[close] Edmond Dantès is the protagonist and title character of Alexandre Dumas, père's novel, The Count of Monte Cristo.

Dumas may have gotten the idea for the character of Edmond from a story which he found in a book compiled by Jacques Peuchet, archivist to the French police. Peuchet related the tale of a shoemaker named Pierre Picaud, who was living in Nimes in 1807. Picaud had been engaged to marry a rich woman, but four jealous friends falsely accused him of being a spy for Britain. He was imprisoned for seven years. During his imprisonment, a dying fellow prisoner bequeathed him a treasure hidden in Milan. When Picaud was released in 1814, he took possession of the treasure, returned under another name to Paris and spent ten years plotting his successful revenge against his former friends.

When the reader is first introduced to Edmond Dantès, he is arriving in Marseille as first mate aboard the merchant ship Le Pharaon (The Pharaoh). At only 19 years old, the young Dantès seems destined for success. Although the trip was successful, the former Captain, Leclère, has fallen ill and died. Dantès relays these events to his patron, M. Morrel, who tells Dantès that he will try to have him named captain. Dantès rushes off to see his beloved, the young Catalan woman Mercédès, and the two agree to be married immediately.

The marriage never occurs, however. On the night of their nuptial feast, Dantès is arrested as a suspected Bonapartist, and taken to see the public prosecutor, Gérard de Villefort. De Villefort concludes that Edmond is innocent, and assures Edmond that he will be released. He then asks for a piece of evidence cited in a letter denouncing Edmond to the authorities. The letter claims that on Edmond's last voyage, he made a stopover at the island of Elba, and received a letter from the deposed Emperor Napoléon. Edmond hands over the letter, which he received in the name of Captain Leclère, and of which the contents are unknown to Edmond. De Villefort throws the letter on the fire, and once again promises Edmond's speedy release. The letter had been addressed to a M. de Noirtier, who, unbeknownst to Edmond, is de Villefort's father. De Villefort has renounced his father, a staunch Bonapartist, and destroyed the letter to protect himself, not Edmond; to further protect his name, de Villefort sentences Edmond to imprisonment in the dreaded Chateau d'If. Villefort is aided in this plot by Danglars, Edmond's shipmate who Edmond was promoted over, and Fernand Mondego, a rival suitor for Mercédès' hand.

Edmond is taken to the infamous Chateau d'if, an island fortress from which no prisoner had ever escaped, and to which the most dangerous political prisoners are sent. After many long years in solitary confinement in the dungeons of the Chateau, Edmond decides to commit suicide by starvation. After nearly two weeks, he hears scratching against the wall of his cell. Concluding that it could only be another prisoner digging his way to freedom, Dantès resolves to live, and to aid this fellow prisoner, so that they might gain their freedom. Dantès eventually breaks through into the tunnel and the adjoining cell, which belongs to an old Italian abbé named Faria.

The two prisoners become very close, with the learned priest teaching Dantès all he knows about Mathematics, Science, Languages, Philosophy, and Economics. Together, the two determine the names of the men who denounced Edmond as a Bonapartist, and although Faria disapproves, Edmond formulates plans of revenge against the men who had betrayed him. Faria dies before the two could escape, but before he dies, he bequeaths to Edmond a secret treasure, hidden on the island of Monte Cristo. The night of Faria's passing, Edmond exchanges himself for his mentor in the priest's bodybag, and escapes from the prison. (The jailers, rather than burying him, throw him over the fortress' wall into the sea, weighted with an iron ball tied around his legs. Using a homemade knife, Edmond frees himself of this burden and reaches the surface.) He is rescued from the sea by smugglers, who believe him a shipwreck victim. At his earliest opportunity, Edmond suggests a stopover and trading of goods at the small island of Monte Cristo, during which he confirms the existence of Faria's treasure. On this and subsequent visits, Edmond becomes very wealthy.

Upon returning to Marseille, Edmond learns that his father had died and that Mercédès had married Mondego eighteen months after he was supposedly executed for treason. His old neighbour Gaspard Caderousse is still alive, and under the guise of the Abbé Busoni, Edmond visits him to learn more. Caderousse tells him that M. Morrel had tried to obtain a fair trial for Edmond, and how Mercédès pleaded for his release. He also learned that those who had remained loyal to Edmond had suffered greatly, while those who had betrayed him had prospered. Edmond thanks Caderousse for the information, paying him with a large diamond that he said had come into Edmond's possession while in prison. Realizing that only Morrel had remained loyal, Edmond creates two new guises, one of an Englishman named Lord Wilmore from the firm Thomson and French, and one named Sinbad the Sailor, and under these guises, saves Morrel from bankruptcy and suicide. Dantès then goes into hiding, spending 10 years reforming himself as the Count of Monte Cristo.

Ten years after saving the fortunes of M. Morrel, Edmond would emerge into Parisian society as the mysterious and sophisticated Count of Monte Cristo. Having purchased the deed to the island from whence he obtained his treasure, Edmond is able to place himself in the upper strata of Parisian society and assume the role of one of the most influential men in all of France. As such, he is introduced to several other powerful men, most notably the Baron Danglars, who is now a wealthy banker; Count Fernand de Morcerf, who is now a military hero; and M. Villefort, who is now the Procureur du Roi, one of the most powerful advocates in the country. Furthermore, Count de Morcerf has married the beautiful Mercédès, and the two have a son named Albert. Having established himself in Parisian society, and having distanced himself from Edmond Dantès, the Count is able to formulate his plans of revenge against the men who betrayed him.

By the end of the novel, Edmond had exacted his revenge on all of the men who would have seen him rot in prison; Villefort is driven mad, and Mondego commits suicide when his part in the conspiracy is revealed to his wife and son. Danglars is for a time captured by the Italian bandit Luigi, made to understand Edmond's suffering, and stripped of all of his wealth. Edmond, at the end of the novel, is once again able to feel love with Haydee. [close]