The Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo

by

Alexandre Dumas

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Count of Monte Cristo makes teaching easy.

Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) Character Analysis

Edmond Dantes, the novel’s protagonist, is a French sailor who is wrongfully imprisoned at age 19, escapes, and then spends his life getting meticulous revenge on the men who wronged him. He is fiercely loyal, and—as his elaborate plans show—quite capable and intelligent. At the novel’s start, Dantes is poised for a glorious life as a future captain-at-sea and husband to the beautiful Mercedes. But Dantes’s life is changed entirely when a group of jealous men (Danglars, Fernand, Caderousse, and Villefort) hatch a plot to imprison him unjustly. Dantes lives in a dungeon for fourteen years, befriending the Abbe Faria (who provides an education to substitute his lack of formal schooling). When Dantes escapes, he recovers the Abbe’s much-spoken-about fortune on the island of Monte Cristo. Dantes devotes his life after prison to vengeance against those who plotted against him, which marks a shift in his character: while he was openhearted and generous at the beginning of the novel, prison has embittered him, making him prioritize vengeance over love. Eventually, Dantes becomes so consumed by revenge that he can hardly distinguish between those who have wronged him and those who are innocent bystanders. After ruining the lives of his enemies and developing a chaste friendship with Mercedes, however, the Count undergoes another shift. Realizing that he is more fulfilled by love than vengeance, he becomes betrothed to his former “slave” Haydee and bequeaths his fortune to Maximilien Morrel, son of his former shipping boss, and to Valentine, the daughter of Villefort.

Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) Quotes in The Count of Monte Cristo

The The Count of Monte Cristo quotes below are all either spoken by Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) or refer to Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Justice, Revenge, and God’s Will Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

Come, now ... I have a better opinion than you of women in general, and Mercedes in particular, and I am persuaded that, whether I were a captain or not, she would remain faithful to me.

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker), Mercedes (de Morcerf), Caderousse
Page Number: 21
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16 Quotes

Finally, do you realize that I thought my labors were at an end, that I felt I had just enough strength to complete the task, and that God has now not only set back my goal but removed it, I know not where? Oh, let me tell you, and repeat it: I shall not take another step to try and regain my freedom, since God’s will is for me to have lost it for ever.

Related Characters: Abbe Faria (speaker), Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor)
Page Number: 152
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17 Quotes

I regret having helped you in your investigation and said what I did to you ...

Why is that?

Because I have insinuated a feeling into your heart that was not previously there: the desire for revenge ...

Let us change the subject.

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker), Abbe Faria (speaker)
Page Number: 168
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

Die! No, no! It was not worth living so long, and suffering so much, to die now. Death was welcome previously, when I made a resolution to meet it ... But now it would truly be conceding too much to my miserable fate. No, I want to live, I want to struggle to the end.

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker)
Page Number: 197
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24 Quotes

Then he began to count his fortune. There were a thousand gold ingots, each of two or three pounds. Next to these, he piled 25,000 gold ecus, each worth perhaps twenty-four francs in today’s money ... Finally, he measured ten times the capacity of his joined hands in pearls, precious stones and diamonds ...

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker)
Related Symbols: Monte Cristo
Page Number: 235
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 27 Quotes

Monsieur ... they had both made me drink until I was almost senseless. Everything was blurred. I protested as much as a man can in such a state, but they assured me it was a joke they were playing and that nothing would come of it.

Related Characters: Caderousse (speaker), Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor)
Page Number: 258
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 30 Quotes

And now ... farewell, goodness, humanity, gratitude ... Farewell all those feelings that nourish and illuminate the heart! I have taken the place of Providence to reward the good; now let the avenging God make way for me to punish the wrongdoer!

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker)
Page Number: 300
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 43 Quotes

Come away, Monsieur! Come away, I beg you. You are on the very spot!

What spot is that?

The spot where he fell.

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker), Bertuccio (speaker)
Page Number: 489
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 48 Quotes

But everything that you know, with respect to the French legal system, I know, not only with respect to that, but also to the laws of every country: the laws of the English, the Turks, the Japanese and the Hindus are as familiar to me as those of the French ... relative to all that I have done, you have very little to do, and relative to what I have learned, you still have very much to learn.

