Oh no! So sorry for the late post everyone!

Whoah! Okay, so “poisoning” Valentine I saw coming. Not having Max know about the Count’s plans…kind of saw that coming as well. But replacing the poison on the nightstand after Madam de V. got rid of it was a great unexpected surprise for me! I really liked how this kicked up the tension in the scene a bit.

Discussion Questions:

1. Had you seen this move coming? Do you think the count is just as out for Madam de Villefort as he is for Villefort?

2. It’s clear at the end of the chapter that Max seems not to know about the Count’s plan for Valentine. Dumas is imitating this trope of two lovers and one “dying” has such strong parallels to Romeo and Juliet. Do you think that this is a cheap writing device, or a clever usage of purposefully, implicitly drawing these parallels of this plot device to help build the tension we feel between Valentine and Morrell by using a story that everyone knows so well?

3. I feel like Dumas will set up another scene where he’ll intervene in the suicide of Max just in the nick of time, as we have already heard Max discuss this and it was set up nicely in the past with his Father. Do you see this coming, or do you envision Max learning about the count’s plans differently?

   Final Line:

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

Previous Discussion:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AReadingOfMonteCristo/comments/qliojz/chapter\_101ci\_locusta\_reading\_discussion\_spoilers/

Again, sorry for the late, post, but the next one will be up soon and then we’ll be back on schedule for Wednesday the 10th!