1) u/nicehotcupoftea made a good point a few years ago about how this chapter’s French title, “Apparition,” carries the rich double meaning of appearance and specter; why do you think some English translations title the chapter “The Colosseum”? Is anything gained or lost in doing so?

2) Is there significance to the fact that Dantès’ presumed alter egos tend to appear in enclosed spaces (e.g., Simbad in the grotto, the cloaked stranger in the Colosseum portico, the vampiric man in the opera box)?

3) Do you think it’s a matter of chance that Franz overhears the conversation in the Colosseum portico? Or is it by design of the cloaked stranger?

Final sentence of chapter:

”The man who had just entered was none other than the cloaked figure in the Colosseum, the stranger in the box at the theater and his mysterious host on the island of Monte Cristo.”

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