1) Here, at last, we’re formally introduced to the Count of Monte Cristo! Does the novel’s title’s focus on this identity imply that Dantès has ceased to meaningfully exist?

2) Why does Dumas keep jabbing at Italians and their culture (unscrupulous touts, unfaithful wives, terrible cuisine) in these Rome chapters?

3) The count discusses his curiosity about the different ways the soul can escape the body; is his descent into obsession with torture a form of death?

4) While reading this chapter, I kept anticipating a plot twist, like back in Chapter 20 (Dantès’ escape from the Château d’If); instead, Dumas drives us directly to the grizzly end promised by the chapter title. Does the structural contrast between these two chapters reflect a difference between Dantès and the count?

Final sentence of chapter:

”The count stood upright and triumphant like an avenging angel.”

previous chapter discussion

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