Thanks to PBS, The Count of Monte Cristo is a show on many a mind, but did you know that the original novel by Alexander Dumas was based on true events?
The 1846 novel, which went through its own court battle in the past, has become one of the most beloved stories about revenge and justice. Yet, the original tale is much darker, as it didn’t quite end with a main character realizing that maybe revenge isn’t worth it at all.
Dumas started the novel after coming across memoirs of a Paris police archivist. In those memoirs, he came across the story of a French shoemaker, Pierre Picaud, who was wrongly imprisoned in Italy for seven years. Similar to the protagonist in the novel, Edmund, Pierre’s “friends” were jealous of his engagement to a woman, who happened to be wealthy, and decided to frame him as an English spy.
Yet, while he was imprisoned, he befriended a wealthy Italian priest. The story doesn’t go quite the same way as Edmund’s, who ends up with the map to the hidden treasure thanks to befriending fellow inmate Abbé, but Pierre was left the priest’s fortune after his death.
That offered Pierre the chance to go on a mission of revenge, getting back at the three men responsible for his imprisonment. He didn’t stop with just the men, though. Like Edmund, he targeted the families, but in this case, the younger, innocent members of the families weren’t spared.
At the end of The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmund realizes that revenge may not be what he expected. Innocent people are harmed, and he doesn’t have the heart for that. Yet, Pierre systematically worked through each of his former friends’ families, even going as far as poisoning on purpose and murdering the main conspirator.
The Count of Monte Cristo took a more thoughtful approach with the end, as Edmund finds a way to reunite two young lovers and opts to sail off with his own lover. There’s a moment in the PBS series starring Sam Claflin where there’s a visible change of mind after the death of Villefort’s young son at the hands of Villefort’s wife.
As for the novel, it became a popular story right away. The real-life prison, Château d'If, became a sought-after destination for readers, as they looked for the place where their favorite characters were held for years. Of course, the characters were fictional, but instead of just telling everyone that, the prison guards eventually created fake dungeon cells, which are still part of tours today!
While you can visit the prison relatively easily, the real island of Montecristo isn’t as easy to access. It’s now part of a lottery system, with the Italian government only allowing a few tourists per year to visit it, and the popularity of the island comes from the novel itself.
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