Edmond Dantes

The story takes place in France, Italy, and islands in the Mediterranean during the historical events of 1815–1839: the era of the Bourbon Restoration through the reign of Louis-Philippe of France. It begins on the day that Napoleon left his first island of exile, Elba, beginning the Hundred Days period of his return to power. The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book, an adventure story centrally concerned with themes of hope, justice, vengeance, mercy, and forgiveness.

Before he can marry his fiancée Mercédès, Edmond Dantès, a French nineteen-year-old first mate of the merchant ship Pharaon, is falsely accused of treason, arrested, and imprisoned without trial in the Château d'If, a grim island fortress off Marseille. A fellow prisoner, Abbé Faria, correctly deduces that romantic rival Fernand Mondego, envious crewmate Danglars, and double-dealing magistrate De Villefort are responsible for his imprisonment. Over the course of their long imprisonment, Faria educates Dantès and, knowing himself close to death, inspires him to retrieve for himself a cache of treasure Faria had discovered. After Faria dies, Dantès escapes and finds the treasure. As the fabulously wealthy, powerful and mysterious Count of Monte Cristo, he enters the fashionable Parisian world of the 1830s to avenge himself.

The Count of Monte Cristo owns a grand mansion he designed. With many hidden rooms and secret passages, the house in itself is a marvelous blend of oriental and Spanish inspiration, with patios, inside balconies overlooking grand rooms with fountains or richly ornated carpets. The mansion also comes with the surrounding woods, where part of it has been turned into a beautiful garden, and the other part of the forest preserved for hunting parties.

Andreas : a 18 year old boy, son of the procecutor de Villefort and his mistress. The procecutor tried to kill him at his birth by burying him alive, but Angèle, the procecutor's sister, saved him and helped him. When she died of illness years later, the count had found her, and promised her he'd take care of him. He views him as a son, and he's part of the grand scheme of the count to get revenge of the procecutor.

Haydee : a 17 year old girl. She's Romanian, and was sold to slave owners in the Balkan after Fernand Mondego killed her father as an infiltrated soldier who betrayed him. She wishes to avenge her father, and was freed by the count and welcomed into his house for this purpose.