When Faria gives Edmond a treasure map, he makes him promise that he will use it for good. Forced into a knife fight by a band of pirates, Edmond subdues and spares the life of his rival, who repays his mercy by becoming Edmond’s servant. During his years of imprisonment, Edmond learns from Faria’s examples of faith, gratitude, patience, generosity and perseverance. Distinctly spiritual elements favor a Christian worldview.
Friends come to one another’s aid during a fight. Positive elements: In the opening scene, Edmond defies protocol and puts himself in danger to save a man’s life (his compassion is rewarded). With newfound (unexpected) wealth and steely determination, he dons the moniker Count of Monte Cristo and manipulates events in an attempt to bring his enemies to justice. When he is finally liberated from his cell, Edmond heads home. Together, they unravel the frame-up that cost Edmond his freedom, causing the young man to burn with anger and a lust for revenge. He’s a man of God who refuses to let Edmond’s faith die-and educates him in various subjects-as the two spend years covertly chiseling toward the outer wall. That’s when Faria, a Chateau D’If veteran of eleven years, tunnels through Edmond’s floor in a failed escape attempt. But after four years, Edmond begins to doubt any heavenly interest in his plight.
He faces his fate with a deep sense that God is with him, much as the Lord was with Joseph in Genesis 39. And Villefort, chief magistrate and son of the vocal Bonapartist who was to receive the fated letter, preserves his political career.ĭespite being an innocent pawn, Edmond finds himself sentenced to rot in the Chateau D’If, a dank, dark fortress that makes Alcatraz look like the Four Seasons. Mondego will eventually get Edmond’s fiancée. But after returning home, being promoted by his employer and reuniting with Mercedes, his true love, Edmond is betrayed by Mondego and several co-conspirators eager to benefit from framing him for high treason. During their brief stay, Napoleon asks the naïve Edmond to carry a letter back to France. They risk life and limb by rowing to the isle of Elba, home of exiled French general Napoleon Bonaparte. Alexandre Dumas’ classic tale of romance, adventure and revenge in 1815 begins with boyhood friends Edmond Dantes (the humble, virtuous son of a clerk) and Fernand Mondego (the spoiled son of a nobleman, who is insanely jealous of Edmond) seeking medical care for the captain of their merchant ship.