129 pages • 4 hours read
Alexandre DumasThe Count of Monte Cristo
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1844A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 13-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 13 Summary
Edmond uses Faria’s knife to cut himself free from the shroud and the canon ball and manages to swim to a deserted island, despite an approaching storm. Later that night, he sees a small fishing vessel wrecked by the storm. The next day, Edmond realizes that once Faria’s body is discovered in Edmond’s bed, the authorities will realize he has escaped and launch a search. Edmond spots a ship from Genoa and decides to swim out to it, passing himself off as a sailor from the wrecked fishing vessel. He almost drowns in the attempt but is rescued and revived by the Genoese crew.
Edmond, speaking Italian, claims to be a sailor from Malta. He asks the year, claiming amnesia from the wreck, and learns that it is 1829. Edmond has been a prisoner for 14 years, and is now 33 years old. He wonders what has become of Mercédès, and repeats his oath of vengeance against Danglars, Fernand, and Villefort. When the ship docks in Italy, Edmond has a barber cut off his long hair and shave his beard. Looking at himself in a mirror again, he realizes that his face has changed so much with age and misfortune that he will be unrecognizable to anyone who knew him before. Years in the dungeon have also given him the ability to see in the dark.
Edmond joins the crew of smugglers and learns their craft. He begins thinking about ways to reach the island of Monte Cristo and retrieve the treasure in secrecy. However, the problem is solved for him when the captain proposes Monte Cristo as a neutral spot for handing over an especially valuable cargo.
Chapter 14 Summary
The ship lands on the island of Monte Cristo and Edmond uses the pretext of hunting wild goats to search for the caves holding the treasure. He identifies the likely location, then fakes a bad fall from the rocks. He begs his companions to leave him alone on the island to recover while they deliver their cargo to France. Once alone, he locates the entrance to the caves, blasts open the first cave, and finds the sealed entrance to the second. Digging in the farthest corner of the second cave, he finds an ironbound chest filled with gold and jewels. He runs around the island in exaltation, returning to the treasure and falling on his knees to utter a prayer “intelligible to God alone” (93).
Chapter 15 Summary
Edmond fills his pockets with jewels and gold and conceals the entrance to the caves. Edmond’s shipmates return for him and then proceed to Italy, where Edmond leaves the ship and sells four diamonds. He uses some of the money to buy a ship for Jacopo, his closest friend among the crew and the man who saved his life when he nearly drowned. In exchange for the ship, he asks Jacopo to bring news from Marseille of his father and Mercédès. Edmond buys a yacht in Genoa, sails back to Monte Cristo alone, and recovers the rest of his treasure.
Jacopo brings word that Edmond’s father has died and that he could find no trace of Mercédès. Edmond, accompanied by Jacopo and his crew, sails to Marseilles and goes ashore, using an English passport purchased in Italy.
Chapter 16 Summary
The scene shifts to a rural inn in the south of France, owned by Caderousse, Edmond’s former neighbor in Marseilles. A priest with an Italian accent arrives and asks Caderousse if he knew a man named Edmond Dantès. The priest says that he administered the last rites to Edmond, who died in prison. The priest, who is Edmond in disguise, says that Edmond possessed a valuable diamond given him by a rich Englishman, a former prisoner who Edmond tended during an illness. Edmond has left the diamond to be sold and the wealth split between those faithful and loving to him: his father, Mercédès, Danglars, Fernand, and Caderousse.
The priest notes that Edmond’s father is dead and asks Caderousse if knows anything of how he died. Caderousse reveals that the old man died of hunger and admits that Edmond was betrayed by the men he regarded as friends. Caderousse notes that M. Morrel stood by Edmond’s father, but suffered for it and is now on the verge of losing his business. As for Danglars and Fernand, Caderousse says the diamond would be like a drop in the ocean to them now. Caderousse tells the priest that Fernand and Danglars denounced Edmond as a Bonapartist agent, one writing the letter and one mailing it.
