Fernand Mondego, the sneaky fisherman, betrays Dantès to the authorities because he wants Edmond's fiancee, Mercédès, for himself. Mondego is generously rewarded for his betrayal, eventually becoming fantastically wealthy and rising to a position of prominence in national politics. He also gets to marry the delectable Mercédès.

Monsieur Danglars is the ringleader in the plot to have Dantès thrown in jail. Like Mondego, he too is motivated by jealousy. He deeply resents the fact that Dantès is soon to be appointed captain of the good ship Pharaon, a position that he believes is rightfully his. In due course, Danglars becomes a wealthy banker, amassing a huge fortune—which Dantès sets out to destroy as part of his elaborate revenge plot.

As public prosecutor, Monsieur de Villefort is responsible for sending Dantès to the hell-hole prison of Château d’If. Unlike Dantès's other two enemies, he bears no personal animosity towards Villefort; Villefort sends Dantès to jail to overcompensate for the fact that his own father was a Bonapartist. By taking such harsh measures against those even suspected of harboring similar political opinions to those like his father, Villefort is trying to prove himself so fanatically loyal to the state that no one would ever suspect him of being a Bonapartist.