Edmond Dantès
Encyclopedia
Edmond Dantès is the protagonist
and title character of Alexandre Dumas, père
's novel, The Count of Monte Cristo
.
Dumas may have gotten the idea for the character of Edmond from a story which he found in a book compiled by Jacques Peuchet, archivist to the French police. Peuchet related the tale of a shoemaker named Pierre Picaud
, who was living in Nîmes
in 1807. Picaud had been engaged to marry a rich woman, but four jealous friends falsely accused him of being a spy
for Britain. He was imprisoned for seven years. During his imprisonment, a dying fellow prisoner bequeathed him a treasure hidden in Milan
. When Picaud was released in 1814, he took possession of the treasure, returned under another name to Paris and spent ten years plotting his successful revenge against his former friends.
as first mate aboard the merchant ship Le Pharaon (The Pharaoh). At only 19 years old, the young Dantès seems destined for success. Although the trip was successful, the former Captain, Leclère, has fallen ill and died. Dantès relays these events to his patron, M. Morrel, who tells Dantès that he will try to have him named captain. Dantès rushes off to see his father and then his beloved, the young Catalan
woman Mercédès, and the two agree to be married immediately.
, and taken to see the public prosecutor, Gérard de Villefort. De Villefort concludes that Edmond is innocent, and assures him that he will be released. He then asks for a piece of evidence cited in a letter denouncing Edmond to the authorities. The letter claims that on Edmond's last voyage, he made a stopover at the island of Elba
, and received a letter from the deposed Emperor Napoléon. Edmond hands over the letter, which he received in the name of Captain Leclère, and of which the contents are unknown to Edmond. De Villefort throws the letter on the fire, and once again promises Edmond's speedy release. The letter had been addressed to a M. de Noirtier, who, unbeknownst to Edmond, is de Villefort's father. De Villefort has renounced his father, a staunch Bonapartist
, and destroyed the letter to protect himself, not Edmond; to further protect his name, de Villefort sentences Edmond to imprisonment in the dreaded Chateau d'If
, an island fortress from which no prisoner had ever escaped, and to which the most dangerous political prisoner
s are sent. Villefort is aided in this plot by Danglars, Edmond's shipmate who Edmond was promoted over, and Fernand Mondego, a rival suitor for Mercédès' hand.
in the dungeons of the Chateau, Edmond decides to commit suicide by starvation. After nearly two weeks, he hears scratching against the wall of his cell. Concluding that it could only be another prisoner digging his way to freedom, Dantès resolves to live so that they both might gain their freedom. Dantès eventually breaks through into the tunnel and the adjoining cell, which belongs to an old Italian abbé
named Faria
.
teaching Dantès all he knows about mathematics
, science
, languages, philosophy
, history
and economics
. Together, the two determine the names of the men who denounced Edmond as a Bonapartist, and although Faria disapproves, Edmond formulates plans of revenge against the men who had betrayed him. Faria dies before the two can escape, but with his dying words bequeaths to Edmond a secret treasure, hidden on the island of Monte Cristo
. The night of Faria's passing, Edmond exchanges himself for his mentor
in the priest's bodybag, and escapes from the prison. (The jailers, rather than burying him, throw him over the fortress' wall into the sea, weighted with an iron ball tied around his legs. Using a homemade knife, Edmond frees himself of this burden and reaches the surface.) He is rescued from the sea by smugglers, who believe him a shipwreck
victim. At his earliest opportunity, Edmond suggests a stopover and trading of goods at the small island of Monte Cristo, during which he confirms the existence of Faria's treasure. On this and subsequent visits, Edmond becomes very wealthy.
. His old neighbour Gaspard Caderousse is still alive, and under the guise of the Abbé Busoni, Edmond visits him to learn more. Caderousse tells him that Morrel had tried to obtain a fair trial
for Edmond, and how Mercédès pleaded for his release. He also learns that those who had remained loyal to him had suffered greatly, while those who had betrayed him had prospered. Edmond thanks Caderousse for the information, paying him with a large diamond
that he said had come into Edmond's possession while in prison. Realizing that only Morrel had remained loyal, Edmond creates three disguises — an Englishman named Lord Wilmore, a clerk from the firm Thomson and French, and Sinbad the Sailor
— and uses them to save Morrel from bankruptcy
and suicide. Dantès then goes into hiding, spending nine years reforming himself as the Count of Monte Cristo.
By the end of the novel, Edmond had exacted his revenge on all of the men who would have seen him rot in prison. He exposes Villefort and Mondego for their part in the conspiracy, ruining their respective reputations and bringing the police down upon them; Villefort goes insane, and Mondego commits suicide. Danglars is for a time captured by the Italian bandit Luigi Vampa, made to understand Edmond's suffering, and stripped of all of his wealth. Edmond, at the end of the novel, departs with Haydee, the daughter of one of his allies, leaving with words of immortal wisdom: "to wait and hope".
