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Chapter 91
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
As Albert and Mercedes prepare to leave for another country, Fernand heads to the house of the Count of Monte Cristo. There he demands information as to why Albert did not duel with the Count. The Count replies that, of course, his fight is with Fernand, and that he knows all of Fernand’s sins. Fernand demands to know the Count’s true identity—not Lord Wilmore, nor Sinbad the Sailor—and the Count says he must punish Fernand for stealing his fiancée, Mercedes. Fernand screams out: Edmond Dantes! And then, taking a cab back to his home, he locks himself in his bedroom and commits suicide. Albert and Mercedes leave without so much as a word for him.
The Count has by now revealed his true identity to three people: Caderousse, Mercedes, and now Fernand. Fernand, like Caderousse, sees the Count as an instrument of divine vengeance, and believes that Dantes has every right to seek revenge after what the plotters have done to his life. Fernand’s suicide thus acknowledges his own guilt and, according to the customs of the time, allows Fernand to “exit” French society with at least some modicum of honor intact. It would be more dishonorable for Fernand to continue to live in a society that has labeled him a traitor.
Themes
