Fernand (de Morcerf) Character Analysis in The Count of Monte Cristo

One of the plotters who places Dantes in prison, Fernand begins life as a lowly fisherman in the Catalan neighborhood of Marseille. He is Mercedes’ cousin and he is desperately in love with her, all the more so because he recognizes that she is devoted to her intended, Dantes. Fernand is devastated by this, and he joins the imprisonment plot in order to foil their relationship so that he might have a chance with Mercedes, whom he goes on to marry. After their marriage, Fernand wins some renown in the French expeditionary armies of the post-Napoleonic era, and he steals money from the Ali Pasha in Turkey (for whom he was ostensibly fighting in the Greek wars) in order to boost his social status. Fernand uses this money to become a “Count,” rendering Mercedes a “Countess,” and his son Albert a Viscount. Fernand dies by his own hand after the Count exposes him as a perfidious fraud, and his wife and son leave Paris, with Albert joining the French army as an enlisted man, and Mercedes pledging herself to a life of pious solitude.

Fernand (de Morcerf) Quotes in The Count of Monte Cristo

The The Count of Monte Cristo quotes below are all either spoken by Fernand (de Morcerf) or refer to Fernand (de Morcerf). 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

Yes, I share your hope: the wrath of heaven will not pursue us, you who are so pure and I so innocent. But since we are resolved, let us act promptly. Monsieur de Morcerf left the house around half an hour ago; so, as you see, we have a good opportunity to avoid scandal or explanations.

Related Characters: Albert (de Morcerf) (speaker), Mercedes (de Morcerf), Fernand (de Morcerf)

Page Number and Citation: 1003

Explanation and Analysis:

Fernand (de Morcerf) Character Timeline in The Count of Monte Cristo

The timeline below shows where the character Fernand (de Morcerf) appears in The Count of Monte Cristo. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...houses. He sets a scene in which Mercedes, with long, black hair, is speaking to Fernand, her cousin. Mercedes tells Fernand, “for the hundredth time,” that she will not marry him... (full context)

At this, Dantes comes upon Mercedes and Fernand. Not seeing Fernand at first, Dantes embraces Mercedes, and she, like his father, is overjoyed... (full context)

Visibly distraught, Fernand is barely able even to speak to Caderousse, who is noticeably intoxicated. Caderousse prods at... (full context)

Danglars does not immediately reveal to Fernand that he has a plan to punish Dantes and keep him away from the captaincy.... (full context)

Danglars asks a waiter for pen, ink, and paper. He shows to Fernand, and to the half-asleep Caderousse, that he is drafting an anonymous indictment of Dantes, alleging... (full context)

Changes of Identity and Station Theme Icon

...Danglars writes “To the Crown Prosecutor” on the letter, he starts to give it to Fernand. However, Caderousse, stumbling awake at the table for a moment, declares that Dantes is in... (full context)

...to a banquet hall in a group that includes Morrel, the owner of the Pharaon, Fernand (whom Mercedes now refers to as her “brother,” to his chagrin), Danglars, and Caderousse. The... (full context)

...were drunkenly planning yesterday. Danglars pretends that he did nothing to further the scheme, and Fernand, quiet and on the other side of the couple, looks merely unnerved and afraid. Dantes... (full context)

...that, despite his drunkenness, he saw that Danglars merely crumpled it and left it near Fernand. Although Danglars tries to speak to Dantes’ father and Mercedes, saying it must be a... (full context)

...after all. Danglars does not admit to it explicitly, but he does not deny that Fernand could have picked up the paper and given it to the crown prosecutor. Morrel finds... (full context)

...own imprisonment to help him. Mercedes, the narrator remarks, is back in her hut with Fernand in a state of near-swoon, and Fernand is using this opportunity to tend to her,... (full context)

...during the Hundred Days that Dantes would return, asks Morrel to be shipped to Spain. Fernand signs up for Napoleon’s army at Waterloo, and when he leaves Mercedes, she tells him... (full context)

...a man trying to conceal his hand. The Abbe helps Dantes also to see that Fernand and Caderousse were involved in the drafting of the false letter, by prompting in Dantes... (full context)

...these matters. When the Abbe worries aloud that Dantes is plotting revenge against Villefort, Danglars, Fernand, and Caderousse, Dantes begs him to speak on the subject no more, and the Abbe... (full context)

...swears to himself that he will find his father and Mercedes, and seek revenge on Fernand, Danglars, Caderousse, and Villefort. (full context)

Dantes then heads to Les Catalans and asks after Fernand and Mercedes. No one has heard anything of those two either for about 15 years.... (full context)

...divided among Dantes’ “last friends on earth.” The Abbe claims these friends were: Caderousse, Danglars, Fernand, Mercedes, and Dantes’ father. The Abbe notes that Dantes’ father is dead, and that Mercedes... (full context)

...to gain in telling his story, since as he is about to report, Danglars and Fernand were really no friends at all to Dantes. La Carconte, still sitting on the steps... (full context)

...it is, broadly speaking, moving and affecting. Caderousse goes on to describe the fortunes of Fernand and Danglars, who defrauded and imprisoned Dantes out of jealousy, for his fiancee and for... (full context)

...that, though he behaved without honor in the past, he is not as guilty as Fernand and Danglars are. (full context)

Fernand made a career as a soldier, first called into duty with Napoleon’s army, and then,... (full context)

