Bienvenue à Paris - The Count of Monte Christo, thread 2

[LeylaOfCircassia]

Welcome back - we now find ourselves in Paris, where we have discovered:

• the Count has unlimited resources
• apparently unlimited patience
• is being rather harsh on Mercedes
• has unmasked adultery and a rather tragic act and reunited father, mother and son, but with an incestuous twist, everyone remains in innocent ignorance
• grandparents have died, there may have been foul play
• a couple of women don't want to marry a couple of men, who in turn, also don;t want to marry them

If you are new and joining us - God Speed.

Previous thread here

Next week, from 31st
Monday - Lemonade
Tuesday - The Accusation
Wednesday - The Retired Baker’s Room
Thursday - Breaking and Entering
Friday - The Hand of God
Saturday - Beauchamp
Sunday - rest

I had never heard of 'tudieu'. It sounds far too polite as a swear word and way too dainty for Caderousse, the big oaf.
That was a dramatic moment when the Count stood over him and proclaimed 'Un!'

I remember learning 'merde' on my Erasmus year in France @TonTonMacoute It was a very educational experience in many respects!

What do you have in your version? It's the moment when the Count grabs Caderousse by the wrist and wrenches his arm. Feel that 'putain de merde' would be very appropriate here as an exclamation! @TonTonMacoute

I’ve also seen Pardieu and Diable… will have to check exactly what Caderrouse said!

Disappointingly, my version has Caderousse say “Tudieu, quel poignet vous avez, monsieur l’Abbé!” As he’s rubbing his arm.

It's Saturday and I am about to read The Journey. Am I ahead, behind or about right?

I have recently read a chapter where someone exclaimed 'Begorrah' which had made me giggle as I have only ever read that in books set in Ireland!!

An event has just occurred which was quite satisfying, but a massive spoiler if not everyone else is there yet so I won't mention it.

My kindle says I am 73% of the way through, I am tempted to just read on but wouldn't have a clue what is happening without you lot to check in with 🤣🤣

I think you are up to speed and will be one chapter ahead if you read 'The Journey' :) @RazorstormUnicorn !

This is where we officially finish today.

I found it hard to resist reading on this week but agree I would miss the readalong insights.

I checked back and my version does use Tudieu! I was obviously so caught up in the action that it completely passed me by! I would definitely have been putain de merding at that point had I been Caderousse.

Its a great chapter, I agree that 'Un!' is chilling, also when the 'Abbé' whispers his name in Caderousse's ear and he knows then that he will be left to die. Cracking stuff.

Interestingly Caderousse also uses the expression tron de l'air which led me down an interesting linguistic byway. Apparently even some French were not sure about its meaning but it seems to be a mis quote of the Provençal expression troun de l'air, used to describe someone who is a bit of a handful.

Brilliant @TonTonMacoute Thanks for that:)
I agree, it was a cracking couple of chapters!

My theory after having caught up, is that the Count’s plan was to hurt those who hurt him through the people that they care about and scandal. I think we might see some back tracking as we see the fall out and he realises that revenge is hurting people he cares for and that actually he is enjoying being around some of these people and ‘living’.

I like your theory Agua. I think it's very plausible.

This week's reading:

Today
The Journey
'Monte Christi gave a gry of joy on seeing the two young men together...'

Tomorrow
Judgement is Passed
'At eight o'clock...'

Wednesday
Provocation
'"So I took advantage of the silence...'

Thursday
The Insult (is this a duel incoming!)
'As they were leaving the banker's, ...'

Friday
Night
'Monte Christo waited, as he usually did ...'

Saturday
The Encounter
'After the departure of [someone], everything in Monte Christo's house...'

I find it interesting that Dumas insists on keeping up the conceit with the reader and call Edmond 'Monte Christo' in scenarios where it isn't strictly speaking necessary at all.

I also really like your theory, @AgualusasLover , about the Count starting to enjoy living, and realise that revenge has ripple effects that extend beyond the people who originally betrayed him.

Despite his party boy persona, Albert is clearly a decent sort and is appalled to learn of his father's past.

