I just finished the book today!
What a journey it has been. After finishing the book earlier this day, I just sat in silence and reflected on the journey, from the very first chapters to the end.
There are chapters which are so verbose that I sometimes wish the book was shorter and more concise but when I reached the end, I was hoping for more.
The way the story ended, we're put in the perspective of Morrel and Valentine seeing the Count depart. I can't help but wonder what the Count's thoughts are as he leaves, done with vengeance and off to settle in someplace.
It was a full circle. In the beginning of the novel, we saw Dantes, at age 19, with a bright future ahead of him arriving in a ship at Marseilles. Then 14 years of incarceration and after escaping 9+ years of plotting and building up his newfound wealth and foundation in the world to have the image as Count of Monte Cristo. And when his revenge is finally over, when his role as the Hand of God is finished, we see the novel end with him departing in a ship.
I also wonder about the fate of the characters and what happens to them. Albert becomes a soldier. Villefort is still alive but is crazy and if his sanity is restored, could he find it within himself to have the justification to seek revenge too on the person whose life he ruined and in retribution, ruined his life too? Same thing with Danglars as he was left alive. But we know that the characters found the Count's vengeance as justified and they also believe that he was sent by God to punish the wicked.
Some unanswered questions of mine are:
Did the Count fully inform Noirtier of Villefort's wrongdoing? We know that he was wrongfully imprisoned because of a letter addressed to Noirtier. And if he did was he fully approving of the Count's revenge, who ruined the entire family.
What happens to Madame Danglars who discovered that Benedetto was his son?
What happened to Benedetto after the trial? I was fully cautious of him because he knows that it was the Count who brought him and named him Cavalcanti for his own reasons.
What happened with Bertuccio? We never saw the final conversation between him and Benedetto and we never got to see him again after that.
I always thought at the beginning that perhaps Dantes and Mercedes will get back together by the end and continue their love that was separated because of evil, greedy, jealous and ambitious people. They still had love for one another by the end. But perhaps the passage of time was an unsurmountable gap. Mercedes gave up waiting for Dantes after 18 months. And later on she hates herself for this and realizes she could've just waited for Dantes in a convent. But I don't hate her for this. 14 years would've been too long. And it's not her fault that Dantes was imprisoned. I can clearly picture how she's calling out "Dantes, Dantes, Dantes!" near the end on the window where Old Dantes used to live.