Welcome! Since this is my first dance with TCoMC, my aim is simply to generate discussion questions from elements of each chapter that interest me (and hopefully others!). There might be some thinly disguised musings, perhaps even some hot takes; I’ll be eager, in a year’s time (when I am old, wise, adrift, pensive, broken, nostalgic, crabby, hungry?) to laugh jadedly and cruelly at the folly of these, my youthful scribblings.

First, though, if you’re along for the ride, say hi in the replies! What made you want to read TCoMC? Which version are you reading? And what time zone or geographic locale are you in?

On to the questions!

Title

1) I love analyzing a title—the first point of contact with a novel! The Count of Monte Cristo sounds straightforward enough—surely the story of a Mediterranean nobleman (unless “Count” is ironic…). But why does Dumas involve the island of Monte Cristo? Is its name an allusion? A hint of central themes?

Chapter 1

1) The novel opens with the death of Captain Leclère and the apparent metaphorical birth of Captain Dantès, which Morrel accepts (“[t]he old must give way to the young”). Does Dantès’ rise seem like a natural progression or, as Danglars sees it, a usurpation?

2) The first time we meet Dantès, we’re told that he’s young but that he has “the calm and resolve peculiar to men who have been accustomed from childhood to wrestle with danger.” Is there tension between his youth and his poise? Can the maturity he demonstrates in his command of the ship, devotion to his father, and honesty with Morrel about Danglars win out against any latent immaturity or naïveté? Do there seem to be mysterious, terrible details from his past roiling beneath the surface?

3) Plot intrigue from the jump: thoughts on who (Dantès or Danglars) is lying about the letter?

4) Cute Napoléon cameo! The story opens on February 24, 1815, two days before Napoléon escaped Elba on a vengeful quest to reclaim power. Will there be parallels between Dantès and the Grand Marshal?

Extra extra!

4) Meta-question: should the fact that TCoMC was originally published in serial form (over $eventeen month$) affect our sense of its literary merit?

5) Have you ever visited the Château d’If? If so, what was it like??

Final sentence of chapter:

“Yet there were very different expressions in these two pairs of eyes following the one man.”