I'm one day ahead now and have a question about tomorrow's chapter that I'll save for tomorrow!

So what's going on with Albert?

I think his mother is Mercedes, who was about to marry our Count. His father is Fernand who fancied Mercedes and took advantage of her grief and aloneness to marry her and give her standing in society.

Is the Count behind these stories in the newspaper? And his desire for revenge is hurting poor Albert inadvertently? I quite like Albert, and I think the Count does too.

Yes, Albert is definitely being portrayed in a more sympathetic light since the story moved to Paris. He came across as a bit of a playboy in the chapters set in Italy.

I agree about Albert, Tarahumara!

Today's chapter was thrilling and it's good to see Haydee coming into her own (without any immediate prompting by the Count, as she declares).

However, what surprised me was the fact that the 19th c. French government would have taken Fernand de Morcerf's betrayal of an Ottoman leader so seriously. Would they really have cared so much? Was Fernand serving in an official French government capacity during his time in Janina, and was that why his betrayal of Ali Pasha mattered so much?

I'm quite historically ignorant of this period, so it surprised me that Fernand's dodgy colonial past should come back to bite him like this among French politicians.

I have similar questions @cassandre - I don't know much at all about the French involvement in eastern Europe or how much this sort of thing would be discussed / cared about in the French parliament.

It's a very interesting question! I'm going to hazard a guess that as a representative of the French government at the time, he acted dishonourably and has now been found out. As you suggested, cassandre.

I was wondering if Haydée was acting independently of the Count. It seems so. He seems to set the scene, however, and watch how events unfold.

Thanks Fuzzy, we're thinking along the same lines then.

About Haydee, clearly the Count chose her on purpose, because of her particular family history! So it seems a little absurd on one level for her to insist that she has come to court entirely of her own volition. Even if the Count isn't monitoring exactly how every event unfolds, he's spent a helluva lot of time setting things up.

I thought it was interesting in the Caderousse burglary and murder episode, how quick the Count was to turn events to his own advantage, even though he hadn't originally engineered all the twists and turns himself. His strategy seems to be to take people who have dark connections to each other, throw them into the same circle of acquaintance and then see what happens...

It made Haydee's intervention more effective though when she said she had read the papers and acted in her own right. She certainly has some agency, but she's also part of the Count's master plan.

I assume the Count is the source of the mysterious newspaper announcements.

It's a very interesting question! I'm going to hazard a guess that as a representative of the French government at the time, he acted dishonourably and has now been found out. As you suggested, cassandre.

I don't think he was a representative of the government though, he was basically just a mercenary who was working for Ali Pascha. He was highly paid and respected by him, but betrayed him to his enemies in return for a large fortune, and was quite happy to see his wife and small daughter to be sold into slavery. That fortune bought him a privileged position in Parisian society.

Betraying your master in such a dishonourable manner would have been very much frowned upon, even if it happened in Nowheresville, he is rightly disgraced.

The Count made sure Haydée got all the newspapers! She is definitely a part of his master plan. I think that the Count is behind the newspaper announcements too. I also agree when you said that he throws people with dark connections together to see what comes of it.

I was surprised that he hadn't realised that Andrea would think he was the Count's long-lost son and that was the reason for his generosity towards him. It seems logical for Andrea to think so. It was also interesting that he thought there was someone out to kill him. Who was he expecting that night?

Yes, TonTon. I had forgotten his rise to power. So, Fernand broke the moral code and is unworthy of his position in French politics and society. The sins of his past have found him out.That was a very tense chapter. He really didn't see it coming.

It seems to me that the count is always very clear with the people he is using that he is just helping them as a favour to the Abbé Busoni, and that they are nothing to him personally. Presumably Benedetto/Andrea has been primed by 'Busoni' so the count will have planted into his head whatever idea suited him.

The count is really a puppet master with almost supernatural powers, I think you just have to roll with the story and assume that everything is down to his meticulous planning and organisation! 😀

The Count uses his own alias to achieve his ends?! Jeesh! It's a good idea to just roll along with it 😄