The Count of Monte Cristo

I. Title

• The Count of Monte Cristo

II. Characters

• Edmond Dantes -  The identity of Dantes assumes when he emerges from prison and inherits his vast fortune. As a result, the Count of Monte Cristo is usually associated with a coldness and bitterness that comes from an existence based solely on vengeance.

• Lord Wilmore -  The identity of an eccentric English nobleman that Dantes assumes when committing acts of random generosity. Lord Wilmore contrasts sharply with Monte Cristo, who is associated with Dantes’s acts of bitterness and cruelty. Appropriately, Monte Cristo cites Lord Wilmore as one of his enemies.

• Abbe Busoni -  Another of Dantes’s false personas. The disguise of Abbe Busoni, an Italian priest, helps Dantes gain the trust of the people whom the count wants to manipulate because the name connotes religious authority.

• Sinbad the Sailor -  The name Dantes uses as the signature for his anonymous gift to Morrel. Sinbad the Sailor is also the persona Dantes adopts during his time in Italy.

• Mercedes -  Dantes’s beautiful and good fiancee. Though Mercedes marries another man, Fernand Mondego, while Dantes is in prison, she never stops loving Dantes. Mercedes is one of the few whom Dantes both punishes (for her disloyalty) and rewards (for her enduring love and underlying goodness).

• Abbe Faria -  A priest and brilliant thinker whom Dantes meets in prison. Abbe Faria becomes Dantes’s intellectual father: during their many years as prisoners, he teaches Dantes history, science, art, and many languages. He then bequeaths to Dantes his vast hidden fortune. Abbe Faria is the most important catalyst in Dantes’s transformation into the vengeful Count of Monte Cristo.

• Fernand Mondego -  Dantes’s rival for Mercedes’s affections. Mondego helps in framing Dantes for treason and then marries Mercedes himself when Dantes is imprisoned. Through acts of treachery Mondego becomes a wealthy and powerful...