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

Interesting that after the two Father and Son chapters at the beginning we now have a mother and son and a father and daughter.

Two down two to go!

Saturday's chapter where the Count/Alfred duel situation is resolved was very tense. Feel a bit sorry that Mercedes feels her only future is as a nun, but I might be doing nunnage a disservice.

I didn't think it was too hard to guess whose suicide it would be in today's chapter, but it was exciting nonetheless.

It was very tense and very exciting. Fernand lost everything that mattered to him, his family and his reputation that was built on betrayal and deceit. Yes, we could see it coming, big spoiler alert! But it was a good chapter.

Perhaps it was unintentionally a bit funny when the Count put on his sailor's jacket and cap in a 'now do you recognise me?!' kind of way. He nearly scared him to death!

So, Haydée is spoken about equally as a daughter and as a mistress? We will see.

I heard while ago while listening to a podcast that the sale of this book increased ten fold in France following the release of the film last year, which is what you were saying TonTon, that it might encourage* *people to read the book if they enjoyed the film.

Perhaps it was unintentionally a bit funny when the Count put on his sailor's jacket and cap in a 'now do you recognise me?!' kind of way. He nearly scared him to death!

Edmond is a bit like one of those old music hall quick change artists at times!

Exactly 😅

Exciting chapter! Yes, will be interesting to see how it develops with Haydée - and if we’re carried along - at the moment I’m another one wishing he and Mercedes could get back together.

All the outfits - he’s like Mr Benn! (70s child…)
It’s very farcical in places!
(Maybe this is where Allo Allo draw their cultural inspiration - It is I, LeClerc… )

I'd love to see him get back together with Mercedes. In the 2002 film they changed the plot so Albert was really Edmond's son (and Mercedes married Fernand because she was pregnant when Edmond was sentenced). But sadly I think it is wishful thinking.

Oh no, I don't like Wednesday's chapter. Poor Valentine.

I'm wondering why Valentine is taking medicine meant for Noirtier? She isn't feeling well, but this is making her worse. And she has increased the dose. It's a bit odd. No one is prompting her to do it, I don't think.

Is that the first time we have heard Eugénie Danglars say something? You can see how different she is to Valentine who is a quieter, more acquiescent girl.

It’s all getting very exciting - yesterday’s chapter was satisfying, and today’s makes me want to read on! I think Noirtier has persuaded Valentine to start taking a bit of his medicine every day, to protect her from Mme Villefort’s poison attempts, and I’m guessing it’s going to work, and she’ll survive due to having built up resistance (like Noirtier himself). It seems touch and go though!

Crikey. What won't kill you will make you stronger kind of thing?! You're probably right!

Eugenie Danglars is a dark horse .. and a badass!

Noirtier is a wily old dog who has guessed what's happening as is protecting himself and now Valentine as well.

Eugenie is a much more interesting character than drippy Valentine, but I'm not sure Dumas really likes her and approves of her.

I want to found a Eugenie Danglars appreciation society! I don't think she gets the attention she deserves.

Eugénie isn't in the limelight very much in the book. There is a lot more focus on the men, I think. They are in the foreground.

Another great chapter today. It was interesting to see how the Count didn't factor in Morrel's love for Valentine. She was just going to be another casualty until she mattered to someone he liked.

That was a good line from Morrel, questioning whether the Count was a man, an angel or a god. I think this incident showed that the Count is not infallible and he can't programme his plan of revenge perfectly all the same.

Fair dues to those who guessed what Noirtier was doing to protect Valentine! Very astute of you!

It’s surprising that for once the Count wasn’t in control of the narrative - the Maximilien-Valentine love story has happened all by itself (which I prefer to it being set up by the Count!) and he’s definitely shown himself to be fallible as you say @FuzzyCaoraDhubh .

I’m about to start today’s chapter and was hoping that the Father and Daughter would be Villefort and Valentine (when is he going to find out his wife is the poisoner??) but it looks like we’re switching to Danglars and Eugenie (who I agree is a good character, and underused by Dumas - he seems very much of the view that she’s scary and weirdly masculine, as opposed to the positive impressions that I think we have of her. Incidentally, the fact that she’s in love with a woman is one of the very few things they kept in the new film - albeit they changed Louise d’Armilly’s name to something completely different, for no apparent reason!)

