Scott-Charles Stikes Through The Count of Monte Cristo Ch. XXXVI-XLIII

After yet another hiatus, Scott-Charles returns to his journey through Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo (CoMC)! I'm kind of hoping to marathon through this through this week, so let's see what happens.

Format change! We'll start with a synopsis, then I'll go through major things that I felt were important. 

In these chapters: After the execution, the party happens. Albert flirts with a girl and ends up getting kidnapped by Luigi's bandits. Albert comes off as silly. Franz gets CoMC to help. CoMC has Albert freed with two words.In return, Albert promises to introduce CoMC to Parisian society at a very specific point in time for breakfast. Months later, 15 minutes before that very specific point in time, people at the table talk about CoMC. Then the Count shows up. We find out things: Morrel's son is there and awesome. Albert is marrying Dangler's daughter. Albert's mother is Mercedès(!). I'm not sure they actually ate breakfast. Also, Albert's father is awesome. Then, CoMC buys a summer home and his steward, Bertuccio, is weird.



- A powerful moment. After the execution, the count declares that "it is only at that one can make a study of character. On the first step of the scaffold, death tears away the mask that one has worn all one's life and the true face occurs" (396). It's not necessarily a new idea, but knowing that the CoMC is plotting something, every vague phrase feels like foreshadowing. But one also wonders when CoMC is going to be revealed for what he is. 

-The fact that CoMC was seconds late for breakfast... that's cool

-Every moment of silent exchange between the Count and Morrel was cool

-The Mercedes revelation was truly mind blowing. I was getting suspicious with that portrait that CoMC notices that looked like Mercedes, but it was dismissed so quickly... I assumed it was just a reminder by Dumas that Mercedes may show up again. I thought she was married to Fernand.

-Overall, even though we've been through almost 500 pages and have a little more than 700 pages left... but I can feel that the book has really started. Tension is building. The CoMC is getting closer to his target and his mask is starting to show some cracks. To everyone else at breakfast, he was being weird toward Morrel's son. And now, Mercedes knows he's alive. To this point, the Count has been invincible and inscrutable. Maybe not much longer.

Scott-Charles