1. The poisoned glass that Madame de Villefort empties in the middle of the night has somehow partially been refilled—presumably by the count. Is he trying to make Madame de Villefort believe that she’s going insane?

2. As in the identically named Chapter 93, in which Noirtier is secretly administering small doses of poison to her, Valentine is in a drugged state in this chapter, the count having administered a narcotic to her. Do you find the way she’s being treated caring or paternalistic?

3. As previous moderators have noted, the staged death of Valentine clearly brings Romeo and Juliet to mind; are you confident that Dumas can execute a clever twist (as opposed to just rehashing Shakespeare)?

Final sentence of chapter:

“It was then that he heard a voice say: ‘Valentine is dead!’ and a second voice, like an echo, reply: ‘Dead! Dead!’”

previous chapter discussion

Next posts: Saturday, November 11