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker)
Page Number: 552
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 52 Quotes

A drop of that elixir sufficed to bring the child back to life when he was dying, but three drops would have driven the blood into his lungs in such a way as to give him palpitations of the heart. Six would have interrupted his breathing and caused him a much more serious fit than the one he was already suffering. Ten would have killed him.

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker), Mme Heloise de Villefort
Related Symbols: Poison
Page Number: 595
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 62 Quotes

You mean, I didn’t kill him?

Come, come ...

But he isn’t dead?

No, he isn’t, as you can very well see. Instead of striking him between the sixth and seventh left rib, as your compatriots usually do, you must have struck higher or lower; and these lawyers, you know, are not easy to kill off.

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker), Bertuccio (speaker), M. de Villefort
Page Number: 694
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 71 Quotes

How can you live like that, with nothing attaching you to life?

It is not my fault, Madame. In Malta I loved a girl and was going to marry her, when the war came and swept me away from her like a whirlwind. I thought that she loved me enough to wait for me, even to remain faithful to my tomb. When I came back, she was married.

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker), Mercedes (de Morcerf) (speaker)
Page Number: 772
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 77 Quotes

I was taken to the bazaar. A rich Armenian bought me, educated me, gave me teachers and, when I was thirteen, sold me to Sultan Mahmoud.

And from him, I bought her, as I told you, Albert, for that stone equal to the one in which I keep my lozenges of hashish.

Oh, my lord, how good and great you are ... How fortunate I am to belong to you!

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker), Haydee (speaker), Albert (de Morcerf)
Page Number: 861
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 83 Quotes

Oh, God. Oh, God, forgive me for denying You. You do indeed exist, You are the father of men in heaven and their judge on earth. Oh, my Lord, I have long mistaken You! My Lord God, forgive me! My god, my Lord, receive my soul!

Related Characters: Caderousse (speaker), Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor)
Page Number: 931-2
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 89 Quotes

What would you say if you knew the extent of the sacrifice I am making for you? Suppose that the Lord God, after creating the world, after fertilizing the void, had stopped one-third of the way through His creation to spare an angel the tears that our crimes would one day bring to His immortal eyes. Suppose that ... God had extinguished the sun and with His foot dashed the world into eternal night ...

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker), Mercedes (de Morcerf)
Page Number: 985-6
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 117 Quotes

Yes, he is gone. Farewell, my friend! Farewell, my sister!

Who knows if we shall ever see them again?

My dearest ... has the Count not just told us that all human wisdom was contained in these two words – ‘wait’ and ‘hope’?

Related Characters: Maximilien Morrel (speaker), Valentine de Villefort (speaker), Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor), Haydee
Page Number: 1243
Explanation and Analysis:
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Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) Quotes in The Count of Monte Cristo

The The Count of Monte Cristo quotes below are all either spoken by Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) or refer to Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Justice, Revenge, and God’s Will Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

Come, now ... I have a better opinion than you of women in general, and Mercedes in particular, and I am persuaded that, whether I were a captain or not, she would remain faithful to me.

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker), Mercedes (de Morcerf), Caderousse
Page Number: 21
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16 Quotes

Finally, do you realize that I thought my labors were at an end, that I felt I had just enough strength to complete the task, and that God has now not only set back my goal but removed it, I know not where? Oh, let me tell you, and repeat it: I shall not take another step to try and regain my freedom, since God’s will is for me to have lost it for ever.

Related Characters: Abbe Faria (speaker), Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor)
Page Number: 152
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17 Quotes

I regret having helped you in your investigation and said what I did to you ...

Why is that?

Because I have insinuated a feeling into your heart that was not previously there: the desire for revenge ...

Let us change the subject.

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker), Abbe Faria (speaker)
Page Number: 168
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

Die! No, no! It was not worth living so long, and suffering so much, to die now. Death was welcome previously, when I made a resolution to meet it ... But now it would truly be conceding too much to my miserable fate. No, I want to live, I want to struggle to the end.

