129 pages • 4 hours read
Alexandre DumasThe Count of Monte Cristo
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1844A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 55-60Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 55 Summary
Maximilien goes to visit Valentine, who has been ill. Her grandfather, Noirtier, has insisted on treating her with small doses of his own medicine. During a visit by Eugénie and Mme. Danglars, Valentine collapses. Maximilien, fearing that Valentine has become the poisoner’s latest victim, appeals to the Count of Monte Cristo for help.
Monte Cristo reveals that he is aware of the deaths in the Villefort household. He suggests to Maximilien that the “justice of God” is at work among the Villeforts and that Maximilien should look away and “let that justice do its work” (401). When Maximilien tells Monte Cristo that he is in love with Valentine, Monte Cristo reacts in anger, then declares that he himself has now been “bitten by the serpent” he was watching (402). Monte Cristo assures Maximilien that Valentine will survive and that he will act as their protector.
The doctor arrives to treat Valentine, and Noirtier lets him know that he suspects the same poisoner is at work but that he has protected Valentine by giving her small doses of the same drug. Meanwhile, Abbé Busoni rents the house next door to the Villefort and begins extensive renovations.
Chapter 56 Summary
A few days later, Andrea/Benedetto arrives at the Danglars’ residence for the signing of the contract for his marriage to Eugénie. Danglars has made the signing into a lavish event to which he has invited the elite of Parisian society, including the Count of Monte Cristo. Villefort, however, is absent. His wife tells Mme. Danglars there has been a new development in the case of the man murdered after breaking into Monte Cristo’s house. Monte Cristo explains that this is his fault, as he has just given Villefort the bloodstained vest worn by Caderousse, with a blood-spattered letter addressed to Danglars in the pocket. Andrea overhears this conversation and manages to slip out of the house just as the police arrive to arrest him.
Chapter 57 Summary
After the police interrupt the signing of the wedding contract, Eugénie shuts herself away with her friend and teacher, Louise d’Armilly. Eugénie urges Louise to run away with her and reveals that she has already obtained a false passport identifying her as Léon d’Armilly, a brother of Louise. Eugénie dresses herself in men’s clothing and cuts off her long hair, telling Louise that they will travel from Switzerland to Italy. The two young women sneak away with their luggage and leave Paris.
Chapter 58 Summary
Meanwhile, Andrea/Benedetto engineers his own escape from Paris, making elaborate efforts to conceal his tracks. Staying the night in a hotel, he plans to make his way to the border disguised as a woodsman and then sell his diamonds once he has crossed the frontier. However, he wakes up to find the police outside the hotel. He climbs onto the roof, then attempts to escape down a chimney, only to find himself in a room with Eugénie and Louise, asleep in the same bed. A police officer, seeing him through the keyhole, breaks down the door. Andrea finally surrenders, leaving Eugénie and Louise with a crowd of curious onlookers.
Chapter 59 Summary
Meanwhile, in Paris, Valentine is still ill. In her nightly delirium, she sees figures she knows passing through her bedroom, including her stepmother and the Count of Monte Cristo. One night, she sees a shadowy figure emerge from an adjoining room and carefully taste the medicine in her glass. The figure then offers her the glass, and she recognizes him as the Count of Monte Cristo.
Monte Cristo tells Valentine that he has been watching over her for Maximilien’s sake, coming and going through a connecting door he has had installed between their houses. He tells her that she is being poisoned, and doses her with Faria’s medicine so that she will be alert enough to recognize her poisoner. A short time later, Valentine sees her stepmother enter and pour something into the glass by her bed. Monte Cristo returns. After telling Valentine she must not be frightened, even if she awakens in a “tomb or a coffin,” Monte Cristo gives her a sleeping pill from his emerald box (427).
Chapter 60 Summary
The next morning, the household finds Valentine apparently dead. Maximilien arrives to visit Noirtier, who alerts him that something has happened to Valentine. Maximilien finds a distraught Villefort at Valentine’s bedside. As Noirtier follows in his wheelchair, Villefort is shocked to hear Maximilien address Noirtier as “Grandfather,” but accepts the young man’s presence when he sees how deeply Maximilien loved Valentine.
Noirtier asks to be alone with Villefort. After their private conversation, Villefort asks the others present to swear they will keep the murder secret. He assures them that within three days, he will have taken vengeance on Valentine’s murderer. The doctor, who has offered to send for a priest, finds Abbé Busoni ready to offer his services. Abbé locks himself in with Valentine and Noirtier.
Chapters 55-60 Analysis
When Maximilien reveals that he is in love with Valentine, whose life is now in danger, Monte Cristo is again forced to realize that his schemes may have unintended consequences. To counteract this danger, he resumes his earlier role as a benevolent helper, working to protect Valentine and Maximilien in cooperation with Noirtier, a figure who shares many of Monte Cristo’s attributes. Monte Cristo rebuilds the house next door to the Villefort house, so he can have free access to Valentine, recalling the role that Faria’s secret passage played in the early part of the novel. In his contacts with the Villefort family, Monte Cristo uses the persona of Abbé Busoni, clearly inspired by Faria.
In relation to Valentine, Monte Cristo exercises control over death and rebirth. He engineers a false death from which Valentine will eventually return by using a more powerful drug to counteract those used by Mme. Villefort. When Valentine falls into her deathlike sleep under his watch, she is compared to “an angel lying at the feet of the Lord” (428).
Meanwhile, Benedetto’s new life as Andrea Cavalcanti comes to an abrupt end when the police interrupt the signing of the wedding contract, delivering yet another blow to Danglars’s finances and to his pride. Eugénie takes advantage of the situation to rename herself as other characters have done, leaving with her friend Louise, posing as Louise’s brother, Leon d’Armilly. Eugénie further adds gender to the theme of Rebirth and Reinvention, exploring identity in terms of gender roles and expectations. With little choice as a woman in her society and family, who sees her future in marrying Albert, Eugénie’s reinvention as a man would seem to give her the power to explore her identity outside the constraints of her society.
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By Alexandre Dumas
