Contents
Chapter 14.
Overview
An inspector-general tours the Château d’If, briefly rekindling Edmond Dantès’s hope when he promises to review the case. The register’s hostile note leads to a bureaucratic refusal, while Abbe Faria’s treasure claims are dismissed as madness. Time grinds on; the governor changes, and Dantès is reduced to a number.
Summary
A year after Louis XVIII’s restoration, the inspector-general of prisons descends into the Château d’If’s dungeons. Edmond Dantès seizes the chance to plead for a trial, explaining his sudden fall from promising future to silent captivity. The inspector seems moved and promises to examine the case file.
In a neighboring cell, the inspector meets the Abbe Faria, who requests a private audience to barter a hidden fortune for freedom. The governor mocks the story; the inspector, primed to expect madness, refuses to engage. Faria, scorned, returns to his calculations, and the visit only deepens the officials’ belief in his insanity.
Reviewing the register, the inspector finds a fresh note branding Dantès a “violent Bonapartist” involved in the return from Elba, and writes the fatal conclusion: “Nothing to be done.” Dantès, briefly sustained by hope, begins marking days on the wall as weeks stretch into months without news.
After a year, the governor is transferred along with Dantès’s jailer. A new governor arrives, learns only the prisoners’ numbers, and erases names; Edmond Dantès becomes simply No. 34, signaling his further dehumanization and the entrenchment of his unjust confinement.
Who Appears
- Edmond DantèsImprisoned sailor; pleads for a trial, gains brief hope, then is ignored and reduced to No. 34.
- undefinedVisits the dungeons; moved by Dantès but defers to a damning register note, decides “Nothing to be done.”
- undefinedEscorts the inspector; mocks Faria’s claims; later transferred to Ham.
- undefinedImprisoned abbe deemed mad; offers vast treasure for freedom, is dismissed and returns to calculations.
- undefinedTurnkey allegedly attacked by Dantès; opens cells during the inspection.
- undefinedReplaces names with numbers, designating Dantès as prisoner No. 34.