The Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo

by

Alexandre Dumas

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M. de Villefort Character Analysis

The deputy crown prosecutor in Marseille at the start of the novel, Villefort condemns Dantes to prison after he realizes that Dantes could publicize Villefort’s father’s relationship to Bonaparte. From the beginning, Villefort is ruthlessly devoted to his career, which is imperiled by his father’s Bonapartist sympathies. His first marriage, to the Saint-Merans family, is designed to maximize Villefort’s Royalist credentials (thereby counterbalancing his father’s politics). When his first wife passes away, Villefort marries Heloise, believing that this, too, is a socially-prominent match. But as Villefort realizes that Heloise is poisoning members of the family so that their son Edouard will become sole heir to the family fortune (and when it is revealed that Villefort fathered a child with Hermine Danglars out of wedlock), he can no longer protect his family name. He is disgraced at court and falls into madness, just as Dantes wanted.

M. de Villefort Quotes in The Count of Monte Cristo

The The Count of Monte Cristo quotes below are all either spoken by M. de Villefort or refer to M. de Villefort. 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 12 Quotes

The king! I thought him enough of a philosopher to realize that there is no such thing as murder in politics. You know as well as I do, my dear boy, that in politics there are no people, only ideas; no feelings, only interests. In politics, you don’t kill a man, you remove an obstacle, that’s all.

Related Characters: M. de Noirtier-Villefort (speaker), M. de Villefort, Louis XVIII
Page Number: 107
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 80 Quotes

How odd it was! For all the confused feelings that he experienced on seeing [Valentine’s] tears, he also managed to observe Mme de Villefort; and it seemed to him that a faint, dark smile passed briefly across her thin lips, like one of those sinister meteors that can be glimpsed as they fall between two clouds against a stormy day.

Related Characters: M. de Villefort, Mme Heloise de Villefort, Valentine de Villefort
Page Number: 895
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 99 Quotes

But in the end, since I myself failed and was found wanting—more profoundly perhaps than other men; well, since that time I have shaken out their clothes to discover a blemish, and I have always found it; I will say more: I have found it with joy, this evidence of human weakness and perversity.

Related Characters: M. de Villefort (speaker), Baroness Hermine Danglars
Page Number: 1077
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 103 Quotes

You see, the angel for whom you longed has left this earth. She no longer needs the adoration of men – she, who, at this moment, is adoring the Lord. So say your farewells, Monsieur, to these sad remains that she has left behind among us.

Related Characters: M. de Villefort (speaker), Maximilien Morrel, Valentine de Villefort
Page Number: 1099
Explanation and Analysis:
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M. de Villefort Quotes in The Count of Monte Cristo

The The Count of Monte Cristo quotes below are all either spoken by M. de Villefort or refer to M. de Villefort. 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 12 Quotes

The king! I thought him enough of a philosopher to realize that there is no such thing as murder in politics. You know as well as I do, my dear boy, that in politics there are no people, only ideas; no feelings, only interests. In politics, you don’t kill a man, you remove an obstacle, that’s all.

Related Characters: M. de Noirtier-Villefort (speaker), M. de Villefort, Louis XVIII
Page Number: 107
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 80 Quotes

How odd it was! For all the confused feelings that he experienced on seeing [Valentine’s] tears, he also managed to observe Mme de Villefort; and it seemed to him that a faint, dark smile passed briefly across her thin lips, like one of those sinister meteors that can be glimpsed as they fall between two clouds against a stormy day.

Related Characters: M. de Villefort, Mme Heloise de Villefort, Valentine de Villefort
Page Number: 895
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 99 Quotes

But in the end, since I myself failed and was found wanting—more profoundly perhaps than other men; well, since that time I have shaken out their clothes to discover a blemish, and I have always found it; I will say more: I have found it with joy, this evidence of human weakness and perversity.

Related Characters: M. de Villefort (speaker), Baroness Hermine Danglars
Page Number: 1077
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 103 Quotes

You see, the angel for whom you longed has left this earth. She no longer needs the adoration of men – she, who, at this moment, is adoring the Lord. So say your farewells, Monsieur, to these sad remains that she has left behind among us.

Related Characters: M. de Villefort (speaker), Maximilien Morrel, Valentine de Villefort
Page Number: 1099
Explanation and Analysis: