#the cristo account

[wanna-bewitch-you]

“‘How attentively he looked at you.’

‘At me?’

‘Yes.’—Albert reflected. ‘Ah,’ replied he, sighing, ‘that is not very surprising; I have been more than a year absent from Paris, and my clothes are of a most antiquated cut; the count takes me for a provincial.’”

#tumblr book club #count of monte cristo #the count of monte cristo #the cristo account

[ghost-and-a-half]

so that cristo account huh?

#the scheming is so funny to me i'm sorry danglars is literally a cartoon villain #he's just fuming about dantes who is for all intents and purposes as goody two shoes as a disney princess so far #i believe dolphins wave at him when he's at sea #seagulls would tie his shoes #count of monte cristo #the cristo account #edmond dantes #fernand mondego #danglars #caderousse #mercedes dantes #she is to me

[pedanther]

The Calendar of Monte Cristo: Chapter 1

When we were reading The Count of Monte Cristo last year, it occasionally bugged me that I couldn't find a timeline of the events - whenever I went searching for one, all I could find were timelines of the writing and publication of the novel. So this time around I'm going to make notes and maybe make my own.

c.1785-1791: Napoleon Bonaparte garrisoned at Valence. Policar Morrel serves in the same regiment. [H]

c. 1790: Danglars born. [R]

c. 1796: Edmond born. [R]

some time before 24 February 1815: Maximilien Morrel born. [R]

c. December 1814: Pharaon departs Marseille for a voyage to Naples, Trieste and Smyrna. [R]

Final voyage of Captain Leclère. Pharaon stops at Elba and Edmond entrusted with message. [R]

24 February 1815: Pharaon arrives Marseille. Edmond speaks to M. Morrel, visits father and Mercédès. [E]

E: date explicitly stated in text H: historical event R: located relative to another event

#the cristo account #the calendar of monte cristo #chapter 1 #the count of monte cristo #alexandre dumas #not a reblog

[duchesspeggy]

#the cristo account #the count of monte cristo #good for her #haidee #fernand mondego #le comte de monte cristo

[vickyvicarious]

Danglars looked at the two men, one after the other, the one brutalized by liquor, the other overwhelmed with love. "I shall get nothing from these fools," he muttered; "and I am very much afraid of being here between a drunkard and a coward. Here's an envious fellow making himself boozy on wine when he ought to be nursing his wrath, and here is a fool who sees the woman he loves stolen from under his nose and takes on like a big baby. Yet this Catalan has eyes that glisten like those of the vengeful Spaniards, Sicilians, and Calabrians, and the other has fists big enough to crush an ox at one blow. Unquestionably, Edmond's star is in the ascendant, and he will marry the splendid girl—he will be captain, too, and laugh at us all, unless"—a sinister smile passed over Danglars' lips—"unless I take a hand in the affair," he added.

I forgot just how much I love schemey!Danglars. He is so unnecessarily over the top, it's amazing.

He also feels really strongly like he just stepped out of a play. Like, several of the others feel like they could be in a play; Danglars feels like he belongs in one and just happens to be in a novel instead. The ways he is described moving I can almost see him onstage. And this line especially feels so very much like an aside to the audience that the other characters on stage with him cannot hear. It's pretty neat actually.

#the cristo account #danglars #tcomc

[notcrazylimitededition]

To everyone following a substack rn, I besiege you: Reblog obnoxiously. Make your blog a mess. We're all raising fandoms out of thin air, make every bit of content count. Engage. Post. No thought is too random

#dracula daily #whale weekly #the cristo account #jekyll & hyde weekly #letters from watson #Frankenstein weekly #divine comedy weekly

[attemptedvictorian]

Albert de Morcerf is one of the most no-thoughts-head-empty characters I’ve ever come across.

#the cristo account #the count of monte cristo #classic literature #classics #literature #books #alexandre dumas

[mourningmaybells]

at some point, being subscribed to 6 substacks feels less like a newsletter and moreso getting notifications from a weird as fuck group chat every wednesday-thursday, and some days after when it comes to 2 of the gc members really going through it rn

#whale weekly #the cristo account

[monjinator]

“You talk like a noodle, my friend," said Caderousse; "and here is Danglars, who is a wide-awake, clever, deep fellow, who will prove to you that you are wrong”

Ah yes, that poetic French literature I was looking for. Gonna start saying this to people

#the cristo account #count of monte cristo

[wanna-bewitch-you]

What I wouldn’t give for a completely accurate Count of Monte Cristo adaptation.

#there is such potential for greatness #it would work best as a show #you simply cannot fit the story into a movie #the cristo account #the count of monte cristo #count of monte cristo

[ghost-and-a-half]

Chapter 48

M de Villefort: Who are you?

Monte Cristo: I'm a sign of God, start running

#living for how dantes is just weaponising all his wordly knowledge acquiered by faria (and then extended) to debate his enemies into shame #or weird fearful admiration #count of monte cristo #the cristo account #edmond dantes #gerard de villefort

[pedanther]

There are, in my experience, two big changes that adaptations of The Count of Monte Cristo always make.

One is that they always rearrange events so that the climax of the story is Edmond having a sword fight with Fernand. This, I think, says a lot about who adaptors think Edmond's worst enemy is and about what kind of story they think it is, or at least about what kind of story they want it to be, and what they think makes a good hero and a good villain.

(There's an essayist elsewhere on Tumblr who's been known to say that the key to writing Superman well is to understand that the only Superman villain who matters is Superman: he's so powerful that no external threat could ever cause him as much trouble as he could cause himself if he used his power maliciously or unwisely. Dumas writes his protagonist the same way: once Edmond has ascended to become the Count of Monte Cristo – transformed, rich, powerful, almost a god – his enemies are powerless to do anything he can't counter, and every problem that befalls him from that point on is a consequence of his own choices. But that means that the climax of the novel is him realising that he's made bad decisions and choosing to make better ones. Defeating an external threat by sticking a sharp piece of metal into it in a stylish way is so much easier to make an exciting climax out of.)

Speaking of happy endings, the other thing that adaptations always change is what happens in the end to Edmond himself.

I don't think I've ever seen an adaptation that ends with Edmond going off with Haydée. A lot of them leave Haydée out entirely. (Incidentally, my thoughts about what exactly Haydée is to Edmond at the end of the novel change every time I read it. I suspect Dumas intended it to be read as a declaration of romantic love, but I think there is room for other interpretations.) But I'm not sure I've ever seen an adaptation that offered an alternative I preferred.

Many of them have Edmond getting back together with Mercédès, which is a choice that I understand the attraction of but don't like; it's fundamental to my understanding of the novel that there are some things that, once broken, even the mighty Count of Monte Cristo can't repair.

Some adaptations kill Edmond off at the end, either because the author of the adaptation believed that was what he deserved or perhaps just because they couldn't think of a better alternative either. I've seen one where Edmond gets a fatal injury during the obligatory climactic duel with Fernand, and I've heard of one where Edmond survives everything but then kills himself at the end, convinced that he's done more harm than good. (I don't remember hearing what that version does with Haydée.)

There's one adaptation I remember being amused by – it was one of the ones with no Haydée, and I think may also have dropped out the subplot with Maximilien and Valentine – which ended, after the obligatory Fernand duel, with an abridged version of the scene where Monte Cristo sees Mercédès farewelling Albert from the dock at Marseille. He tries to suggest that they could get back together, she explains why she considers it impossible, and then she walks off, leaving him standing alone on the dock where it all started, with an expression of "Well, what the heck do I do now?" as the credits rolled...

#the cristo account #the count of monte cristo #the count of monte cristo spoilers #spoilers #for various adaptations as well as the original novel #suicide mention #not a reblog

[duchesspeggy]

something about dantes coming back from a long journey and immediately visiting his father vs villefort rushing to paris but staying to a hotel, so his father imposes himself over instead

something about the care and devotion between dantes and his father vs the distant return of a good favour between villefort and his father

something about dantes's love vs villefort's mix of fear and admiration. something about dantes's father treating his son with respect vs noirtier treating his with disdain

(also, something about dantes being forced out of his wedding ceremony with the woman he loves vs villefort choosing to postpone his with a woman he likes)

something about villefort saving his father, for his own ambition, by depriving another father of his only source of support, a loving son

something about villefort destroying dantes's future to secure his own

#le comte de monte cristo #the cristo account #edmond dantes #gerard de villefort #there's a reason we're spending so much more time with villefort than any other character so far (save from dantes)

[vickyvicarious]

You know, Villefort is really introduced as a very intentional contrast to Edmond, isn't he?

They are both relatively young, stepping into the role of a superior (the former captain who died, and the crown prosecutor who is away)

They are both about to be married, and in fact both are celebrating their betrothals when Dantes is arrested

They are both facing some disapproval from their fiancee's family

They both have a relationship with their father that dictates a lot of their actions

But of course, despite all these similarities their personalities and the specific circumstances of each are almost opposite:

Edmond's acting captainship was driven largely by duty, which is what gets him involved in the letter business to begin with. While his time spent captaining the ship went well, the actions outside of the typical duties he took (stopping at Elba, getting the letter) were for other people's request without much thought of how it looked for him. He was more focused on this being his duty as an honorable person. On the other hand, during his interview with Dantes, Villefort was looking for ways to please others initially (his fiancée asked for mercy and he wanted to get on her good side) but it was still self-serving motivation in the end (he wanted her pleased for what it got him, not just to make her happy). He also abandoned that plan, and the idea of justice altogether, as soon as he realized the letter Dantes carried could injure him. His motivations were selfish throughout.

