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Story so far

The Count of Monte Cristo · the whole book

Been away from the book? Here's where things stand — and nothing past your current chapter.

The book so far

Long ago the sailor Edmond Dantès, betrayed by Danglars, Fernand and Caderousse and buried in the Château d'If, escaped after fourteen years to return as the Count of Monte Cristo and destroy the three who wronged him. Fernand shot himself; Villefort's house collapsed into madness and death; Danglars was starved into repentance in the catacombs, then forgiven and freed white-haired. Along the way the Count secretly saved Villefort's daughter Valentine by a death-mimicking pastille, and, believing her betrothed Maximilian Morrel inconsolable, bound him to a month-long pact: cured of grief by October 5, or given the means to die.

Where things stand

This chapter is the resolution. Morrel lands on the Island of Monte Cristo resolved to die, refuses every temptation to live, and swallows the Count's draught murmuring Valentine's name — only for the Count to open a door and reveal Valentine alive, hidden and healed there all along. 'Happily, I vanquished death,' he says; Morrel wakes to her smile and falls to his knees as before a vision. Then the Count discovers his own heart: offering to free Haydée and restore her royal name, he is answered that she would die without him, and she confesses she loves him 'as a father, brother, husband.' Embracing her as God's reward and pardon, he sails away with her at dawn. He leaves the lovers a felucca to carry them to Noirtier at Leghorn to be blessed and wed, and a letter bestowing his whole fortune on them — entreating Valentine to give her father's wealth to the poor, confessing his own Satanic pride now humbled, and closing with the book's final wisdom: 'Wait and hope.' Valentine, learning at last of her father's madness and brother's death, weeps even in her joy, and the two watch the Count's white sail vanish over the Mediterranean — 'adieu, my father; adieu, my sister.'

Who matters now

Frank, gifted young mate of the Pharaon, adored by his crew and on the brink of a captaincy and marriage.

Lately — Watching from the shadows as Danglars is starved to repentance, the Count reveals himself as Edmond Dantès, pardons his last enemy, and spares his life—having restored the stolen millions to the poor. On his island, the Count works his last miracle—restoring the living Valentine to Maximilian—accepts Haydée's love as his pardon, and sails away, leaving the words 'Wait and hope.'

Gérard de Villefort

Ambitious royalist deputy prosecutor of Marseilles who has disowned his Bonapartist father to secure his career.

Lately — Presiding at the trial he built, Villefort is destroyed when the accused names him as father—and, crushed, publicly confesses his guilt and yields himself to justice. Racing home to save the wife he condemned, Villefort finds her dead and their son murdered beside her; the Count unmasks as Edmond Dantès, and the ruined magistrate goes mad.

The Pharaon's calculating supercargo, whose envy of Dantès curdles into hatred.

Lately — Starving in his cell, Danglars learns the bandits' terms: every meal costs 100,000 francs, drafted on his Roman credit—a scheme to bleed away his stolen five millions bite by bite. Starved to the edge of death and stripped of his millions, the repentant Danglars is pardoned by the Count—who reveals himself as Edmond Dantès—and freed, his hair turned white.

Albert de Morcerf

The young viscount son of Fernand and Mercédès, bound for the Roman Carnival with his friend Franz.

Lately — Penniless, Albert sells himself as an army substitute for 2,000 francs, sends his mother safely to Marseilles, and sets off to earn an honorable name in Africa. Glimpsed at the Marseilles quay in a lieutenant's uniform, Albert sails for Algiers to earn an honorable name, waving farewell to his weeping mother.

Maximilian Morrel

Morrel's upright soldier son, called home in the crisis, who agrees to live and rebuild the family honor.

Lately — Grieving at his father's grave, Maximilian hears the Count's veiled tale of still deeper sorrow and renews his oath to come to the Island of Monte Cristo on the fifth of October. Come to the Island of Monte Cristo to die, Maximilian swallows the Count's draught—and wakes from its trance to find Valentine alive and his, restored by the Count's final miracle.

Dantès's beautiful, steadfast Catalan betrothed, loyal to Edmond and only sisterly to Fernand.

Lately — In a bare, cold lodging, the fallen countess bears her poverty with a queen's dignity, parting from Albert as he sells himself to the army and she retires to Marseilles. Alone in the old Marseilles house after seeing Albert sail to Africa, Mercédès weeps before Edmond, blaming only herself, refusing to reproach him, and asking nothing but her son's happiness.

Villefort's Bonapartist father, the Paris conspirator to whom Dantès's fatal letter was addressed.

Lately — Carried up to Valentine's deathbed, the anguished Noirtier names the assassin by eye-sign to Villefort alone—and backs the pact of secret vengeance with a sinister joy. Calmed since the abbé's visit, Noirtier fixes the poisoner and his son with a menacing, hate-filled gaze from his window, silently reminding Villefort of his sworn vengeance.

Valentine de Villefort

Villefort's gentle, persecuted daughter, secret love of Maximilian Morrel, betrothed against her will to Franz d'Épinay.

Lately — The Count's pastille casts Valentine into a death so perfect that stepmother, nurse, and doctor all believe her a corpse—cold, pulseless, and pale as wax. Hidden alive on the island by the Count since her feigned death, Valentine is revealed to the reviving Maximilian—reunited with her love and betrothed, though grieved by her family's ruin.

Recent & key events

the Supreme Being — A named person introduced in chapter 89 of Edmond Dantès’s unfolding story. Waterloo — A named person introduced in chapter 13 of Edmond Dantès’s unfolding story. the Hundred Days — A named person introduced in chapter 13 of Edmond Dantès’s unfolding story.

The world

The grim island fortress-prison off Marseilles where Dantès is buried alive without trial.

Monte Cristo Island

A small deserted rock island between Corsica and Elba, hiding Cardinal Spada's treasure in its caves.

A named person introduced in chapter 1 of Edmond Dantès’s unfolding story.

the Piazza del Popolo

A named person introduced in chapter 31 of Edmond Dantès’s unfolding story.

A named person introduced in chapter 37 of Edmond Dantès’s unfolding story.

A named person introduced in chapter 26 of Edmond Dantès’s unfolding story.