The Count of Monte Cristo

Study Questions

Chap. 1

1. When does the story begin?

2. What ship is coming into port?
3. Who went to meet the ship?
4. Where does it begin?
5. What bad news does the ship bring?
6. Who is the purser of the ship?
7. Who is Edmund Dantes?

8. Why did the ship stop at the Isle of Elba?

9. Who else does Edmund speak to on the Isle of Elba?

10. Who were the two people Edmund was anxious to see?

11. What promotion is Edmund in line for?

12. How does the reader know that Danglars and Edmund are not friends?

Chap. 2

1. What happened to the 200 francs Edmund had given his father when he left three months earlier?
2. How does Edmund react to Caderousse when he meets him?
3. Whom is Caderousse in league with?

Chap. 3

1. Where does Mercedes live?

2. Who else wants to marry Mercedes?

3. What does Mercedes reply to him?

4. After Edmund arrives at Mercedes’s house and Fernand leaves hurriedly, who stops him?
5. Who is the most treacherous of the three?
6. When is the wedding to take place?
7. Why is Edmund going to Paris?
8. Why does Danglars think he is going to Paris?

Chap. 4

1. When does Chapter 4 take place?
2. What important guest arrives?
3. What happens to mar the occasion?

Chap. 5

1. Who are the Royalists?
2. What are the supporters of Napoleon called?
3. What festive occasion is taking place?
4. Who is Villefort’s father?
5. What is Villefort’s profession?
6. What mars this betrothal feast?
7. Who pleads with Villefort on Edmund’s behalf?
8. To whom is the letter addressed that Edmund is to deliver to Paris?
9. What does Villefort do with the letter? Why?
10. Even though Villefort believed Edmund to be innocent, what did he do?

Chap. 6

1. Where is Edmund taken?
2. What does Edmund ask for in prison?
3. What is the result of his request and his entreaties to the jailer?

Chap. 7

1. Who has come to see King Louis XVIII regarding possible trouble by the Bonapartists?
2. How well does the king know him?
3. What does Villefort tell him?
4. How did Villefort get this information?
5. Is this information confirmed?

Chap. 8

1. Does Napolean defeat the King?
2. What happens to Villefort?
3. Where is Edmund?
4. How long did Napoleon reign?
5. During this time, who repeatedly saw Villefort in hopes of having Edmund set free?
6. What happened at Waterloo?
7. Did Morrel continue to try to free Edmund?
8. Who did Villefort marry?
9. While Napoleon was in power, what did Danglars do?
10. What did Fernand do?
11. What did Mercedes do?
12. What happened to Edmund’s father?
13. Who took care of the funeral and his debts?

Chap. 9

1. Describe Edmund’s attitude in prison.
2. How did he decide to kill himself?
3. What causes him to abandon this plan?
4. What action does he take after ascertaining that the noise is from another prisoner and not from a workman?
5. What does he use a lever?

6. What is the result of his work?

7. Why did the prisoner dig to his cell?

9. How would he have escaped?

Chap. 10

1. Who is the other prisoner?
2. How long has he been in the Chateau d’If?
3. Why was the priest imprisoned?
4. How long is the tunnel he dug between their cells?
5. What is the common reputation of the priest?
6. What else has the priest done to pass the time?
7. How ingenious is the priest?
8. What did the priest help Edmund figure out?
9. What do the priest and Edmund plan to do with their time?
10. Describe their new plan of escape.
11. How long does the excavation take?
12. Why is the priest unable to escape?
13. Does Edmund escape without him?

Chap. 11

1. What does the priest show Edmund the next day?
2. What is Edmund’s reaction?
3. Does the priest convince Edmund of the existence of the treasure?
4. Then what does the priest do?

Chap. 12

1. Where is the island of Monte Cristo and what is it like?
2. What happens to the priest?
3. How is he prepared for burial?
4. What does Edmund do with the body?
5. What is Edmund’s next step?
6. Does his plan work?

Chap. 13

1.Does Edmund manage to get out of the sack?

2.Where does he head?

3.What does he do when he reaches the island?

