knowledge of the world. He can converse with aristocrats and authoritative figures with such confidence that it blows my mind. His personality is one that cannot be ignored. He also has this tendency of sitting in the shadows and just observing people. Through all his disguises, even though I suspected it was always him, his mannerisms were consistent.
He needed the years after prison to learn how things work now, since a lot can change in 15 years. He must be really intelligent to be able to learn this much so fast and use all this knowledge to plan his revenge.
Something else that I noticed was Dantès’ patience. Time is passing but he is not rushing to take his revenge. Since we know nothing about what’s going on in his mind and why he made the decisions he did, one can only say that he has a long term plan in mind and he will make sure that his revenge hurts.
I agree with this patience part – he really seems in no hurry to track people down and do whatever he wants to them. IT’s curious that a person just comes out of nowhere, rich, inserts himself in the society, and people just assume he’s been there all along.
Here’s a question for you Kelly – do you think Dantès knew who Albert was? That he orchestrated the whole abduction to a certain extent to gain Albert’s favour and legitimate reason to be introduced to Paris? After all, that is where Fernand, Mercedes, Danglars and Villfort are located.
I think you’re right, he mentioned Paris more than once, expecting Albert to invite him. He doesn’t do anything that is not carefully planned. Like you mentioned before, he has a long term plan, and he leaves nothing to chance. With his wealth, he has all the necessary connections to keep with his plans.
The first part of the book portrayed him as this young, hopeful and successful lad who was making a name in his career. But his actions and image do not quite align with the good person that I had been introduced to. I wandered out loud if I even knew who Dantès was… the better question being did even Dantès know who he was? It’s important to remember though that he was quite young then and fifteen years in prison and another five outside is twenty years of learning – that can change a man drastically. My partner, Clinton, loves this story and how it was portrayed in the movie (I have not seen it yet and he has watched it multiple times). I asked him how Dantès ended up like this, his transformation from a young sailor into a rich man who deals with bandits and smugglers and doesn’t have much care about authority. Clinton said that an important aspect of Dantès’ to remember is his anger – the movie does a good job of portraying the anger, but the depth is still not conveyed. The book does a better job of representing the anguish and hatred that Dantès possesses. However, because Part 2 is not truly from his perspectives and more of how other people interact with him and see him, his internal commentary is absent. I went back to Part 1, to my favorite page and the quote I had mentioned last time:
“He decided it was human hatred and not divine vengeance that had plunged him into this abyss.”
The Count of Monte Cristo, pg 133
What did you think of Dantès transformation, Kelly?
Yes, he looked like a better person before he went to prison, but he spent a lot of time alone, which can drive a man crazy, but we can see that he’s still a good person now, helping those who deserve it. On the other hand, he had a lot of time to plan everything and this may have just added what he learned with the priest to the person he really was. We don’t know the person he was going to become had he not been sent to prison. He lost 15 years of his life for a crime he didn’t commit and people have to pay for that.
We need to watch the movie once we’re done with the book and compare 😀
I have not been taking as many notes for this part and just enjoying the ride. We are over 400 pages into this book and I have finally figured out how to read it – it is not one I can read 2 chapters per day for. Instead, I just need to sit and enjoy it, with no time limit, which means 2-3 days of dedicated reading. How are you reading this book, Kelly?
In the first part I read three chapters a day, which was good because it was more or less when the situation changed and now I read a little more, around 4 chapters a day, which I think also worked, although the chapters were longer. I guess reading a little more works better for me. Let’s see how Part 3 goes. I’m curious to see the moment when he finds his enemies. I tried to take notes of this, but then I just forgot and kept reading.
We will back with the discussion for Part 3. If you plan to read The Count of Monte Cristo and add to our discussion, here are the breakdowns of the parts:
Part 1 – Chapters 1-21 (link to discussion)
Part 2 – Chapters 22-38
Part 3 – Chapters 39-57
Part 4 – Chapters 58-77
Part 5 – Chapters 78-97
Part 6 – Chapters 98-117
For more book discussions, check out this page. 🙂
Cover Photo by Pika Alyani on Unsplash
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