The Count of Monte Cristo

Mercédès and Fernand

Inside the Catalan house, Fernand presses Mercédès, reminding her that Easter has come round again and asking whether it is the moment for a wedding. Mercédès replies that she has already answered him a hundred times and tells him to stop asking. Fernand pleads with her to repeat her refusal plainly, insisting that he has dreamed for ten years of marrying her and that his life hangs on her answer. Mercédès gently reminds him that she has never encouraged him beyond a frank avowal of sisterly affection, for her heart belongs to another. Fernand, wounded, retorts that among the Catalans it is a sacred law to intermarry.

Fernand’s Rejected Proposal

Mercédès corrects Fernand: intermarriage is only a custom, not a law, and she begs him not to use it as a lever. She points out the practical obstacles between them, his liability under conscription to be called up as a soldier, and her own poverty, an orphan living in a half-ruined hut on the produce of a few ragged nets and on the charity of the village, including the fish Fernand shares with her. Though she accepts his help only to spare him pain, she is acutely aware that it is charity. Fernand protests that her poverty suits him, declaring that a good wife and a careful housekeeper are all he wants and that he could find none better than she. Mercédès, however, insists that a woman who loves another man cannot make a faithful wife, and she urges him to be content with her friendship and nothing more, for that is all she can honestly promise.

Mercédès Declares Her Love for Edmond

Fernand proposes to change his circumstances for her sake, offering to expand his fishing, take a position as a warehouse clerk, and rise to become a dealer himself. Mercédès shakes her head, telling him that he is a soldier held at home only because there is no war, and that he should remain a fisherman and accept her friendship. Pressing further, Fernand suggests he might become a sailor and dress in the striped shirt, varnished hat, and blue jacket of a seafarer to please her. Mercédès, angered and uncomprehending, demands to know what he means. Fernand answers bitterly that she treats him cruelly because she is awaiting someone in that very attire, and warns that the man she awaits may be faithless, or that the sea may be faithless to him. Mercédès fires back, accusing Fernand of cruelty for calling on jealousy and the anger of God, and confesses openly that she does await and love that man, and that if he does not return she will believe he died faithful to her alone. As the tears fall, she admits that the sea has been treacherous these past four months and that terrible storms have passed. Fernand, knowing that every tear is for another, paces the hut in helpless fury and demands her final answer. Mercédès declares calmly that she loves Edmond Dantès and that none but Edmond shall ever be her husband, and that she will love him as long as she lives.