4.What is the weather like?

5.How does Edmond get off the island?

6.Why do the smugglers keep him?

7.How long had Edmond been in prison?
8. Does Edmond think anyone he had known in the past will recognize him?

9. Does Edmond go immediately to the Isle of Monte Cristo?

10. What is his first opportunity to get to the island?

Chap. 14

1. After landing on the Isle of MC, how does Edmond get away from the others?
2. Who insists on going with him?

3. How does Edmond get rid of him?

4. How does Edmond manage to stay on MC?

5. What does Edmond find in the chest?

Chap. 15

1. What is Edmond’s next step?
2. What does Edmond do when they reach Leghorn?
3. How does Edmond get to MC?
4. What news does Jacopo bring to him?
5. Where does Edmond go next?

Chap. 16

1. As Edmond sets out to avenge his enemies, who is the first person he visits and what is that person doing now?
2. How is Edmond disguised?
3. How does the priest know of Edmond Dantes?
4. What does Caderousse know about the death of Edmond’s father?
5. What warning does Caderousse receive from his wife?

6. What does Caderousse say about Fernand and Danglars?

7. What does Edmond learn from Caderousse about M. Morrel?

8. What became of Danglars?

10. What became of Fernand?
11. How long did Mercedes wait for Edmond?
12. How does the priest react to Caderousse’s greed?
13. What does the priest ask Caderousse for?

Chap 17

1.How is Edmond disguised in this chapter?

2.Whom does he go to see? Why?

3.Where does the mayor send him?

4.What offer does Edmond make to Boville?

5.What is the unusual commission he asks for?

6.What does Edmond steal?

Chap. 18

1. How many employees does Morrel have left?
2. What is Morrel’s last hope?
3. What bothers Morrel the most?

4. What news does Julie, his daughter, bring at this point?

5. What does Morrel insist upon doing in spite of Penelon’s objections?

6. How long does Emond, disguised as the Englishman, give Morrel to pay the bills?
7. What strange arrangement does Edmond make with Julie?

Chap. 19

1. Why does Morrel think that the firm of Thomson and French had extended his credit?
2. Why does Morrel go to Paris?
3. Did Morrel get the credit from Danglars?
4. Who is Maximilien?
5. Why does Julie write to Maximilien?

6. Who confronts Julie and why?

7. What does Morrel plan to do to avoid dishonor?

8. What does Morrel ask his son to do?
9. What occurs just as Morrel is about to shoot himself?
10. What does the red purse contain?
11. Why does Morrel think the purse look familiar?

12. What else has Edmond done for Morrel?

14. What are Edmond’s parting words as he leaves Marseilles?

Chap. 20

1. Who are the 2 young French gentlemen who arrive in Rome and why are they there?
2. What do they have trouble getting?

3. What is Albert’s attitude?

4. Who else is staying in the same hotel?

5. What does Monte Cristo do in order to meet them?

6. What is the main subject the 3 of them discuss when they meet?
7. What is Monte Cristo’s main theory concerning vengeance?
8. When one of the condemned prisoners is pardoned at the site of the execution, how does the other react?

Chap. 21

1. What do the three do after the execution?
2. Does Monte Cristo continue to accompany the other two?
3. Whom do Albert and Franz keep running into?
4. After flirting with the ladies for some time and after giving one of them a letter, what does Albert receive?
5. What does Franz do that evening?
6. What happens shortly after Franz arrives at the ball?

7. What does Franz learn about Albert from the letter?

8. Who is the famous leader of the bandits?

9. Is Franz able to come up with enough money?
10. What is his next step?
11. Does Monte Cristo know the messenger who brought the letter?
12. Who was the woman in the carriage?
13. Where is Albert being held?
14. How is Monte Cristo able to secure Albert’s release?

15. Is Albert grateful to Monte Cristo?

16. Does Monte Cristo accept them?

17. What arrangements are made?

Chap. 22

1. When does this chapter take place?
2. Where does Albert live?
3. Who are his parents?
4. Does Albert expect Monte Cristo to appear?
5. Who else is to be present?
6. What relationship exists between Chateau-Renaud and Maximilien?
7. Does Monte Cristo arrive on time?
8. Who is Albert’s fiancé?

