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** Another character who becomes better simply by having less to do is Villefort's second wife. In this adaptation, she's mostly a non-entity, apart from a passing reference to her being envious of her stepdaughter that doesn't lead to anything. In the novel, she's a full-on EvilStepmother with her own villainous subplot.
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tropes from the novel that are also in this adaptation
* AbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder: When Edmond returns from his 14 years imprisonment, he learns that Mercedes, believing him to be dead, has married Fernand and had a son.
* AffablyEvil: Benedetto is a charming young man, and a vicious murderer and thief.
* AgeGapRomance: Edmond and Haydée start a romantic relationship; this version is vague about just how much younger she is, but it's enough that he addresses her as "child" and she, when declaring that she loves him, finds it necessary to specify that she doesn't mean like a father.
* AgeGapRomance: Edmond and Haydée start a romantic relationship; this version is vague about just how much younger she is, but it's enough that he addresses her as "child" and she, when declaring that she loves him, finds it necessary to specify that she doesn't mean like a father.
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* AnonymousBenefactor: Dantes is this to the Morrel family.
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* AmbitionIsEvil: Ambition is a common motivation for the villains. Two of the three main contributors to the downfall of Dantès, Danglars and Villefort, are motivated by concerns for the advancement of their careers; the third, Fernand, has a different motivation for his hatred of Dantès but goes on to cheat and betray his way up the social ladder.
* AnonymousBenefactor: Dantes is this to the Morrelfamily. family, bailing out the family business when it's on the point of ruin but insisting that the Morrels not be told who did it.
* ArbitrarilyLargeBankAccount: The Count of Monte Cristo never worries about the expense of anything he does, spending millions on a house without a second thought and casually carrying a million-franc note in his wallet.
* ArrangedMarriage:
** The engagement between Albert de Morcerf and Eugenie Danglars, which neither of them wants, has been arranged to affirm the alliance between their fathers.
** After Danglars decides to cut his ties with Morcerf, he instead engages Eugenie to Andrea Cavalcanti, which she's no happier about.
* AnonymousBenefactor: Dantes is this to the Morrel
* ArbitrarilyLargeBankAccount: The Count of Monte Cristo never worries about the expense of anything he does, spending millions on a house without a second thought and casually carrying a million-franc note in his wallet.
* ArrangedMarriage:
** The engagement between Albert de Morcerf and Eugenie Danglars, which neither of them wants, has been arranged to affirm the alliance between their fathers.
** After Danglars decides to cut his ties with Morcerf, he instead engages Eugenie to Andrea Cavalcanti, which she's no happier about.
* BastardBastard: Benedetto is the product of an extramarital affair and seems to be evil since birth.
* BeautifulSlaveGirl: Haydee, who was enslaved as a child and later bought by the Count.
* BenevolentBoss: Monsieur Morrel to the young Edmond Dantès. When Edmond was framed for Bonapartist collaboration and imprisoned in the hellish Chateau D'If, Morrel was the only person who tried to save him, though it was extremely politically dangerous to do so. Edmond rewards this compassion with UndyingLoyalty to Morrel's family when his fortunes change.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Edmond was a guy who had everything going for him, then lost everything thanks to being screwed over by those he thought were his friends. What ensues is a gigantic Batman Gambit to take revenge on every last one of them.
* BewilderingPunishment: Edmond is not told why he was arrested.
* BittersweetEnding: Edmond completes his revenge, but remains haunted by his past experiences. His new understanding with Haydee offers the chance of building a new life, but he seems uncertain whether he will be happy.
* BeautifulSlaveGirl: Haydee, who was enslaved as a child and later bought by the Count.
* BenevolentBoss: Monsieur Morrel to the young Edmond Dantès. When Edmond was framed for Bonapartist collaboration and imprisoned in the hellish Chateau D'If, Morrel was the only person who tried to save him, though it was extremely politically dangerous to do so. Edmond rewards this compassion with UndyingLoyalty to Morrel's family when his fortunes change.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Edmond was a guy who had everything going for him, then lost everything thanks to being screwed over by those he thought were his friends. What ensues is a gigantic Batman Gambit to take revenge on every last one of them.
* BewilderingPunishment: Edmond is not told why he was arrested.
* BittersweetEnding: Edmond completes his revenge, but remains haunted by his past experiences. His new understanding with Haydee offers the chance of building a new life, but he seems uncertain whether he will be happy.
* BreakTheHaughty: The goal of the Count's revenge plans. Morcerf is proud of his social standing and reputation as an honorable man, Villefort of his cleverness and reputation as a punisher of evildoers, and Danglars of his wealth and reutation as a clever operator -- and the Counts strips all of that away.
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* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Fernand]] shoots himself when the Count's machinations leave him disgraced.
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* DrivenToSuicide: DrivenToSuicide:
** M. Morrel, facing the ruin of his business, intends to commit suicide to clear his family's honor; he is saved at the last moment by Mr. Thomson arriving with the news that an AnonymousBenefactor has paid off all his debts.
** [[spoiler:Fernand]] shoots himself when the Count's machinations leave himdisgraced. disgraced.
** M. Morrel, facing the ruin of his business, intends to commit suicide to clear his family's honor; he is saved at the last moment by Mr. Thomson arriving with the news that an AnonymousBenefactor has paid off all his debts.