On an almost completely unrelated note, this week’s New Scientist has a lot of quotes (in an article on the 100th anniversary of quantum theory) from a scientist called Cavalcanti - made me smile as I haven’t come across that name elsewhere except in this book and they’re two very different worlds!

That's really funny about Cavalcanti @DuPainDuVinDuFromage 😅😅

Back again to say that I loved today’s chapter and the absolute badassery of Eugénie 😄

I suppose that it is inevitable that women in the literature of this period are all a bit wet, the ones who are interesting have to be bad.

I feel a bit sorry for Eugenie, because her father is awful and her mother doesn't seem to take much interest in her at all either, being wrapped up with playing the stock exchange with her young lover.

The count has so meticulously planned his revenge on the men who wronged him, he believes that god has spared him purely in order that he can take that revenge which sort of gives him a free hand in how to do it. It's interesting that he's beginning to see a few problems along the way, and that it's not all about him after all!

I think the book is famous for being the ultimate book about revenge, but maybe it will have a message about not getting too carried away by it.

I’ve caught up for this week, and looking forward we only have 2-3 weeks left.

I think the whole revenge aspect has been so interesting, because revenge could have been rocking up and burning their house down, shooting them, poisoning everyone - but to go via their loved ones is pretty ingenious. I am enjoying how it is all unravelling though and the Count is having to reconsider as we go along.

We will have to give some thought to what we might pick as our next readalong.

It’s been interesting to see how the revenge through relatives has been handled. It’s been very convenient that none of the younger generation have been at all put out by the breakup of their engagements.

Earlier I wasn’t at all sure what the CoMC thought of Albert and Franz - whether he hated them for their silver spoons - so it’s been nice this week to see his affection for Albert (even if he has disinherited him!).

I don't have much to add but everyone's comments on the Count and revenge are very interesting. It's true as you say @FuzzyCaoraDhubh that he was more than happy for family members like Valentine to be collateral damage in his grand revenge project, until his affection for Morrel made him rethink... in a similar way to how his affection for Mercedes made him rethink the duel with Albert. He's definitely starting to seem less omniscient and more human again.

I'm also fascinated by the character of Eugenie! I really wasn't expecting to meet a 19th c. lesbian in this book! As you say @DuPainDuVinDuFromage Dumas seems to characterise her as 'masculine' and therefore (implicitly) butch lesbian.

As in this quote: 'So, there we have the second point more or less cleared up', said Eugenie, quite undisturbed, expressing as usual an entirely masculine composure in her words and gestures.

It reminds me a bit of late 19th c./early 20th c. theories of homosexuality as 'sexual inversion', where a lesbian would be perceived as a man trapped in a woman's body. I think that was the theory anyway.

But Dumas doesn't seem particularly negative or judgemental in his portrayal of her. And the statement she makes in the 'Valentine' chapter about wanting to be free in body, mind and heart could be interpreted as a feminist declaration on behalf of women in general, not just on behalf of lesbians.

On another topic I'm wondering if the revenge plot is happening with the villains being knocked off in turn according to ascending levels of guilt. So Caderousse (the most minor player) went first, then Fernand. Maybe next it will be Danglars (who hated Edmond Dantes more actively than Fernand did, I think) and finally Villefort, the most educated and privileged of the baddies.

Also, I'm intrigued by the Count aka Abbe Busoni moving into the house next door to chez Villefort and doing renovations on it. For a man who's spent years tunnelling through dungeon walls, this is going to be a piece of cake 😂

A piece of cake, yes! He'll get it done in a jiffy!
I agree with your thoughts on the revenge hierarchy cassandre. I was thinking* *the same, from little fish to big fish.

I'm glad we get to see something of Eugénie in the book. She is really something else. I enjoyed her calling the shots on Danglars. That statement made me smile, the one that cassandre quoted about having the second point more or less cleared up. She's fierce!

Eugenie is as coldly transactional as her father, she realises that she can do a deal but I have to admit that I don't really understand why her terms are for Danglars not to touch Cavalcanti's money. It is interesting that not only is she is not remotely interested in either of the men her father wants her to marry, she's not in love with someone else, like Valentine. It's just music, freedom and Louise!

One of the characters observes that the era of parents arranging their children's marriages is coming to an end, it might be the talk between Danglars and the count, or between Danglars and Fernand, so I assume that this reflects a view held in wider society too.

I realise too that although the love between Morel and Valentine is very sweet, he is 30 and she's only about 18, which is a bit 🤔.