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A character in The Count of Monte Cristo

Albert de Morcerf

Fernand and Mercédès's son, kidnapped by bandits in Rome, who brings the count into Paris and then challenges him.

What they want

He wants to be seen as a man of honour, and the newspaper article about his father takes that away.

The book

The Count of Monte CristoAlexandre Dumas, 1846

A sailor jailed on his wedding day spends fourteen years in a fortress and the rest of the book taking Paris apart, one enemy at a time.

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At a glance

Address
No. 27 Rue du Helder, Paris
Age
Not yet twenty-two in 1838

Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Albert is a young viscount not yet twenty-two, good-natured and idle, whom the count meets at the Roman carnival. Bandits take him, the count gets him back, and Albert repays the favour by introducing the count to everyone in Paris. He is the only member of the Morcerf family the count does not want to destroy.

How Albert de Morcerf Is Portrayed

Appearance, manner, and tone — as the book sketches them, in our words.

  • Carnival in RomeIn Chapters 36 and 37 he chases a masked woman through the carnival and is kidnapped by Luigi Vampa's men. The count walks into the catacombs and has him released without a ransom.
  • The breakfastIn Chapter 40 he hosts the count at No. 27 Rue du Helder on 21 May, with his friends Beauchamp, Debray, Château-Renaud and Maximilien Morrel at the table.
  • The insultIn Chapter 88 he enters the count's box at the Opera and challenges him in front of the house, believing the count arranged his father's disgrace.
  • The meetingIn Chapter 90 he arrives at the Bois de Boulogne, and instead of fighting, apologises to the count in front of the seconds. His mother has told him what his father did.

Albert de Morcerf quotes

Lines spoken by or about Albert de Morcerf, each verified verbatim against the text and located in the book.

Edmond, you will not kill my son!
Mercédès, to the count · Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo (1846), Chapter 89, anonymous nineteenth-century translation
Their ending, and the commentary — spoilers aheadHow the book leaves them, what happened after, and what the record says. Open when you're ready.

He renounces his father's name and fortune, leaves with his mother, and enlists as a soldier in Africa under the name Herrera, his mother's maiden name.

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