9. Where does Maximilien’s sister live?

10. Who has arranged for Monte Cristo’s house?

11. Who has arranged for Monte Cristo’s theatre boxes?

12. Does Monte Cristo have anyone else with him in Paris?
13. How do the guests at the lunch react to him?

Chap. 23

1. What did Albert and Monte Cristo do after the guets left?
2. What in particular did Monte Cristo notice?
3. Whom did they go to visit?
4. How does Monte Cristo treat Fernand?

Chap. 24

1. Where is Monte Cristo’s house located?
2. Where does Monte Cristo buy his second house?
3. How does Betuccio react when MC wants him to go to Auteuil with him?
4. Who was the former owner of the house in Auteuil?
5. Why does the garden frighten Bertuccio?

Chap. 25

1. Who stops to see MC in Paris?
2. What does MC instruct Bertuccio to buy?
3. After Bertuccio buys them, what else does MC instruct him to buy, and in whose name?
4. Whom does MC go to visit?
5. Who is visiting Madame Danglars?
6. What causes Madame Danglars’s anger?
7. Is Monte Cristo pleased? Why or why not?

8. How does he gain the favor of Danglars and his wife?

9. What is MC’s next plan?

Chap. 26

1.Who visits MC the next day in Paris?
2. What impression of himself does MC give to Villefort?
3. Who is now living with Villefort?

Chap. 27

1. Whom does MC visit in this chapter?
2. What does he tell her?

3. What is the one thing MC asks her not to do?

Chap. 28

1. When MC visits the Morrels, who opens the door?
2. Who else is still with the Morrels?
3. While Maximilien, Julie and her husband Emmanuel, and MC are discussing “Sinbad, the Sailor”, what surprising statement does Maximilien make?
4. Is MC able to remain calm when he hears this?
5. Do any of them guess his identity?

Chap. 29

1. Whom does MC meet at the Villeforts?
2. What subject do MC and Mme. De Villefort discuss?
3. What is the outcome of their discussion?

Chap. 30.

1. Who calls on MC?
2. Who objects to the forthcoming marriage of Albert and Eugenie Danglars?
3. Why is Albert going to marry her?
4. Why do MC and Albert plan that the Morcerfs will be out of town for the dinner party MC is planning?
5. Whom does MC say he is expecting a visit from the next day?

Chap. 31

1. Who sends Cavalcanti to
2. What is the cause of Cavalcanti’s unhappiness?
3. What surprise does MC have for Cavalcanti?
4. Viscount Andrea Cavalcanti has a letter of introduction signed by whom?
5. Are the two really related?

Chap. 32

1. Where does this chapter take place?
2. Who is secretly waiting for whom?
3. Why is the meeting delayed?
4. How does Valentine let Maximilien know why she is delayed?

5. What do the two girls talk about?

6. What would Eugenie really like to do?

7. Why does Mme. De Villefort want Valentine to enter a convent instead of getting married?

Chap. 33

1. Who is Nortier’s servant who has been with him for more than 25 years?
2. What is Nortier’s physical condition?
3. How does he communicate?
4. With whom can he communicate?
5. Who is Nortier’s favorite?
6. Why is Nortier agitated when M. and Mme. De Villefort tell him that Valentine is to marry Franz?
7. What does Valentine ask of her grandfather?
8. Why does Nortier send for a notary?

Chap. 34

1. Why does MC stop at the Villeforts’?
2. How does Villefort react when he learns the address of MC’s house in Auteuil?
3. How does Danglars lose 500,000 francs?
4. Did Don Carlos really escape and return to Spain?
5. How much did Danglars lose?
6. Who is responsible for the false story?

Chap. 35

1. What did MC have done to his house in Auteuil?
2. Who are MC’s dinner guests?
3. What does Andrea hope to find in Paris?
4. Whom does Bertuccio recognize?
5. How does MC make Villefort and Mme. Danglars uncomfortable?