, Jean Marais, Louis Jourdan, Gérard Depardieu
, Richard Chamberlain
and, most recently, James Caviezel
. Dantès has also been portrayed on stage, including in a musical adaptation of the novel. In the Japanese animated television series Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
, which adds the demon known as "Gankutsuou" to Edmond, he is voiced by Jōji Nakata.
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
and title character of Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
's novel, The Count of Monte Cristo
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Count of Monte Cristo is an adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas. It is often considered to be, along with The Three Musketeers, Dumas's most popular work. He completed the work in 1844...
.
Dumas may have gotten the idea for the character of Edmond from a story which he found in a book compiled by Jacques Peuchet, archivist to the French police. Peuchet related the tale of a shoemaker named Pierre Picaud
Pierre Picaud
Pierre Picaud was a 19th century shoemaker in Nîmes who may have been the basis for the character of Edmond Dantès in Alexandre Dumas, père's novel, The Count of Monte Cristo...
, who was living in Nîmes
Nîmes
Nîmes is the capital of the Gard department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France. Nîmes has a rich history, dating back to the Roman Empire, and is a popular tourist destination.-History:...
in 1807. Picaud had been engaged to marry a rich woman, but four jealous friends falsely accused him of being a spy
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...
for Britain. He was imprisoned for seven years. During his imprisonment, a dying fellow prisoner bequeathed him a treasure hidden in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
. When Picaud was released in 1814, he took possession of the treasure, returned under another name to Paris and spent ten years plotting his successful revenge against his former friends.
Dantès, first mate
When the reader is first introduced to Edmond Dantès, he arrives in MarseilleMarseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
as first mate aboard the merchant ship Le Pharaon (The Pharaoh). At only 19 years old, the young Dantès seems destined for success. Although the trip was successful, the former Captain, Leclère, has fallen ill and died. Dantès relays these events to his patron, M. Morrel, who tells Dantès that he will try to have him named captain. Dantès rushes off to see his father and then his beloved, the young Catalan
Catalan people
The Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...
woman Mercédès, and the two agree to be married immediately.
The wedding and the arrest
The marriage never occurs, however. On the night of their nuptial feast, Dantès is arrested as a suspected BonapartistBonapartist
In French political history, Bonapartism has two meanings. In a strict sense, this term refers to people who aimed to restore the French Empire under the House of Bonaparte, the Corsican family of Napoleon Bonaparte and his nephew Louis...
, and taken to see the public prosecutor, Gérard de Villefort. De Villefort concludes that Edmond is innocent, and assures him that he will be released. He then asks for a piece of evidence cited in a letter denouncing Edmond to the authorities. The letter claims that on Edmond's last voyage, he made a stopover at the island of Elba
Elba
Elba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago and the third largest island in Italy after Sicily and Sardinia...
, and received a letter from the deposed Emperor Napoléon. Edmond hands over the letter, which he received in the name of Captain Leclère, and of which the contents are unknown to Edmond. De Villefort throws the letter on the fire, and once again promises Edmond's speedy release. The letter had been addressed to a M. de Noirtier, who, unbeknownst to Edmond, is de Villefort's father. De Villefort has renounced his father, a staunch Bonapartist
Bonapartist
In French political history, Bonapartism has two meanings. In a strict sense, this term refers to people who aimed to restore the French Empire under the House of Bonaparte, the Corsican family of Napoleon Bonaparte and his nephew Louis...
, and destroyed the letter to protect himself, not Edmond; to further protect his name, de Villefort sentences Edmond to imprisonment in the dreaded Chateau d'If
Château d'If
The Château d'If is a fortress located on the island of If, the smallest island in the Frioul Archipelago situated in the Mediterranean Sea about a mile offshore in the Bay of Marseille in southeastern France...
, an island fortress from which no prisoner had ever escaped, and to which the most dangerous political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
s are sent. Villefort is aided in this plot by Danglars, Edmond's shipmate who Edmond was promoted over, and Fernand Mondego, a rival suitor for Mercédès' hand.
Despair and near-suicide
After many long years in solitary confinementSolitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...
in the dungeons of the Chateau, Edmond decides to commit suicide by starvation. After nearly two weeks, he hears scratching against the wall of his cell. Concluding that it could only be another prisoner digging his way to freedom, Dantès resolves to live so that they both might gain their freedom. Dantès eventually breaks through into the tunnel and the adjoining cell, which belongs to an old Italian abbé
Abbé
Abbé is the French word for abbot. It is the title for lower-ranking Catholic clergymen in France....
named Faria
Abbé Faria
Abbé Faria , or Abbé José Custódio de Faria, , was a colourful Goan Catholic monk who was one of the pioneers of the scientific study of hypnotism, following on from the work of Franz Anton Mesmer...
.
The priest and the escape
The two prisoners become very close, with the learned priestPriest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
teaching Dantès all he knows about mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, languages, philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
. Together, the two determine the names of the men who denounced Edmond as a Bonapartist, and although Faria disapproves, Edmond formulates plans of revenge against the men who had betrayed him. Faria dies before the two can escape, but with his dying words bequeaths to Edmond a secret treasure, hidden on the island of Monte Cristo
Monte Cristo
-Places:* Montecristo, an Italian island in the Tuscan Archipelago* Montecristo, Bolívar, Colombia* Monte Cristo Peak, a mountain peak in Washington State, United States* Monte Cristo, Washington, a ghost town in Washington State...
