The Count of Monte Cristo

Monte Cristo Shares His Fascination with the Telegraph

As he prepares to depart, Monte Cristo reveals the true purpose of his visit: he is going to see a telegraph. He describes his long-standing fascination with these devices, whose black arms bending in the sunlight have always reminded him of an immense beetle’s claws. He marvels at how such signs can cleave the air with precision, conveying ideas across three hundred leagues through a simple act of will—prompting him to think of genii and sylphs. Having learned that the operator is merely a hired man earning twelve hundred francs a year, condemned to watch his distant counterpart through his monotonous days, Monte Cristo wishes to study this living chrysalis more closely and understand the hidden human drama behind the simple act of pulling strings.

第六十章 The Telegraph

Chapter 60. The Telegraph In this chapter, Monte Cristo announces his intention to visit a telegraph station during a conversation with Villefort, who inquires about the Count’s destination and his choice of telegraph. Monte Cristo explains that he prefers a rural telegraph to the official ones, declines an introduction to the minister, and receives directions for the route. Upon leaving, he encounters two notaries at the door who have just completed the act disinheriting Valentine.

Rural Telegraph Selection

Rural Telegraph Selection When Villefort asks which telegraph Monte Cristo intends to visit—the Home Department or the Observatory—the Count rejects both, fearing that officials there would force him to understand technicalities and dispel the illusions he prefers to keep about the insect-like mechanism. Instead, he chooses a country telegraph staffed by a “good-natured simpleton” who knows no more than the machine he operates.