Edmond is engaged to a poor woman with almost no family who he loves deeply and sincerely. Villefort is engaged to a rich woman with an important family who he loves 'sensibly' for what he will get out of the marriage in the long run. He doesn't hate her but he isn't in love with her romantically, really. When Villefort realizes the coincidental timing of this arrest pulling them each away, his reaction is brief sympathy quickly superseded by him planning out how to make this a witty story impressive to his guests on his return. He doesn't tell Edmond the similarity between their situations.

Fernand dislikes Dantes because he wants to marry Mercedes instead; a deeply personal motive. Edmond dismisses any suspicions suggested about the man and chooses to see him as a friend, trusting Mercedes. Villefort faces some reluctantance from his fiancee's mother, but it's due to his father's political reputation and how that might look, more than anything. Villefort plays along really well and deliberately, greatly emphasizing his political zeal in order to better ascend higher in society. When he talks about his harshness as a judge he is doing so in front of a group of people with a mind to their opinions, giving a speech calculated to impress.

Edmond loves his father very much and the two are very close. He acts to protect his father's pride, and works to bring in money to support him. At his wedding, his father was a major presence, the most excited person there other than the bride and groom themselves. Villefort has denounced his father publicly, given himself a new name to completely separate them in the world's eyes. He wasn't at the betrothal feast except as a name talked badly of, and Villefort only acts to protect him (by burning the letter and arresting Dantes) because the bad publicity/shame would rebound onto himself.

All in all, Edmond is very focused on personal matters. Personal honor, true emotions... even his enemies are driven by feelings of jealousy and envy and hatred. He's emotion-driven and while he works hard and has ambitions, they come second to his love, his honor, his pride. When political considerations intrude on his life it is due to the actions of others (the former captain) and even the way politics is used against him by Danglars and Fernand is motivated by their feelings for him, not their own beliefs.

Villefort is very focused on public perception. He wants a good reputation, he wants more power, he is climbing that social ladder and politics is his way to get up while distancing himself from his father. He is very calculating, and while he does have emotional moments (affection for his fiancée, sympathy for Edmond) they come in second every time to his ambition and self-interest. His life is built largely around politics and reputation, and his personal feelings of sympathy for Edmond are brief and easily overshadowed by his worries about the connection to his father's politics getting out and harming him. Not to mention his ambition when he realizes he can use this to further his career.

Where Dantes trusts those around him and says he has no enemies, Villefort worries deeply about the consequences of the letter getting out. He assumes the people around him will shun him easily if his name is dirtied by this affair. (He's probably right, but it's a very different view of people than Edmond.) He is willing to send Edmond to prison rather than trust him to never mention the letter to anyone, placing his suspicious and self-serving nature above any sense of honor.

#the cristo account #tcomc #villefort #edmond dantes #the cristo account spoilers #i am pretty sure cristo account isn't continuing so i am reading through the rest on my own schedule. namely whenever i feel like it... #tagged spoilers on this one just in case but i think it'll be the last with that tag anyway. i'll just start using tcomc instead #not sure how much i will be posting but i read one chapter past and had a bunch of thoughts so. probably at least some #(going back to add tcomc to all old posts too. i just like having them in one tag)

[three--rings]

Hey remember how in the tags of that one art earlier this week I was like “Wow The Count of Monte Cristo would be a great serial tumblr novel experience.”

Yeah it already exists.  It’s called The Cristo Account and it’s GULP one chapter every single day, until March 2023, cause the book is That Long OMG I’d forgotten.

It’s 20 chapter in RN, so anyone want to try to catch up with me? ( @ashfae you said the same thing.)

Once again I’ve read it before, first in a simplified French version and then in English.  But it’s such a great novel with Such Turns. 

I was limiting myself to Whale Wheekly for the time being not to make this too much like homework, but damn...

#the count of monte cristo #the cristo account #I'm also not doing the letters from watson because I'd become SO obnoxious

[kunaiman]

Y'all may be wondering why there wasn't a Cristo Account update yesterday.

I promise, I did not forget to post it. It's actually queued already.

I did, however, forget that I did it Daily and not Weekly.

So it is Scheduled for the 10th.

I think I'm gonna have it be weekly for December and then start with Daily after that.

#The Cristo Account