The Count of Monte Cristo

Heated Iron Death Test Conducted

Heated Iron Death Test Conducted A turnkey brings in a lighted brazier, and the doctor applies the heated iron to the corpse. The crackling of burning flesh and its nauseous smell reach Dantès through the wall, causing him to break out in perspiration and nearly faint at the horror of it.

Dantès Horrified by Corpse Burning

Dantès Horrified by Corpse Burning Listening in horror as the burning continues, Dantès is deeply shaken. The doctor pronounces the burn on the heel decisive proof of death, declaring the abbé cured of his folly and delivered from his captivity in a callous remark.

Officials Discuss Abbé Faria’s Background

Officials Discuss Abbé Faria’s Background The officers confirm the prisoner’s name was Faria, an ancient name. The jailer reports the abbé was well-behaved, sometimes amused him with stories, and once cured his wife with a prescription. The doctor jokingly claims a rival and assures proper respect will be shown in death.

Corpse Placed in Burial Sack

Corpse Placed in Burial Sack A turnkey asks whether the formality must occur in the governor’s presence, and after hurried activity—including footsteps, rustling canvas, and the creaking of the bed—the body is deposited in a burial sack for interment.

Evening Burial Time Confirmed

Evening Burial Time Confirmed The governor sets the burial for that evening, around ten or eleven o’clock. When asked about watching the corpse, he dismisses the notion, instructing merely to shut the dungeon as if the prisoner were alive. The officials then withdraw, leaving a profound, deathly silence.

Dantès Emerges from the Tunnel

Dantès Emerges from the Tunnel Once the footsteps, voices, and the sound of creaking door hinges have faded into complete silence, Dantès cautiously raises the flagstone with his head and surveys the empty chamber. Finding it clear, he emerges from the tunnel.

CHAPITRE 20. The Cemetery of the Château d’If

This chapter chronicles Edmond Dantès’s bold escape from the Château d’If by trading places with his deceased friend Faria’s corpse, culminating in his being cast into the sea that acts as the prison’s unmarked burial ground.

Faria’s Corpse Prepared for Burial

Faria’s body is laid out on a dungeon bed, wrapped in a low-cost canvas winding-sheet, fully prepared for burial, with a barrier separating him from a grieving Edmond Dantès. Dantès mourns the loss of his only companion, the sole person who connected him to life outside his prison cell.

Dantès’s Grief and Escape Resolve

Overcome with grief, Dantès briefly considers suicide to rejoin Faria in death, before rejecting the idea of dying by execution as a victory for his enemies. He resolves to fight for life and liberty to punish his persecutors and reward any potential allies, before he is forgotten and left to die in his dungeon. A sudden, urgent thought strikes him: since only the dead are permitted to leave the Château d’If, he will take Faria’s place.

Dantès’s Plan to Swap with Faria’s Corpse

Without second-guessing his desperate plan, Dantès moves Faria’s corpse to his own cell, arranging it to look like he is sleeping in bed to fool the jailer during the evening meal. He retrieves the burial sack that held Faria, strips off his own clothes, climbs inside the sack, and sews the mouth shut from the inside to mimic a corpse. He also outlines backup plans: if grave diggers discover he is alive while transporting the body, he will cut his way out of the sack and escape; if he is buried, he will dig through the soil to flee under cover of night, or accept suffocation if caught.

Dantès Swaps Places with Faria’s Corpse

Dantès completes the physical swap of places with Faria’s corpse: he places Faria’s body on his own bed, covers it with his blanket, positions its head toward the wall to fool the jailer into thinking he is asleep, and leaves the tunnel connecting the two cells open. He then enters Faria’s burial sack, lying in the exact position the corpse had occupied, before sealing himself inside. He fears his racing heartbeat will reveal he is alive if jailers enter unexpectedly, and worries the governor may order the body removed earlier than scheduled, destroying his last hope of escape.