. The night of Faria's passing, Edmond exchanges himself for his mentor
Mentor
In Greek mythology, Mentor was the son of Alcimus or Anchialus. In his old age Mentor was a friend of Odysseus who placed Mentor and Odysseus' foster-brother Eumaeus in charge of his son Telemachus, and of Odysseus' palace, when Odysseus left for the Trojan War.When Athena visited Telemachus she...
in the priest's bodybag, and escapes from the prison. (The jailers, rather than burying him, throw him over the fortress' wall into the sea, weighted with an iron ball tied around his legs. Using a homemade knife, Edmond frees himself of this burden and reaches the surface.) He is rescued from the sea by smugglers, who believe him a shipwreck
Shipwreck
A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....
victim. At his earliest opportunity, Edmond suggests a stopover and trading of goods at the small island of Monte Cristo, during which he confirms the existence of Faria's treasure. On this and subsequent visits, Edmond becomes very wealthy.
Loyalty and betrayal
Upon returning to Marseille, Edmond learns that his father had died and that Mercédès had married Mondego 18 months after he was supposedly executed for treasonTreason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
. His old neighbour Gaspard Caderousse is still alive, and under the guise of the Abbé Busoni, Edmond visits him to learn more. Caderousse tells him that Morrel had tried to obtain a fair trial
Trial
A trial is, in the most general sense, a test, usually a test to see whether something does or does not meet a given standard.It may refer to:*Trial , the presentation of information in a formal setting, usually a court...
for Edmond, and how Mercédès pleaded for his release. He also learns that those who had remained loyal to him had suffered greatly, while those who had betrayed him had prospered. Edmond thanks Caderousse for the information, paying him with a large diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
that he said had come into Edmond's possession while in prison. Realizing that only Morrel had remained loyal, Edmond creates three disguises — an Englishman named Lord Wilmore, a clerk from the firm Thomson and French, and Sinbad the Sailor
Sinbad the Sailor
Sinbad the Sailor is a fictional sailor from Basrah, living during the Abbasid Caliphate – the hero of a story-cycle of Middle Eastern origin...
— and uses them to save Morrel from bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
and suicide. Dantès then goes into hiding, spending nine years reforming himself as the Count of Monte Cristo.
Paris and the Count
Nine years later, Edmond emerges into Parisian society as the mysterious and sophisticated Count of Monte Cristo. Having purchased the deed to the island from whence he obtained his treasure, Edmond is able to place himself in the upper strata of Parisian society and assume the role of one of the most influential men in all of France. As such, he is introduced to several other powerful men, most notably Danglars, who is now a wealthy banker; Mondego, who is now Count de Morcerf and a military hero; and M. Villefort, who is now the Procureur du Roi, one of the most powerful advocates in the country. Furthermore, Mondego has married Mercédès, and the two have a son named Albert. Having established himself in Parisian society, and having distanced himself from Edmond Dantès, the Count is able to formulate his plans of revenge against the men who betrayed him.By the end of the novel, Edmond had exacted his revenge on all of the men who would have seen him rot in prison. He exposes Villefort and Mondego for their part in the conspiracy, ruining their respective reputations and bringing the police down upon them; Villefort goes insane, and Mondego commits suicide. Danglars is for a time captured by the Italian bandit Luigi Vampa, made to understand Edmond's suffering, and stripped of all of his wealth. Edmond, at the end of the novel, departs with Haydee, the daughter of one of his allies, leaving with words of immortal wisdom: "to wait and hope".
Portrayal in adaptations
Edmond Dantès has been portrayed on film many times by actors such as Robert DonatRobert Donat
Robert Donat was an English film and stage actor. He is best-known for his roles in Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps and Goodbye, Mr...
, Jean Marais, Louis Jourdan, Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...
, Richard Chamberlain
Richard Chamberlain
George Richard Chamberlain is an American actor of stage and screen who became a teen idol in the title role of the television show Dr. Kildare .-Early life:...
and, most recently, James Caviezel
James Caviezel
James Patrick Caviezel, Jr. is an American film actor, usually credited as Jim Caviezel. He is known for the roles of Jesus Christ in the 2004 film The Passion of the Christ, Bobby Jones in Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius, Detective John Sullivan in Frequency, Edmond Dantès in The Count of Monte...
. Dantès has also been portrayed on stage, including in a musical adaptation of the novel. In the Japanese animated television series Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
is an anime series loosely based on Alexandre Dumas, père's classic French novel, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo. Spanning 24 episodes, it was produced by Gonzo, directed by Mahiro Maeda and broadcast by Animax across its respective networks in Japan, East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Latin America,...
, which adds the demon known as "Gankutsuou" to Edmond, he is voiced by Jōji Nakata.