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker)
Page Number: 197
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24 Quotes

Then he began to count his fortune. There were a thousand gold ingots, each of two or three pounds. Next to these, he piled 25,000 gold ecus, each worth perhaps twenty-four francs in today’s money ... Finally, he measured ten times the capacity of his joined hands in pearls, precious stones and diamonds ...

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker)
Related Symbols: Monte Cristo
Page Number: 235
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 27 Quotes

Monsieur ... they had both made me drink until I was almost senseless. Everything was blurred. I protested as much as a man can in such a state, but they assured me it was a joke they were playing and that nothing would come of it.

Related Characters: Caderousse (speaker), Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor)
Page Number: 258
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 30 Quotes

And now ... farewell, goodness, humanity, gratitude ... Farewell all those feelings that nourish and illuminate the heart! I have taken the place of Providence to reward the good; now let the avenging God make way for me to punish the wrongdoer!

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker)
Page Number: 300
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 43 Quotes

Come away, Monsieur! Come away, I beg you. You are on the very spot!

What spot is that?

The spot where he fell.

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker), Bertuccio (speaker)
Page Number: 489
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 48 Quotes

But everything that you know, with respect to the French legal system, I know, not only with respect to that, but also to the laws of every country: the laws of the English, the Turks, the Japanese and the Hindus are as familiar to me as those of the French ... relative to all that I have done, you have very little to do, and relative to what I have learned, you still have very much to learn.

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker)
Page Number: 552
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 52 Quotes

A drop of that elixir sufficed to bring the child back to life when he was dying, but three drops would have driven the blood into his lungs in such a way as to give him palpitations of the heart. Six would have interrupted his breathing and caused him a much more serious fit than the one he was already suffering. Ten would have killed him.

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker), Mme Heloise de Villefort
Related Symbols: Poison
Page Number: 595
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 62 Quotes

You mean, I didn’t kill him?

Come, come ...

But he isn’t dead?

No, he isn’t, as you can very well see. Instead of striking him between the sixth and seventh left rib, as your compatriots usually do, you must have struck higher or lower; and these lawyers, you know, are not easy to kill off.

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker), Bertuccio (speaker), M. de Villefort
Page Number: 694
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 71 Quotes

How can you live like that, with nothing attaching you to life?

It is not my fault, Madame. In Malta I loved a girl and was going to marry her, when the war came and swept me away from her like a whirlwind. I thought that she loved me enough to wait for me, even to remain faithful to my tomb. When I came back, she was married.

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker), Mercedes (de Morcerf) (speaker)
Page Number: 772
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 77 Quotes

I was taken to the bazaar. A rich Armenian bought me, educated me, gave me teachers and, when I was thirteen, sold me to Sultan Mahmoud.

And from him, I bought her, as I told you, Albert, for that stone equal to the one in which I keep my lozenges of hashish.

Oh, my lord, how good and great you are ... How fortunate I am to belong to you!

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker), Haydee (speaker), Albert (de Morcerf)
Page Number: 861
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 83 Quotes

Oh, God. Oh, God, forgive me for denying You. You do indeed exist, You are the father of men in heaven and their judge on earth. Oh, my Lord, I have long mistaken You! My Lord God, forgive me! My god, my Lord, receive my soul!

Related Characters: Caderousse (speaker), Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor)
Page Number: 931-2
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 89 Quotes

What would you say if you knew the extent of the sacrifice I am making for you? Suppose that the Lord God, after creating the world, after fertilizing the void, had stopped one-third of the way through His creation to spare an angel the tears that our crimes would one day bring to His immortal eyes. Suppose that ... God had extinguished the sun and with His foot dashed the world into eternal night ...

Related Characters: Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor) (speaker), Mercedes (de Morcerf)
Page Number: 985-6
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 117 Quotes

Yes, he is gone. Farewell, my friend! Farewell, my sister!

Who knows if we shall ever see them again?

My dearest ... has the Count not just told us that all human wisdom was contained in these two words – ‘wait’ and ‘hope’?

Related Characters: Maximilien Morrel (speaker), Valentine de Villefort (speaker), Edmond Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo, the Abbe Busoni, the Envoy, Lord Wilmore, Sinbad the Sailor), Haydee
Page Number: 1243
Explanation and Analysis: