Edmond Dantès

Edmond Dantès (ehd-MOHN dahn-TEHS), a young man unjustly imprisoned in the grim Château D’If. He escapes fourteen years later, after he has learned where a vast fortune is amassed. He secures the fortune and assumes the title of Count of Monte-Cristo. He then sets about avenging himself on those who were instrumental in having him imprisoned.

M. Morrel

M. Morrel, a merchant and shipowner, the friend of young Dantès, and the benefactor of Edmond’s father. He is later saved by Monte-Cristo from bankruptcy and suicide.

M. Danglars

M. Danglars (dahn-GLAR), an employee of M. Morrel. He helps to betray Edmond Dantès to the authorities because of professional jealousy. He later amasses a fortune, which Monte-Cristo causes him to lose. He is further punished by being allowed to starve almost to death as he had allowed Edmond’s father to starve.

Mercédès

Mercédès (mehr-say-DEHZ), the betrothed of young Edmond Dantès. Believing him to be dead, she marries his rival, Fernand Mondego. In the end, she leaves her husband’s house, gives his fortune to charity, and lives on the dowry Edmond had saved for her in his youth.

Louis Dantès

Louis Dantès (lwee), Edmond’s father. He dies of starvation after his son is imprisoned.

Gaspard Caderousse

Gaspard Caderousse (gahs-PAHR ka-deh-ROOS), a tailor, innkeeper, and thief. One of Edmond’s betrayers, he is killed while robbing Monte-Cristo’s house.

Fernand Mondego

Fernand Mondego (mohn-deh-GOH), the count de Morcerf (mohr-SEHRF), a fisherman in love with Mercédès. He mails the letter that betrays Edmond to the authorities. He later marries Mercédès and becomes a soldier and a count. Monte-Cristo later brings about the revelation that Fernand got his fortune by selling out the pasha of Janina to the enemy. His wife and son leave him, and he commits suicide.

The Marquis de Saint-Méran

The Marquis de Saint-Méran (sahn-may-RAHN) and

The Marchioness de Saint-Méran

The Marchioness de Saint-Méran, the father and mother of M. Villefort’s first wife, poisoned by his second wife.

Renée

Renée (reh-NAY), the daughter of the marquis and marchioness de Saint-Méran. She marries Villefort.

M. Villefort

M. Villefort (veel-FOHR), a deputy prosecutor, later attorney general, and a royalist. He causes Edmond to be imprisoned because he fears involvement in a Napoleonic plot. Monte-Cristo later discovers an attempted infanticide on the part of Villefort and causes this secret to be revealed publicly at a trial Villefort is conducting. After this public denunciation and the discovery that his second wife has poisoned several members of his household, her son, and herself, Villefort goes mad.

The Abbé Faria

The Abbé Faria (fah-RYAH), Edmond’s fellow prisoner, who dies of a stroke after educating Edmond and revealing to him the whereabouts of the vast lost fortune of the extinct family of Spada in the caverns of the isle of Monte-Cristo.

Emmanuel Herbaut

Emmanuel Herbaut (ehr-BOH), a clerk in Morrel’s business establishment. He marries Julie Morrel.

Julie Morrel

Julie Morrel, the daughter of the merchant Morrel. She finds the purse in which Monte-Cristo had put money to repay the loan that Morrel had given his father, old Dantès, and thus saves her own father from bankruptcy. She later marries Emmanuel Herbaut.

Maximilian Morrel

Maximilian Morrel, the son of the merchant, a soldier and a loyal friend of Monte-Cristo. He marries Valentine de Villefort.

Viscount Albert de Morcerf

Viscount Albert de Morcerf (mohr-SEHRF), the son of Fernand and Mercédès. He leaves his disgraced father’s house, gives his fortune to charity, and seeks his own fortune as a soldier.

Baron Franz d’Épinay

Baron Franz d’Épinay (day-pee-NAY), the friend of Albert, about to be betrothed to Valentine de Villefort when the betrothal is called off after Franz discovers that her grandfather had killed his father.

Luigi Vampa

Luigi Vampa (LWEE-jee VAHM-pah), a Roman bandit and friend of Monte-Cristo. He kidnaps Albert but frees him at Monte-Cristo’s order. Later he also kidnaps Danglars, robs, and almost starves him.

Peppino

Peppino (pay-pee-NOH), also known as Rocca Priori (roh-KAH pree-oh-REE), one of Vampa’s band. Monte-Cristo saves him from being beheaded.

Countess Guiccioli

Countess Guiccioli (GWEET-choh-lee), the friend of Franz and Albert in Rome and later in Paris.

Giovanni Bertuccio

Giovanni Bertuccio (joh-VAHN-nee behr-TEWT-chyoh), the steward of Monte-Cristo, who reveals to his master Villefort’s attempted infanticide. Unknown to Villefort, he saves the child’s life.

Lucien Debray

Lucien Debray (lew-SYAHN deh-BRAY), a friend of Albert, secretary to the Internal Department, and the lover of Mme Danglars.

M. Beauchamp

M. Beauchamp (boh-SHAHN), Albert’s friend, a newspaper editor.

Count Château-Renaud

Count Château-Renaud (sha-TOH reh-NOH), another of Albert’s friends.

Eugénie Danglars

Eugénie Danglars (ew-zhay-NEE), the daughter of Danglars, about to be betrothed, first to Albert, then to Andrea Cavalcanti. She later runs away with her governess to go on the stage.

Assunta

Assunta (ah-sew-TAH), Bertuccio’s sister-in-law. She claims Villefort’s child from the foundling home where Bertuccio had placed it.

Benedetto

Benedetto (bay-nay-DAY-toh), also known as Andrea Cavalcanti (kah-vahl-KAN-tee-), the illegitimate son of Villefort and Mme Danglars. He does not know who his parents are, and they believe him to be dead. He is a forger, a thief escaped from the galleys, and the murderer of Caderousse. He discovers that Villefort is his father and reveals this fact at the trial. It is implied that the court will find “extenuating circumstances” in his new trial.

Haidée

Haidée (eh-DAY), the daughter of Ali Tebelen, pasha of Janina and Basiliki, captured and sold as a slave by Fernand Mondego after he betrays her father. She is bought by Monte-Cristo, and they fall in love.

Baptistin

Baptistin (bah-tees-TAN), the servant of Monte-Cristo.

Hermine Danglars

Hermine Danglars (ehr-MEEN), Danglars’ wife and the mother of Benedetto and Eugénie.

Héloïse de Villefort

Héloïse de Villefort (ay-loh-EEZ), the second wife of Villefort. She poisons the Saint-Mérans and tries to poison Noirtier and Valentine so that her son may inherit their vast wealth. Her guilt discovered, she kills her son and herself.

Edouard de Villefort

Edouard de Villefort (ay-DWAHR-), the spoiled, irresponsible son of Héloïse and Villefort. He is killed by his mother.

Valentine de Villefort

Valentine de Villefort (vah-lahn-TEEN), the daughter of Villefort and Renée Saint-Méran Villefort. She is poisoned by the second Mme Villefort but is saved by Noirtier and Monte-Cristo after being given a sleeping potion that makes her appear dead. After her rescue, she marries Maximilian Morrel.

Noirtier de Villefort

Noirtier de Villefort (nwahr-TYAY), the father of Villefort and a fiery Jacobin of the French Revolution. Completely paralyzed by a stroke, he communicates with his eyes.

The Marquis Bartolomeo Cavalcanti

The Marquis Bartolomeo Cavalcanti (bahr-toh-loh-may-OH), the name assumed by a man pretending to be Andrea Cavalcanti’s father.

Barrois

Barrois (bah-RWAH), a faithful servant of old Noirtier, poisoned by drinking some lemonade intended for Noirtier.

Ali Tebelen

Ali Tebelen (al-LEE tayb-LAN), the father of Haidée, betrayed by Fernand.

Louise d’Armilly

Louise d’Armilly (dahr-mee-YEE), the governess to Eugénie Danglars. They run away together in hopes that they can go on the stage as singers.

Lord Wilmore

Lord Wilmore and

Abbé Busoni

Abbé Busoni (byoo-ZOH-nee), aliases used by the count of Monte-Cristo.

Ali
Ali is Monte Cristo's silent servant. He is completely devoted to his master, who rescued him from death.

Beauchamp
Beauchamp is a fervent journalist and a steadfast friend of Albert de Morcerf. He acts as one of Albert's seconds in the duel against Monte Cristo.

Benedetto
Benedetto is the offspring of de Villefort and Madame Danglars. Villefort buried him at birth, thinking he was dead. He was discovered by Bertuccio, who raised him. Benedetto grows up to be a rogue. Monte Cristo, aware of Benedetto's background, incorporates him into his scheme against Villefort, giving him the new identity of an Italian nobleman, Andrea Cavalcanti. Andrea becomes engaged to Eugénie Danglars but is later arrested for murdering Caderousse. During his trial, he reveals Villefort, the prosecutor, as his father, thereby ruining Villefort.

Bertuccio
Bertuccio is a Corsican who vows vengeance against Villefort because Villefort failed to pursue the killer of Bertuccio's brother. Bertuccio is later falsely imprisoned for a murder committed by Caderousse and his wife. Monte Cristo, disguised as Abbé Busoni, arranges his release. Bertuccio then joins Monte Cristo's service.

Abbé Busoni
See Dantès

Gaspard Caderousse
Gaspard Caderousse is a greedy and unreliable neighbor of Dantès. He is present and intoxicated when Fernand writes the note accusing Dantès of treason. Caderousse knows Dantès is innocent but does nothing to help him. Years later, as an innkeeper, Dantès visits him disguised as Abbé Busoni. Caderousse recounts the entire story of Dantès's imprisonment and the fates of the conspirators. Busoni rewards him with a diamond. After Busoni leaves, Caderousse and his wife murder a jeweler who offered to buy the diamond. Caderousse is arrested and sentenced to hard labor but escapes, continuing his criminal life. He meets his end while robbing Monte Cristo's house. Monte Cristo, in disguise as Abbé Busoni, catches him but lets him go, correctly predicting that Benedetto, his accomplice, will immediately kill him.

Andrea Cavalcanti
See Benedetto

Cloclès
Cloclès is a devoted elderly employee of Morrel.

Count of Monte Cristo
See Dantès

Doctor d’Avrigny
Doctor d’Avrigny is the physician for the Villefort family. He suspects that several mysterious family deaths are murders but does not report his suspicions to the authorities.

Franz d’Epinay
Franz d’Epinay is a young nobleman who visits Rome with his friend Albert de Morcerf. Later, he is engaged to marry Valentine de Villefort but cancels the engagement upon discovering that her grandfather, Noirtier, killed his father, a royalist general, many years earlier.

Baron Danglars
In his youth, Danglars works as a sailor on the Pharaon. He becomes jealous of Dantès and writes a false letter accusing him of being a Bonapartist conspirator, leading to Dantès's imprisonment. Through deceitful methods, Danglars climbs the ranks to become a banker, amassing wealth and marrying into aristocracy. However, the marriage is unhappy. Monte Cristo orchestrates Danglars's downfall by triggering a series of financial catastrophes. Danglars abandons his wife, and his daughter flees their home. When Danglars is left with only fifty thousand francs, Monte Cristo forgives him, but Danglars is utterly broken by his financial ruin, causing his hair to turn white.

Eugénie Danglars
Eugénie Danglars, the daughter of the Danglars, is appalled at the prospect of marriage. She is relieved when her fiancé, Andrea Cavalcanti, is arrested for murder. Choosing to live independently, she disguises herself as a man and escapes with her friend, Louise d’Armilly.

Madame Danglars
Madame Danglars hails from an old family and was previously married to a marquis. After his death, she marries Danglars. The marriage is unhappy, and the couple largely live separate lives. Madame Danglars takes several lovers, including Villefort, with whom she has a child, and later Debray. After her husband leaves her, Debray also abandons her.

Edmond Dantès
Edmond Dantès is a talented and kind-hearted young man of nineteen, on the verge of significant success and happiness. He is about to be promoted to captain of a commercial trading ship and marry his beloved. However, the jealousy and betrayal of Fernand, Danglars, Caderousse, and Villefort lead to his wrongful imprisonment for treason for fourteen years. Upon escaping, he vows to reward those who were kind to his father and punish those who conspired against him. Dantès gains immense wealth by discovering a treasure his fellow prisoner, the Abbé Faria, revealed to be buried on the island of Monte Cristo. Assuming the title of Count of Monte Cristo and various aliases, he rewards his friends in the Morrel family and relentlessly pursues his enemies with great ingenuity. He views himself as an agent of divine Providence but begins to doubt this after his scheme against Villefort results in the death of the innocent boy, Edouard. He overcomes these doubts with a visit to the chateau where he was imprisoned, which reignites his memories of the injustice he suffered. He then continues his vengeance against his final enemy, Danglars.

Monsieur Dantès
Monsieur Dantès is the father of Edmond Dantès. He lives in poverty, which worsens after his son's imprisonment. Despite efforts by Mercédès and Morrel to care for him, he is overwhelmed by his misfortunes and eventually refuses to eat, leading to his death by starvation.

Albert de Morcerf
Albert de Morcerf is the son of the Count and Countess de Morcerf. Unlike his father, Albert is a man of honor and bravery. Monte Cristo saves his life when he is kidnapped by bandits in Rome. Despite nearly dueling, Monte Cristo comes to appreciate Albert's fundamental decency. Upon learning of his father's disgrace, Albert forgives Monte Cristo for exposing his father's crimes. He renounces his name and wealth, deciding to start anew by joining the army.

Count de Morcerf
See Fernand Mondego

Countess de Morcerf
See Mercédès Herrera

Marquis de Saint-Méran
Marquis de Saint-Méran is a wealthy royalist favored by the court. His daughter, Renée, marries Villefort. He is later poisoned by Madame Héloïse de Villefort.

Marquise de Saint-Méran
Marquise de Saint-Méran is the wife of the Marquis de Saint-Méran. Both she and her husband are poisoned by Madame Héloïse de Villefort.

Renée de Saint-Méran
Renée de Saint-Méran becomes Villefort’s first wife and the mother of Valentine. She dies at a young age.

Edouard de Villefort
Edouard de Villefort is the young son of the Villeforts. He is poisoned by his mother just before she takes her own life. His death prompts Monte Cristo to question the justice of his actions.

Héloïse de Villefort
Héloïse de Villefort is Villefort’s second wife and Edouard’s mother. She poisons the Marquis and Marquise de Saint-Méran, and Valentine, in a scheme to secure an inheritance for her son. When her husband discovers her plot and gives her the choice of suicide or prosecution, she chooses suicide and kills her son as well.

Monsieur de Villefort
Monsieur de Villefort is the twenty-seven-year-old deputy public prosecutor in Marseilles who unjustly imprisons Dantès. Although aware of Dantès's innocence, he acts to protect his father, Noirtier, a Bonapartist to whom Dantès was delivering a letter from Elba. During Dantès’s imprisonment, Villefort rises to become the powerful Deputy Minister of France in Paris. However, Villefort harbors a dark secret: he had an affair with Madame Danglars and buried their baby alive. The child was saved and raised as Benedetto, who later exposes Villefort's crime in court when charged with murder. Villefort returns home to find his wife has committed suicide and killed their son Edouard, leading him to madness from the shock of these revelations.

Valentine de Villefort
Valentine de Villefort is the daughter of Monsieur and Renée de Villefort. She is deeply in love with Maximilien, but falls prey to her stepmother’s poisoning scheme, aimed at securing Valentine’s inheritance for her own son, Edouard. Monte Cristo intervenes to save Valentine’s life and ensures she is reunited with Maximilien.

Lucien Debray
Lucien Debray serves as the Secretary of the Minister of the Interior in Paris and engages in an affair with Madame Danglars. Eventually, Madame Danglars discovers that Debray is primarily interested in the financial gains from their lucrative business partnership, which has depleted her husband’s wealth.

Abbé Faria
Abbé Faria is a knowledgeable and inventive priest imprisoned in the Château d’If. He befriends Dantès after tunneling into his cell. Faria educates Dantès in languages, science, culture, and spirituality, and reveals the location of hidden treasure. Although Faria dies before their escape plan can be executed, he equips Dantès with the knowledge necessary to assume the identity of the Count of Monte Cristo.

Haydée
Haydée is the daughter of Ali Pasha, betrayed by de Morcef. Sold into slavery as a child, she was purchased by Monte Cristo and remained in his service. Haydée’s testimony at de Morcerf's trial leads to his conviction.

Emmanuel Herbault
Emmanuel Herbault is a clerk working for Morrel. He eventually marries Julie Morrel.

Julie Morrel Herbault
Julie Morrel Herbault is the daughter of Morrel. Under the guise of Sinbad the Sailor, Monte Cristo uses Julie to settle Morrel’s debts and restore the family’s fortune. She marries Emmanuel Herbault.

Mercédès Herrera
Mercédès Herrera is a beautiful young woman from Marseilles engaged to Dantès. After his imprisonment, she is devastated. Eighteen months later, she marries Fernand but never stops loving Dantès. Although she rises to a high social status in Paris, her marriage is unhappy. When Dantès, as Monte Cristo, visits her, she immediately recognizes him but remains silent. Later, she convinces him not to kill her son in a duel. Following her husband’s suicide, Mercédès renounces her title and his wealth. With financial help from Monte Cristo, she moves to the small house in Marseilles that once belonged to Dantès’ father, where she plans to spend the rest of her life in prayer.

Jacopo
Jacopo is a sailor who rescues Dantès after he escapes from prison and is swimming to safety. Just as Dantès's strength fails, Jacopo pulls him from the water. He becomes a steadfast friend to Dantès and remains loyal even after Dantès transforms into Monte Cristo. As a reward, Monte Cristo appoints him as the captain of his yacht.

Fernand Mondego
Fernand Mondego is a fisherman from Marseilles who loves Mercédès. When he discovers that Mercédès is to marry Dantès, he sends the letter Danglars wrote to the authorities, accusing Dantès of being a Bonapartist conspirator. After Dantès is imprisoned, Fernand joins the army and marries Mercédès upon his return. Fernand climbs the social ladder, amassing wealth through dubious methods and adopting the title of the Count of Morcerf. His pride lies in his wife and son, but he loses them both when it is unveiled that he betrayed a French ally, Ali Pasha, and sold Pasha’s wife and daughter into slavery. In disgrace, de Morcerf ends his life by shooting himself.

Maximilien Morrel
Maximilien Morrel, the son of shipowner Morrel, is an honorable young man who becomes an army captain. He falls in love with Valentine de Villefort. After numerous twists and turns, Monte Cristo, who greatly admires and befriends Morrel, ensures they can be together.

Monsieur Morrel
Monsieur Morrel is a shipowner in Marseilles who promotes Dantès to captain of the Pharaon. Following Dantès's arrest, he makes multiple attempts to intervene with the authorities on Dantès's behalf, despite the political risks. Fourteen years later, after Dantès escapes, Morrel faces hard times, losing his ships at sea and being pressured by creditors. On the brink of suicide, Monte Cristo steps in and settles his debts.

Monsieur Noirtier
Monsieur Noirtier, Villefort’s father, stands on the opposite side of the political spectrum from his son. A prominent Bonapartist, Noirtier kills a royalist general in a duel. In his old age, he suffers a paralyzing stroke but still manages to rescue his beloved granddaughter Valentine from being forced to marry Franz d’Epinay. He does this by presenting an old journal that details his duel with the royalist general, who was Franz’s father.

Signor Pastrini
Signor Pastrini is the proprietor of a hotel in Rome. He facilitates the introduction between Monte Cristo and Albert de Morcerf.

Peppino
Peppino is a member of Luigi Vampa’s band of bandits. He owes his life to Monte Cristo, who used his wealth to secure a pardon for Peppino just before his scheduled execution.

Sinbad the Sailor
See Dantès

Luigi Vampa
Luigi Vampa is a well-known bandit leader in Rome, notorious for abducting Albert de Morcerf. He frees Albert at the behest of Monte Cristo, to whom he owes a debt of friendship. This loyalty stems from an occasion when the Count chose not to turn Vampa over to the authorities, despite having the chance. Later, Vampa’s gang also captures Danglars, again acting on Monte Cristo's orders.

Lord Wilford
Refer to Edmond Dantès