At this, Fernand found yet another fighting post, for the Ali Pasha in Greece, a man to whom... (full context)

Caderousse goes on to say that Mercedes was eventually won over by Fernand, who continually returned to her in Les Catalans. As his position grew in the Spanish... (full context)

...that he and Villefort were never friends, but that he expects Villefort, like Danglars and Fernand, has found fortune from Dantes’ misfortune. Having heard enough, the Abbe hands over the entire... (full context)

...nobles are planning to celebrate the Roman festivities of Carnival. The men are Albert de Morcerf (briefly mentioned in an earlier chapter as the son of Fernand) and someone named Baron... (full context)

...mother, he begs the Count not to mention the work in front of M. de Morcerf, who does not like to speak of it. (full context)

...a knowing and ironical look but betrays no emotion. Very soon thereafter, the Count de Morcerf enters the room. (full context)

Morcerf and Monte Cristo meet for the first time, with Monte Cristo asking more questions about... (full context)

The Countess de Morcerf soon enters. Of course, she is Mercedes, whom the Count has not seen for many... (full context)

...warmly. But the Count replies with cutting disdain, the same as he has used with Morcerf and Danglars. The Count insists that, while other men might be afraid of Villefort as... (full context)

...with Lucien Debray; Hermine and the Baron’s daughter, Eugenie, whom Albert has been considering marrying; Morcerf and the Countess G, who has returned to Paris from Italy; and, eventually, the Count... (full context)

Of note is the arrival of Fernand de Morcerf, who behaves toward the Count with his typical “icy” reserve. But when Haydee... (full context)

...a good investment for his daughter, Eugenie, who does not want to marry Albert de Morcerf. (full context)

When the Count asks whether the name of Morcerf is an ancient heraldry, the Baron admits to him that the Morcerf family “bought” its... (full context)

The Morcerf ball is held on a hot July night, and many gather to celebrate, though they... (full context)

The Count and Mercedes walk outside together and into a greenhouse on the Morcerf property. There Mercedes asks the Count if he’s suffered many “sorrows,” and to this the... (full context)

...Meran commences on a gloomy day in Paris. At the funeral Maximilien is introduced, via Morcerf and their other friends, to Franz. Franz has just returned to the capital, learned of... (full context)

Albert de Morcerf enters, ostensibly to pay court to Eugenie, his fiancée, although the Danglars family is frustrated... (full context)

Albert de Morcerf returns to the house of the Count of Monte Cristo, where, after some discussion, he... (full context)

The chapter opens with Fernand de Morcerf meeting Danglars at the latter’s home. Morcerf is there, finally, to confirm what... (full context)

...shows the Count a blind item from a recent edition saying that an officer named Fernand betrayed the Ali Pasha to the Turks, thus ensuring that the Greeks would lose decisively... (full context)

...is living as a “retired baker.” There, Caderousse says that he has known Danglars and Fernand for many years, although Andrea cannot believe this is true. He says that he wishes... (full context)

...gently as he can, and as a friend: that it is in fact true that Fernand betrayed the Ali Pasha to the Turks for “two thousand purses” and took that money... (full context)

...while Beauchamp stays back in Paris to mind the newspaper for any further news about Fernand. For three days, Albert delights in the hunting and fishing of the Normandy home, and... (full context)

...followed the events closely. First Beauchamp visited the competing newspaper that ran the story connecting Fernand de Morcerf to the Ali Pasha incident—they confirmed that they had documentation supporting the event.... (full context)

Morcerf requests that a commission be set up to adjudicate these claims, and the commission quickly... (full context)

...Chamber of Deputies the story she told Albert several chapters before, in which she witnessed Fernand’s treachery in selling over the Ali Pasha to the Turks to enrich himself. This story,... (full context)

Infuriated, Morcerf says that he must go to the man who set all these things in motion.... (full context)

...standing in the main receiving room, Albert challenges Danglars to admit to his wrongdoing against Fernand. Danglars says that it was really nothing personal, that he was only checking up on... (full context)

...before the opera. Albert quickly goes home to see his mother, who is devastated by Fernand’s social reversals. Albert tells Mercedes he has realized that the Count never eats in the... (full context)

...on Albert, and the Count explains, through tears and anguish, that he vowed revenge on Fernand, and that this revenge will be visited “on the children as far as three or... (full context)

The Count goes on to tell Mercedes that Fernand is one of the men responsible for his false imprisonment, and he shows her the... (full context)

...fighting the duel because of Albert’s provocation of the previous night, but also because of Fernand’s treachery of many years before, in which he stole Mercedes away from the Count. The... (full context)

As Albert and Mercedes prepare to leave for another country, Fernand heads to the house of the Count of Monte Cristo. There he demands information as... (full context)

...inmates. The Count can barely control his satisfaction as Danglars suffers ruinous humiliation, much like Fernand’s, in front of the entire gathered party of Parisian society. Needless to say, the marriage... (full context)

...society gentlemen remark to one another that Villefort’s public “death” is far worse even than Fernand’s suicide or Danglars’ escape from the country. (full context)

...50,000 francs, and the Count says that he is now pardoning Danglars—and that Villefort and Fernand were not so lucky, as the first is now mad with grief, and the second... (full context)

Fernand (de Morcerf) Character Analysis

Fernand (de Morcerf) Quotes in The Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 91 Quotes

Fernand (de Morcerf) Character Timeline in The Count of Monte Cristo