Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Count of Monte Cristo, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Justice, Revenge, and God’s Will
Changes of Identity and Station
Love, Devotion, and Redemption
Debt and Gratitude
The Domestic and the Foreign
Summary
Analysis
The Count heads to Pere Lachaise where the funeral is taking place, and finds Maximilien off to the side of the funeral ceremony itself, overcome with grief. The Count then follows Morrel back to the home of Julie and Emmanuel, and his fears are justified, for as he walks into Morrel’s room unannounced, he finds the young soldier drafting a suicide note. The Count begs Morrel not to do this, but Morrel insists that without Valentine, life is no longer worth living.
The Count realizes the effect that his ruse with Valentine will have on Young Morrel. And though he wants to tell Morrel the plot he has concocted, he also wants to make sure this plot can succeed. Thus, to protect Maximilien, he asks only that the young man promise him to hold off on the thought of suicide for some time.
Themes
To stay his hand, the Count blurts out that he is Edmond Dantes, and that he is the man responsible for saving Old Morrel exactly ten years ago when that man was afraid he would become bankrupt. Julie and Emmanuel come upstairs, but the Count asks Morrel to reveal only that he is the benefactor, not that he is Edmond Dantes. His reasons for this discretion are unclear.
The Count has, by now, revealed his identity to Mercedes, Caderousse, and Fernand. He reveals it here to try to convince Morrel that he has a plan in place to help him – that he is not simply a man of society in Paris, but a person with a deep connection to the Morrel family, going back to their days in Marseille.
Themes
Although Maximilien is unwilling to hear it, the Count begs him to wait one more month for a vaguely-defined “miracle” to take place, for which Morrel will be grateful that he did not kill himself. Morrel is deeply opposed to this idea, as he worries about hoping for Valentine’s return and then being disappointed when she remains gone. But the Count begs him to continue hoping, and he asks that Morrel move in with him on the Champs-Elysees, as Haydee has left the house as part of the Count’s preparations for leaving France in one month.
The Count introduces what will become the guiding refrain of the final sections of the book: Hope and Wait. The Count cannot do anything other than ask Morrel to trust him, as a friend in Paris and as a friend of the Morrel family. And Morrel wants nothing more than to end his life now rather than to live with the idea of Valentine being gone forever. But of course, the reader knows she is not really gone, and thus hopes, along with the Count, that Morrel chooses to live a few more days.
Themes
