Bienvenue à Marseille | 2025 The Count of Monte Christo, read-a-long

That was me! I said that :)

Why thank you 😄 glad it finally came in useful!

And I reckon the person Bertuccio attacked was a servant rather than Villefort, as someone suggested further up the thread - either way, we definitely haven’t had any explanation yet.

Yes very wee done😁. I don't remember anything from Year 9 English!

Has anyone explained yet why Villefort is still alive? Did I miss it?

Ooh well done @DuPainDuVinDuFromage ⭐️

Meanwhile, today’s chapter is very “Chekhov’s poison” - wonder when we’ll see the outcome of that story thread and who it’ll be??

Ooh I know this one! Pyramus and Thisbe were lovers who had to communicate by talking to each other through a wall (presumably they were being kept apart for some reason, can’t remember why though). The peasant artisans in A Midsummer Night’s Dream decide to do the play of Pyramus and Thisbe, with hilarious results…and I know this because we did Midsummer Night’s Dream in Year 9 😄

Oh same! And what is the relevance of the chapter heading? Autocorrect wants to type 'pyjamas'!

Yes! It's a strange chapter, and seemed to have been put in to show that Edmond hasn't lost all his humanity.

I was quite confused at the start of the next chapter too, couldn't remember who Valentine was.

Thanks for putting up the summaries, TonTon.
At the start of the 'Haydée' chapter it began 'The reader will remember (whoever) living in Rue Meslay' and I'm like...nope! Never heard of them in my life.

I thought I would post this weeks Shmoop updates for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

Haydée

• The Count has a beautiful Greek slave named Haydée who we met before in Rome (she was on his arm at the opera).
• This beautiful lady lives in luxurious rooms in the Count's house.
• The Count tells Haydée that she is now a free woman and can go and do whatever she wants to do.
• Haydée is all, "but I want to serve you; I don't ever want to leave."
• The Count tells encourages her to go explore the world and be a free woman, but he makes her promises never to tell anyone about her little secret, the secret of her birth (hmmmmm…).

The Morrel Family

• The Count pays a visit to Max Morrel (Mr. Morrel Sr.'s son).
• Max is currently staying at his sister, Julie's house. Remember that Julie and Emmanuel Herbault (one of Mr. Morrel Sr.'s former employees) are married.
• This is a very happy, cheery household. The Count is really moved by how much love and joy he finds there.
• Max and Julie discuss the anonymous benefactor who changed their father's life and who saved their family.
• The Count says that he thinks he knows who the benefactor was – he believes the benefactor was a man by the name of Lord Wilmore from England.
• Max says that his father believes that the unknown benefactor was that of Edmond Dantès, or perhaps the ghost or spirit of Edmond Dantès.
• The Count's feathers are ruffled by this; he's a bit overcome with emotion.
• He bows out of the happy scene quickly.

Pyramus and Thisbe

• Back at the Villefort's pad, Max and his sweetheart, Valentine de Villefort (Villefort's daughter from his first marriage), talk about how much they love each other and how they'll never get to be together.
• They are lovey-dovey.
• You see, Mr. Villefort Sr. hates the Morrel family, and he wants Valentine to marry Franz d'Epinay.
• Max is poor, and, so, he's not really a "catch" for Valentine.
• The Count arrives at the Villeforts' to pay a visit, and the lovers separate.

True on all points Janina!

Julie sounded more suspicious than Max. Dumas obviously thinks women are better at recognising people, Mercedes recognised Edmund as well. Has to be said, for a master of disguise, he's a bit rubbish at hiding his emotions 😂.

That's a mystery!

Loved The Morrell family chapter!

Do we know who Haydée is? I recognise her from the theatre in Rome, but the Count asked her to keep her origins secret so wondering if there’s another connection?

Exactly @MotherOfCatBoy people are slow at joining the dots!

Found it hard to believe Max hasn’t picked up the clues and figured it out…
(The letter was signed by Sinbad. Franz knows Sinbad is Monte Cristo. Franz told Albert. Max was at Albert’s breakfast for Monte Cristo and all Alber has done is blab on about pirates and bandits and riches!)

Yes, agreed! I think there's a hint that Edmond's good deed will become known at some stage. I liked the mention of Morel's last words. Aw...

Agree @DuPainDuVinDuFromage , feels like we’re getting a sense of Edmond as a person again.

You're not alone @RazorstormUnicorn I'm finding it a challenge and I'm behind again!

Today’s chapter was nice - it seems the real Edmond is still somewhere inside the Count, deeply buried but with the potential to re-emerge!

I've caught up! Phew!

Learning a lot here, many thanks to the historians on this thread. An awful lot of this would be going over my head. I'm needing this chat to interpret a lot of what is going on! And I am struggling a bit with the big cast.

Maybe Edmond's scepticism is the best option after all.

@TonTonMacoute I reckon studying societies that have just been through a revolution, rather than just before, would be fascinating. Expectation v reality and all that. We could learn a lot… oh, wait, we never learn

The writing has turned out to be illegible. Never mind!

Ooh @cassandre no idea! It was carefully enclosed in a glass!
I'll try to put up a photo.

I've just seen from my photo that it isn't the Bordeaux copy. Still cool though :)