Chap. 36

1. Who surprises Andrea?
2. How does Caderousse blackmail Andrea?

Chap. 37

1. How does M. Danglars react to Lucien Debrary this evening?
2. How much does Danglars know about his wife’s activities?
3. Why is he angry this evening?

Chap. 38

1. What impression does MC give to Danglars about Cavalcanti?
2. How does the Count de Morcerf enter into the conversation?
3. How does Danglars react to this information?

Chap. 39

1. What does Villefort tell Mme. Danglars when she visits him the next morning?
2. What does Villefort propose to do?

Chap. 40

1. What does MC tell Albert when the latter visits him?

Chap. 41

1. What does M. Villefort do after his wife and daughter go to the ball?
2. Who comes to see him and why?
3. What is Mme. De Saint-Meran’s wish?
4. What does Maximilien propose?
5. What will Maximilien do if she marries Franz?
6. Does Valentine change her mind?
7. When Valentine does not appear for their rendezvous, what does Maximilien do?
8. Whom does he overhear talking in the garden and about what?
9. What does Maximilien do?
10. What is the only way Maximilien can get out of the house?
11. What do Valentine and Maximilien tell Noirtier?
12. After Valentine leaves, what does Noirtier tell Maximilien?

Chap. 42

1. What does M. de Villefort propose to Franz immediately after the burial?
2. What news does the notary bring?
3. Why does Noirtier ask to see Franz?
4. Whom does Noirtier reveal as the man who killed Franz’s father?

Chap. 43

1. What is Franz’s reaction to Noirtier’s confession?
2. How does Noirtier change his will again?
3. What is the purpose of the visit of the Count de Morcerf to Baron Danglars?
4. What is Danglars decision?

Chap. 44

1. Why does Noirtier send for Maximilien?
2. What happens to Barrois suddenly?
3. Who does the doctor think killed the three victims?

Chap. 45

1. Who has left a letter for Andrea instructing him to come to see him the next morning?
2. What does Caderousse want?
3. What is Caderousses’s plan?
4. What else does Caderousse get from Andrea?

Chap. 46

1. How does MC learn of the impending robbery?
2. What does MC do instead of going to the police?

3 Does MC really think someone wants to rob him?

4. How does MC disguise himself after he recognizes Caderousse?

5. Who liberated Caderousse from prison?
6. Who does Caderousse think Benedetto is?
7. What does Caderousse do when Abbe Busoni tells him he is going to turn Caderousse and Benedetto in to the police?
8. What does Abbe Busoni demand of Caderousse?
9. What happens to Caderousse after Abbe Busoni lets him leave?
10. Who comes to his aid?
11. What does Caderousse do before he dies?
12. What does Abbe Busoni reveal to him just before he dies which causes him to repent?

Chap. 47

1. What does MC propose to Albert after it is announced that Andrea, instead of Albert, will marry Eugenie?
2. What does Albert receive the third day after arriving in Normandy>?

Chap. 48

1. What reaction had the information about Morcerf’s betrayal caused in the chamber?
2. As Morcerf is defending himself, who appears in the vestibule to support the accusations against him?
3. Faced with this testimony, how does Morcerf react?

Chap. 48

1. What does Albert intend to do?
2. What does his friend Beauchamp advise him to do?
3. Who do Beauchamp and Albert think revealed Albert’s father?
4. What surprising information does Baron Danglars give them?

Chap. 50

1. What is arranged at the opera that night?
2. Who are Albert’s seconds?
3. Who are MC’s seconds?

Chap. 51

1. Why does Mercedes visit MC that same night?
2. Does she know the true identify of MC?
3. Does she know about Fernand’s complicity in Edmund’s being falsely imprisoned?
4. What does MC promise her?
5. What is MC’s reaction?

Chap. 52

1. Why does MC demonstrate his shooting skill to Albert?
2. What surprising move does Albert make the morning of the duel?

