Contents
Chapter 113.
Overview
To master his doubts, Monte Cristo retraces his imprisonment at the Chateau d’If, hears his own legend retold, and receives Abbe Faria’s manuscript, which he reads as a divine sign. He reaffirms his path, evokes Haidee with tenderness, and steadies Maximilian Morrel, binding him to an October rendezvous before departing for Italy.
Summary
Monte Cristo leaves Mercedes with a heavy heart, doubting his vengeance and purpose. To confront his past, he sails to the Chateau d’If and revisits his former cell. The concierge recounts the tale of prisoner No. 34 and the “mad” Abbe, unwittingly narrating Edmond Dantès’s escape and near-death plunge.
Alone in his dungeon, Monte Cristo recognizes the marks of his suffering and the plea he once wrote to preserve his memory. In Abbe Faria’s cell, grief turns to gratitude. The concierge produces Faria’s manuscript on Italy, bearing a biblical epigraph that Monte Cristo takes as a sign, renewing his resolve.
He rewards the concierge lavishly and departs, invoking woe on those who imprisoned or forgot him. Passing the Catalans, he murmurs Haidee’s name, signaling a turn from doubt toward love and mercy.
At the cemetery, Monte Cristo finds Maximilian Morrel sunk in grief. To steady him, Monte Cristo narrates, in parable form, a life mirroring his own: a man robbed of love, entombed for fourteen years, emerging to find his father dead and his beloved faithless, yet eventually finding peace and hope.
He extracts Morrel’s renewed promise: to meet on October 5 at the Island of Monte Cristo, with passage from Bastia on the yacht Eurus, and offers to aid him if he still seeks death. Leaving Morrel with hope, the count departs immediately by steamer for Italy.
Who Appears
- undefinedHaunted by doubt, revisits the Chateau d’If, reclaims Faria’s manuscript as a sign, renews resolve and tenderness for Haidee, consoles Morrel, and departs for Italy.
- Maximilian MorrelGrieving at his parents’ graves; hears the count’s parable, renews his pledge to meet on October 5, and is urged to hope.
- undefinedLeads the count through the cells, recounts No. 34’s escape tale, and provides Faria’s manuscript; rewarded richly.
- undefinedAppears in memory and through his manuscript; his epigraph reignites the count’s conviction and gratitude.
- undefinedAbsent but central in the count’s reflections as he departs her house, deepening his emotional turmoil.