Since then, Danglars made a fortune working for a Spanish banker in Madrid and has become a baron. He now lives in Paris with his second wife. Fernand rose through the ranks of the army through fortunate timing and the help of Danglars, who left to fight in Greece under a local ruler, Ali Pasha, who left his fortune to Fernand. Fernand, now known as the Count de Morcerf, eventually persuaded Mercédès to marry him. They live in Paris as well, and have a son, Albert. Mercédès has educated herself and is known as a great lady: “As her fortune grew, she grew with it” (109).
When Caderousse asked for help after his own misfortunes, Mercédès gave him money in the same red silk purse M. Morrel had left for Edmond’s father. Caderousse does not know where Villefort is but assumes he has also done well. The priest gives Caderousse the diamond, but in exchange asks for the red silk purse in which Morrel once left money for Edmond’s father.
Chapter 17 Summary
The next day, an Englishman claiming to be the chief clerk of Thomson and French, a bank headquartered in Rome, visits the Mayor of Marseilles and asks him about M. Morrel’s financial state. The mayor refers the visitor to the Inspector of Prisons, who has 200,000 francs invested in Morrel’s firm. The inspector confirms that Morrel has confided that he will be bankrupt if the Pharaon does not return soon.
The English visitor, who is actually Edmond, pays the inspector cash for his share of Morrel’s business, then asks to see records relating to two prisoners, Abbé Faria and Edmond Dantès. Examining the records, Edmond learns that Villefort labeled him a dedicated Bonapartist who must be kept in solitary confinement under close watch.
Chapter 18 Summary
M. Morrel is in precarious financial shape but has managed to cover all his debts so far. Now he fears that Pharaon has disappeared at sea just as other debts are coming due. The “Englishman” (Edmond) from Thomas and French visits Morrel and questions him about his debts, including those owed to the Inspector of Prisons, which Edmond has just purchased, as well as others owed to Thomson and French.
During their meeting, the crew of the Pharaon arrive and announce that the ship sank, though the crew was rescued. M. Morrel insists on paying them the wages he owes them, even though he has just admitted to Edmond that if the Pharaon and its cargo do not appear, he will be forced to default. After the sailors leave, Edmond gives Morrel a three-month delay on all payments owed to him. As Edmond leaves, Morrel’s daughter, Julie, thanks him. Edmond tells Julie to expect a letter signed “Sinbad the Sailor” and to be prepared to carry out whatever it asks. Edmond also speaks with a member of the Pharaon’s crew.
Chapters 13-18 Analysis
In these chapters, Edmond completes his escape, undergoing yet another near-death experience during his rescue, and then claims the treasure of Monte Cristo. Edmond reinvents himself as a mysterious and almost godlike figure who assumes multiple identities and shapes the destinies of others, for good or ill. In this section, Edmond concerns himself primarily with rewarding those who have been helpful to him, such as M. Morrel, and with gathering information on Danglars, Fernand, and Villefort. Edmond tells Caderousse that he is “firmly convinced that, sooner or later, the good are rewarded and the wicked are punished” (97), and it becomes clear that Edmond intends to dole out the rewards and punishments himself, taking on a rule usually reserved for gods. Edmond’s fortune seems to give him almost “magical” powers as he assumes different roles and nationalities (beginning with his purchase of an English passport), buys access to people’s secrets, and changes their destinies. His acquired ability to see in the dark also sets him apart from ordinary people.
Edmond’s enemies have also reinvented themselves, though to a lesser degree. Danglars has become the Baron de Danglars. Fernand has become the Count de Morcerf, and Mercédès, now his wife, is a countess. These reinventions are closely tied to the continuing political and military upheavals of the time, as each man has made use of new developments to further his own career, making sure to be on the right side at the right time. Meanwhile, M. Morrel, whose staunch support of Edmond and his father led to his being labeled a Bonapartist, has suffered a dramatic reversal of fortune.
These chapters also introduce the motif of the power of money, and also of debt, both literal and metaphorical. Edmond’s first action as a wealthy man is to buy a ship for the sailor who saved him from drowning. He then sets out to reward Morrel by rescuing him from debt. Meanwhile, Morrel proves his worthiness by always repaying his own debts, even at a price, as when he insists on paying the sailors’ wages when he has just learned that the Pharaon is lost, living him ruined. This section establishes Edmond as a man who operates outside, or beyond, social norms but who nevertheless observes a strict code, one in which honoring one’s debts plays a key role.
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