![]() Villefort's former wife's (the one who died really young) father-in-law, the Marquis de Saint-Méran, has just died. They don't acknowledge that they were once madly in love with one another, or that they know who the Count really is. The Count assures her he is her friend, & then they talk about their past in a vague way. Mercédès tries to persuade the Count to come with her to the garden & eat some of the fruit there, but the Count refuses. She sees that he isn't partaking of the feast or the drinks at all. The night of the Morcerf ball-the Count is a superstar -everyone is trying to hang out with him. XLV-A Summer Ball Albert invites the Count to the Morcerfs' annual ball. Villefort wants to find out who Count of Monte Cristo dude really is. Danglars visits Villefort-they are freaked out that the Count may know about their past (they killed their child) Villefort knows Count is lying- Villefort knows that Bertuccio took the baby with him-Their child is still alive, Villefort guesses. **Look at what the Count is doing by planting this seed!!! Mrs. The Count urges Danglars to research this piece of history and the Morcerfs' connection to it. The Count casually mentions that he once heard of a Fernand Mondego who betrayed a man named Ali Pasha (**Haydée's dad) to the Turks. ![]() Danglars tells the Count that Albert is actually not a nobleman - his dad was once a poor fisherman named Fernand Mondego. Danglars visits the Count & tells him that he wants his daughter, Eugénie, to marry Andrea Cavalcanti instead of Albert de Morcerf. It's a dramatic way to demonstrate a dramatic change of heart.XLIV-Matrimonial Plans Mr. ![]() He frees her literally, he frees himself of the whole "mysterious nabob" persona, and he finally lets go of his infatuation with Mercédès once and for all. Also – and this is a bit creepy – his final declaration of love to Haydée becomes that much stronger as a result. Why "Sinbad the Sailor?" Why "Lord Wilmore"? A lot of Monte Cristo's plans require the maintenance of an illusion, and few things scream "ultra-powerful, mysterious figure" than keeping a beautiful Greek slave-woman in tow. So, if Haydée has enough riding on the betrayer's conviction to keep her sticking around, why the slave shtick? Well, you can say that about a lot of things the Count does. "God forgive me," Haydée tells the commissioner of the panel set up to judge Fernand, "though I am a Christian, I have always thought to avenge my illustrious father" (86.120). Haydée is no exception to the rule: she's a key element in his plan to "get" Fernand, but the whole slavery thing seems a little unnecessary. Determined to execute his plan, Monte Cristo goes to great lengths in order to make sure each cog in the revenge machine stays in place (read up on Bertuccio to see more on that). This kind of treatment certainly seems depraved today, and it doesn't really jibe with the Count's image as a righteous avenger. He puts Haydée up in posh digs, gives her servants, and generally lets her do what she wants, as long as she doesn't leave the house. You'd expect the Count of Monte Cristo to make that all go away, and he does – sort of. The first act of Haydée's life is sad – she sees her own father get gunned down right before her eyes and is sold into slavery – but it's the second act that's more worthy of analysis.
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