THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO (CHAPS 85-86) THE JOURNEY and THE TRIAL
SummaryAnalysis CHAP 85 THE JOURNEY When the two men reach the Count, they do not tell him what has happened, although the Count can sense that Albert is out of sorts. At this, the Count suggests that Albert travel with him, this time to Normandy, where he has just bought a house and a boat. Bertuccio has previously arranged for post horses to be available all along the way so the Count can reach his home in eight hours. Albert thinks over this proposal for a while, and at the thought of spending time with his friend the Count by the seaside, he agrees. To this end, Albert agrees to go away with the Count. Although very little of their time together is described, it is another of the moments when the Count disappears from the narrative for a while. This happened previously when Dantes first came upon the gold of Monte Cristo, and was moving about Marseille in a variety of disguises, paying visits to places he remembered from his youth. Active Themes Justice, Revenge, and God's Will Theme Icon Love, Devotion, and Redemption Theme Icon Debt and Gratitude Theme Icon The Count and Albert set off that night, 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 the Count believes that some good is indeed coming to Albert there. But on the third day, one of Mercedes' footmen reaches Albert at the Normandy home, saying that a piece has run in another newspaper, not run by Beauchamp, clarifying that the "Fernand" of the previous story of the Ali Pasha is indeed Albert's father. Albert asks the Count and Ali for post-horses right away so he might travel back to Paris and see to his distraught mother, about whom he is deeply worried. It seems that Albert and Beauchamp cannot prevent the knowledge of Fernand's deceit from coming out. The preparations the Count has made for his travel are a somewhat curious development in the text. As far as the novel is concerned, this house in Normandy is no longer important, and it appears that the Count has purchased it solely as a retiring-place for Albert – as though the Count had expected precisely this public humiliation of the Morcerf family. SummaryAnalysis Albert heads directly to the office of Beauchamp, who has been in Paris the last three days and 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. Then Beauchamp went to the Upper House of the Chamber of Deputies, where Morcerf was called upon to defend himself. Although Morcerf's occupation was previously that of a soldier, at the present time he is a member of the political and ruling class in Paris, something of a gentleman-politician. For this reason, then, it is of the utmost importance that he publicly argues that he is not a treacherous and bloodthirsty individual, as these newspaper accounts claim. Active Themes Justice, Revenge, and God's Will Theme Icon Changes of Identity and Station Theme Icon Debt and Gratitude Theme Icon Morcerf requests that a commission be set up to adjudicate these claims, and the commission quickly comes into power, gathering information that day and meeting again that night. Morcerf defends himself, as Beauchamp reports to Albert, but he cannot produce a witness to say he was indeed faithful to the Ali Pasha until the end. At this, a witness against Fernand is announced—Haydee herself, the daughter of the Ali Pasha, and the Count's slave. Finally Haydee is granted an opportunity to tell her story publicly, just as she has told part of her story to Albert in the Count's home on the Champs-Elysees. Here, the crowd seems at rapt attention, waiting for this mysterious woman to speak. Since Haydee's debut in Paris society, she has only sat quietly beside the Count at public functions. Active Themes Justice, Revenge, and God's Will Theme Icon Changes of Identity and Station Theme Icon Debt and Gratitude Theme Icon Haydee recounts for the 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, which Haydee tells passionately and which accords with the independent and mysterious evidence the rival newspaper has received, prompts Fernand to flee the Chamber in anguish. The remaining members vote for him to be convicted of high treason, for going against the Greeks and consorting with the Turks, and Haydee walks very calmly out of the building, having exacted, as she says, revenge for the murder of her beloved father. Haydee believes that she has fulfilled her own plot of vengeance – she has avenged her father's death, after having been granted an opportunity to plead her case at the Chamber of Deputies. This vengeance of Haydee's coincides, of course, with the vengeance of the Count, who also wishes for Fernand to be punished, although for a different crime – the crime of plotting against Dantes. This shared satisfaction in vengeance is yet another bond that unites the Count and Haydee.SummaryAnalysis Albert heads directly to the office of Beauchamp, who has been in Paris the last three days and 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. Then Beauchamp went to the Upper House of the Chamber of Deputies, where Morcerf was called upon to defend himself. Although Morcerf's occupation was previously that of a soldier, at the present time he is a member of the political and ruling class in Paris, something of a gentleman-politician. For this reason, then, it is of the utmost importance that he publicly argues that he is not a treacherous and bloodthirsty individual, as these newspaper accounts claim. Morcerf requests that a commission be set up to adjudicate these claims, and the commission quickly comes into power, gathering information that day and meeting again that night. Morcerf defends himself, as Beauchamp reports to Albert, but he cannot produce a witness to say he was indeed faithful to the Ali Pasha until the end. At this, a witness against Fernand is announced—Haydee herself, the daughter of the Ali Pasha, and the Count's slave. Finally Haydee is granted an opportunity to tell her story publicly, just as she has told part of her story to Albert in the Count's home on the Champs-Elysees. Here, the crowd seems at rapt attention, waiting for this mysterious woman to speak. Since Haydee's debut in Paris society, she has only sat quietly beside the Count at public functions. Haydee recounts for the 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, which Haydee tells passionately and which accords with the independent and mysterious evidence the rival newspaper has received, prompts Fernand to flee the Chamber in anguish. The remaining members vote for him to be convicted of high treason, for going against the Greeks and consorting with the Turks, and Haydee walks very calmly out of the building, having exacted, as she says, revenge for the murder of her beloved father. Haydee believes that she has fulfilled her own plot of vengeance – she has avenged her father's death, after having been granted an opportunity to plead her case at the Chamber of Deputies. This vengeance of Haydee's coincides, of course, with the vengeance of the Count, who also wishes for Fernand to be punished, although for a different crime – the crime of plotting against Dantes. This shared satisfaction in vengeance is yet another bond that unites the Count and Haydee.
France