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Chapter 81
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Count of Monte Cristo, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Justice, Revenge, and God’s Will
Changes of Identity and Station
Love, Devotion, and Redemption
Debt and Gratitude
The Domestic and the Foreign
Summary
Analysis
Monte Cristo does indeed go to Auteuil to try out some horses. There, however, Baptistin informs him that an anonymous letter has arrived saying that the Count’s house in Paris is to be burgled that night. The Count wonders if this note isn’t a trap designed to murder him instead. Despite this fear, he tells his servants he will be off in the woods, and goes to Paris straightaway that evening, meeting Ali at the door and then changing into the clothes of Abbe Busoni. Upstairs, he meets Caderousse, who with an accomplice waiting outside has tried his best to steal from his former “friend”—although he does not recognize the Count, but instead thinks it is the Abbe from ten years ago.
This is the first time have actually seen the Count transform into the Abbe Busoni. Previously, the novel has strongly implied that they are the same person, but it is with a certain coyness that the narrator shifts between the identities of the Count and the Abbe, as though leaving open the possibility that they might in fact be two separate people. Caderousse, of course, has met the Abbe before, receiving the diamond from him long ago at the inn, and the Count appears to be setting a particular kind of trap for the man he believes to be breaking into his home.
Themes
Literary Devices
Under duress, Caderousse reveals to the Abbe Busoni that he was released from a work-prison several years ago, because a man named Lord Wilmore wanted to protect his friend in that prison, a boy named Benedetto. Caderousse goes on to say that he has been blackmailing the boy for money in Paris, where the boy now presents himself as Andrea Cavalcanti. He reveals to the “Abbe” that Andrea believes he is in fact the Count’s illegitimate son, which is, of course, news to the Count, who has been orchestrating the “paternity” of Andrea and the Major for his own ends.
This is a twist in the plot the Count has set into motion. The Count really does want Andrea to believe that he is in fact the heir to the Major’s fortune. But, as it turns out, if Andrea believes he is the heir to the Count’s fortune, this would still cause Andrea to believe that he’s a wealthy man. This belief would in turn cause Danglars to think that Eugenie is marrying someone of noble blood, if she is indeed to marry Andrea.
Themes
Caderousse then attempts to stab and kill the Abbe, but his blade is turned away by a shirt of mail the Count is wearing underneath. The Count then forces Caderousse to sign a letter to Danglars, saying that Andrea is in fact Benedetto, a criminal and no nobleman. The Abbe/Count then lets Caderousse escape, saying that, if Caderousse disappears to Belgium and is never heard from again, the Count will make sure he is provided for with a small salary for the rest of his life.
It is important to note that the Count gives Caderousse a final chance to escape. He does not kill Caderousse, and he even offers to provide for the man when he lives abroad – something between a prison sentence and a funded existence. Caderousse agrees to this, but as he scurries away, he does not account for who might be waiting in the bushes.
Themes
To this the coward Caderousse agrees, but as he is trying to escape outside, he is stabbed by his “accomplice,” who then runs off into the night, thinking Caderousse dead. Ali and the other servants hear Caderousse outside, seriously injured, and go out to bring him back in.
Caderousse has finally received what readers might feel has been coming to him. But it is important to note that, even now, members of the Count’s household attempt to take care of Caderousse, as he is on the verge of death.
Themes
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