The Count of Monte Cristo

Danglars Celebrates the Success of His Plot

Danglars questions Caderousse’s lingering desire to defend Dantès, arguing that the joke—if it was one—was Fernand’s doing and that they need only keep quiet for the storm to pass. Caderousse departs muttering, troubled. Alone, Danglars mentally celebrates: he is temporary commander of the Pharaon with a chance of permanent appointment, Caderousse can be managed into silence, and Dantès remains in the hands of Justice. He leaps into a boat to be rowed aboard the Pharaon to meet Morrel.

Chapter 6. The Deputy Procureur du Roi

Chapter 6, “The Deputy Procureur du Roi,” contrasts two simultaneous marriage celebrations in Marseilles during the Bourbon Restoration: Dantès’s humble wedding feast and the aristocratic union of Villefort to Renée de Saint-Méran. The chapter uses the political atmosphere of the gathering—dominated by royalist nobles celebrating the downfall of Napoleon—to characterize Villefort, a young magistrate who distances himself from his Bonapartist father, Noirtier. Through his conversation with the Marquise de Saint-Méran, Villefort reveals his royalist convictions, his prosecutorial severity toward political conspirators, and his ambition, all of which are endorsed by the king himself. At a family dinner following his betrothal to Renée de Saint-Méran, Villefort is called away on urgent business and returns elated to announce that a Bonapartist conspiracy has been uncovered through an anonymous letter accusing Edmond Dantès, mate of the ship Pharaon arriving from Smyrna, of carrying a treacherous letter from Murat to the exiled emperor and another from the usurper to the Bonapartist club in Paris. Despite Renée’s piteous pleas for mercy on the day of their betrothal, the marquise urges Villefort to fulfill his duty to the king, and he departs with paradise in his heart after promising his bride that his justice will be tempered with mercy for her sake, though warning that if the charges prove true, the accused will not escape the headsman.

Chapter 6. The Deputy Procureur du Roi

Chapter 6, “The Deputy Procureur du Roi,” contrasts two simultaneous marriage celebrations in Marseilles during the Bourbon Restoration: Dantès’s humble wedding feast and the aristocratic union of Villefort to Renée de Saint-Méran. The chapter uses the political atmosphere of the gathering—dominated by royalist nobles celebrating the downfall of Napoleon—to characterize Villefort, a young magistrate who distances himself from his Bonapartist father, Noirtier. Through his conversation with the Marquise de Saint-Méran, Villefort reveals his royalist convictions, his prosecutorial severity toward political conspirators, and his ambition, all of which are endorsed by the king himself.

Marseilles Aristocratic Marriage Feast

In a mansion on the Rue du Grand Cours, opposite the Medusa fountain, an aristocratic marriage feast is being held nearly simultaneously with Dantès’s wedding banquet. Unlike Dantès’s gathering of sailors, soldiers, and common folk, this assembly consists of the elite of Marseilles society: magistrates who resigned under Napoleon, officers who defected from the imperial army to join Condé, and young aristocrats raised to despise the exiled emperor.

Royalist Assembly’s Anti-Napoleonic Views

The guests remain at table as heated conversation reveals the vindictive passions agitating the South of France. Napoleon, now the diminished “king” of Elba with only five or six thousand subjects, is seen as forever severed from the French throne. Magistrates discuss their political views, military men reminisce about Moscow and Leipsic, and women comment on the divorce of Josephine. The company rejoices not merely over the man himself but over the defeat of the Napoleonic idea, anticipating a revived political existence under the Bourbons.

Marquis de Saint-Méran’s Royal Toast

The Marquis de Saint-Méran, an old man wearing the cross of Saint Louis, rises to propose a toast to King Louis XVIII. The toast evokes the king’s patient exile at Hartwell and his peaceful reign, sparking universal enthusiasm. Guests raise their glasses English-style, and the ladies strew the table with flowers from their bouquets in an almost poetical fervor.

Marquise de Saint-Méran’s Bonapartist Critique

The Marquise de Saint-Méran, a stern woman of fifty with a forbidding eye, denounces the revolutionists who drove the nobility from their possessions before purchasing those same lands cheaply during the Reign of Terror. She contrasts the royalists’ sincere devotion—sacrificing rank, wealth, and station to follow their fallen monarch—with the opportunism of those who worshiped the “rising sun.” She brands Napoleon as the “evil genius” and “Napoleon the accursed” of his followers, then turns to Villefort for confirmation.