The Count of Monte Cristo

Assessment of Cell Exit Routes

The two men survey Dantès’s cell to determine where, if anywhere, another tunnel might succeed. One wall is built against solid rock that would take a decade of experienced miners to pierce. The second adjoins the governor’s quarters and would only lead to cellar lockups and recapture. The fourth wall holds a narrow loophole barred with three iron bars, far too small for escape. From the window, Faria glimpses a sentry’s musket and confirms that an open gallery with constant patrols guards that side, making escape through Dantès’s own chamber impossible by the route Faria had hoped to take.

Faria Reveals His Identity

Dantès asks the stranger to reveal his identity. The man introduces himself as the Abbé Faria, imprisoned at the Château d’If since 1811, and before that held for three years at the fortress of Fenestrelle. He speaks of being transferred to Piedmont, of learning of Napoleon’s son the King of Rome, and asks who now reigns in France. Upon hearing it is Louis XVIII, brother of Louis XVI, he marvels at the inscrutability of Providence in exalating and abasing men, and reflects that history will repeat itself in France as it did in England, with constitutional changes and the stirrings of liberty.

Faria’s Imprisonment and Political Views

Faria explains that in 1807 he conceived a plan Napoleon himself would later attempt in 1811: uniting Italy into one large, compact, powerful empire rather than leaving it divided into petty principalities. Like Machiavelli, he sought a prince capable of realizing this vision but instead found a crowned simpleton who feigned to share his aims only to betray him. He likens the scheme to those of Alexander VI and Clement VII and laments that Italy seems fated to misfortune. He acknowledges that he is the “mad priest” of Château d’If, long used to amuse visitors with his supposed insanity, and that he has abandoned hope of escape, calling further attempts impious.