Chap 53

1. What do Albert and his mother decide to do?
2. What does Edmund say in the letter they receive?

Chap. 54

1. How does MC know Albert and his mother were planning to leave?
2. How does MC react to seeing Haydee again?
3. Who arrives to speak to him?
4. How does Morcerf react when he discovers that MC is really Edmund Dantes?
5. What does Morcerf do when he arrives home and discovers his wife and son are leaving him?

Chap. 55

1. What kind of medicine had Valentine been taking?
2. Why do Mme. Danglars and Eugenie visit the Villeforts?
3. Is Valentine well?
4. To whom does Maximilien go for help?
5. What has caused Valentine to lose consciousness?
6. Why doesn’t she die?
7. Who moves in next door?

Chap. 56

1. What is the occasion for the gathering in this chapter?
2. How does MC interrupt the signing?
3. Is Andrea arrested?

Chap. 57

1. What does Eugenie plan to do?
2. How did Eugenie get passports?

Chap. 58

1. How did Andrea show his foresight when he slipped away from the Danglars?
2. After carefully disguising his route, what did Andrea intend to do?
3. What interrupted his plans?

Chap. 59

1. How well is Valentine recuperating?
2. Who visits Valentine during the night?
3. Why does he visit her?
4. Who is the poisoner?
5. Does Valentine expose her stepmother?
6. What is MC’s plan?

Chap. 60

1. Who discovers that Valentine is apparently dead?
2. Who appears at the scene whom the other members of the family don’t know?
3. What does he tell them?
4. Who reveals the murderer to Valentine?
5. What does Villefort promise?

Chap. 61

1. Who visits Danglars?
2. What has Danglars been doing?
3. How does MC get the money from him?
4. Who arrives just as MC is leaving?
5. Is Danglars able to pay him?
6. When does he promise him the money?
7. Is Danglars going to be able to pay him then?

Chap. 62

1. What event is taking place as this chapter opens?
2. What is Maximilien doing as MC breaks into the room?
3. What startling news does MC reveal to Maximilien?

Chap. 63

1. Where are Albert and his mother living?
2. Who is the mysterious person who has rented a room in the same hotel?
3. Who is the mysterious woman who visits him?
4. What advice does Debray give her?
5. Why is Mme. Danglars disappointed?
6. How did Albert acquire 1000 francs?
7. Where will Mercedes live whileAlbert is in the Army?
8. Who watches as Mercedes leaves Albert on her way to Marseilles?

Chap. 64

1. Who visits Benedetto in prison?
2. Who does Bnedetto think the visitor is?
3. Who does Benedetto think his real father is?

Chap. 65

1. What does Villefort do to occupy his time after Valentine’s death?
2. What does Villefort tell his wife just before he leaves to demand the death penalty for Benedetto?

Chap. 66

1. What shocks the courtroom?
2. How does Villefort react?

Chap. 67

1. What does Villefort resolve to do?
2. What does Villefort discover when he reaches home?
3. Who is with Noirtier?
4. What does he do when Villefort confronts him?
5. What was Dantes’s reaction when he saw the two bodies?
6. What is Villefort’s reaction?
7. What is MC’s next step?

Chap. 68

1. Where did MC and Maximilien go when they left Paris?
2. Whom does MC visit there?

Chap. 69

1. Does MC expect to ever see Mercedes again?
2. Where is the next place MC visits?
3. What does the prison guide give MC?
4. What was the result of MC’s visit to the prison?
5. Do Maximilien and MC now leave Marseilles?

Chap. 70

1. Where is MC going?
2. Who else has gone to Rome? For what purpose?
3. Who else is aware of this?
4. What happens to Danglars?

Chap. 71

1. What are the unusual circumstances of Danglars’s captivity?
2. What is the bandit’s plan?

Chap. 72

1. Who appears in the prison when Danglars runs out of money?
2. What does this person do?
3. What happens to Danglars?

Chap. 73

1. Where does this chapter take place?
2. What is MC seeking to determine about Maximilien?
3. When Maximilien swallows the substance he believes will kill him, whom does MC bring in?
4. What is Haydee going to do if MC kills himself?
5. How does Mc interpret this?
6. What two words of the Count express what is contained in human wisdom?