1. Does the way Maximilien deals with Valentine’s difficult situation change your opinion of him?

2. Maximilien is the fourth character to consider or threaten suicide (after Mercédès, Dantès, and Morrel); is Dumas portraying these characters realistically making them melodramatic?

3. Like Abbé Faria’s, Madame de Saint-Méran’s death serves as a springboard for a character to escape oppressive circumstances; in what ways does Valentine’s ‘imprisonment” resemble or differ from Dantès’?

Final sentence of chapter:

“He got in and, exhausted by the days emotions, but lighter in heart, he got home to the Rue Meslay at around midnight, threw himself on his bed and slept as deeply as though he were blind drunk.”

previous chapter discussion

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