The Count of Monte Cristo

Table Conversation and Rising Tensions

The wedding feast at La Réserve is attended by the favored crew of the Pharaon and friends of the bridegroom, all arrayed in their finest costumes, with M. Morrel, the shipowner, arriving to enthusiastic applause and confirming his promise that Dantès will be promoted to captain in place of the late Captain Leclere. As Dantès announces that the mayor will marry him and Mercédès in an hour and a half, tensions rise among certain guests, particularly Fernand, whose jealousy and despair manifest in pallor, trembling, and a convulsive grip on his knife, while Danglars, observing Fernand’s torment, makes veiled comments to Caderousse about the scheming they had contemplated. The festive atmosphere collapses when measured footsteps and the clanking of military accoutrements are heard on the stairs, culminating in a magistrate’s entrance and the arrest of Edmond Dantès in the name of the law, an event that leaves the bridegroom dignified but pale, his father prostrate with grief, and the company frozen in stunned silence.

Immediate Wedding Plans and Dantès’ Arrest

Immediate Wedding Plans and Dantès’ Arrest

第五章 The Marriage Feast

Chapter 5 depicts the immediate aftermath of Edmond Dantès’s arrest during what was meant to be his marriage feast. Caderousse confronts Danglars, suspecting foul play from the previous night’s conspiracy, while Dantès calmly surrenders and bids farewell to Mercédès. As grief spreads among the loved ones left behind, Morrel returns with grave news: Dantès has been charged as a Bonapartist agent. Danglars skillfully manipulates Caderousse into silence, maneuvers himself into command of the Pharaon, and privately celebrates the success of his plot, leaving Fernand to comfort Mercédès and friends to tend to the broken old father.