** [[spoiler:Fernand]] shoots himself when the Count's machinations leave him
* FakeUltimateHero: Count de Morcerf is a respected public figure with a beautiful wife, military commission, vast fortune, and noble title -- each of which he earned by screwing someone else over.
* GreenEyedMonster: Danglars and Fernand plot Edmond's downfall all because they are jealous of his pretty fiancée and his recent promotion.
* HaveYouToldAnyoneElse: Dantès is arrested on suspicion of being involved in a Bonapartist conspiracy; Villefort questions him and learns that Dantès is innocent of anything beyond agreeing to carry a letter for a friend, and knows nothing about the contents of the letter nor anything about its intended recipient beyond his name and address. Villefort asks Dantès if he's told anybody else the name and address, and Dantès assures him that he hasn't, at which point Villefort immediately takes steps to have him silenced because the letter's intended recepient in Villefort's father.
* HaveYouToldAnyoneElse: Dantès is arrested on suspicion of being involved in a Bonapartist conspiracy; Villefort questions him and learns that Dantès is innocent of anything beyond agreeing to carry a letter for a friend, and knows nothing about the contents of the letter nor anything about its intended recipient beyond his name and address. Villefort asks Dantès if he's told anybody else the name and address, and Dantès assures him that he hasn't, at which point Villefort immediately takes steps to have him silenced because the letter's intended recepient in Villefort's father.
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* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Louis XVIII.
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* HistoricalCharactersFictionalRelative: Haydee is the daughter of the historical [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Pasha_of_Ioannina Ali Tebelin]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyra_Vassiliki Kyra Vassiliki]].
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: LouisXVIII. XVIII appears in one scene, being informed of the plot to return Napoleon to power.
* HomoeroticSubtext: The nature of Eugenie's relationship with her very close friend Louise is implied about as strongly as a mainstream drama on the BBC in 1964 could get away with, including a scene where they're lying together on Eugenie's bed in a state of undress discussing their distaste for the prospect of marrying men.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Louis
* HomoeroticSubtext: The nature of Eugenie's relationship with her very close friend Louise is implied about as strongly as a mainstream drama on the BBC in 1964 could get away with, including a scene where they're lying together on Eugenie's bed in a state of undress discussing their distaste for the prospect of marrying men.
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* LastRequest: Captain Leclere, as he lies dying, charges his first mate, Dantès, with delivering a message that Leclere had been on his way to deliver. Dantès, of course, feels duty-bound to carry out his captain's last request, and that's where all the trouble starts.
* LeonineContract: The Roman bandits take Danglars prisoner and deprive him of any food except for what he buys from them at astronomical prices. This was, of course, masterminded by the Count as a means of separating Danglars from his ill-gotten wealth.
* MadeASlave: Haydée, though she was treated considerably better than most. If anything she's the one insisting the Count owns her, when he mostly sees her as a daughter and an instrumental pawn in his revenge against Morcerf. [[spoiler:It takes a while for him to accept she sees him as something other than a father-figure.]]
* LeonineContract: The Roman bandits take Danglars prisoner and deprive him of any food except for what he buys from them at astronomical prices. This was, of course, masterminded by the Count as a means of separating Danglars from his ill-gotten wealth.
* MadeASlave: Haydée, though she was treated considerably better than most. If anything she's the one insisting the Count owns her, when he mostly sees her as a daughter and an instrumental pawn in his revenge against Morcerf. [[spoiler:It takes a while for him to accept she sees him as something other than a father-figure.]]
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* MockMillionaire: As part of his scheme, the Count helps a couple of career criminals to pretend to be wealthy Italian aristocrats.
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* TheOldConvict: Abbe Faria. He teaches Dantès everything he will need to know for his new life on the outside, tells him where a fortune is hidden, and his death provides Dantès with his means of escape.
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* RagsToRiches: Dantès goes from humble sailor and convict to one of the richest men in the world, thanks to him finding the treasure of Spada. Fernand and Danglars respectively start out as a fisherman and a clerk and become two of the richest and most prominent men in France via underhanded means.
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* RemoveTheRival: What Mondego did to Dantès and kick start the plot.
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* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Edmond Dantès, Determinator or not, wouldn't have gotten far into his elaborate schemes for revenge without his millions of francs.
* ShedTheFamilyName: Villefort, a Royalist, changed his name to disassociate himself from his Bonapartist father, Noirtier.
* TheSpeechless: The Count's servant Ali never speaks, because he had his tongue removed by his former owner before he was rescued from slavery by the Count.
* SurpriseIncest: Narrowly avoided: [[spoiler:Eugenie and Andrea/Benedetto are half siblings, sharing the same mother, and they very nearly get married.]] This is never mentioned, though, and since he is unaware of that side of his heritage and she skips town before knowing his true identity, it's unlikely they'll ever find out.
* ThatManIsDead: When Mercédès addresses the Count as "Edmond", he tells her that he no longer knows anyone with that name.
* ShedTheFamilyName: Villefort, a Royalist, changed his name to disassociate himself from his Bonapartist father, Noirtier.
* TheSpeechless: The Count's servant Ali never speaks, because he had his tongue removed by his former owner before he was rescued from slavery by the Count.
* SurpriseIncest: Narrowly avoided: [[spoiler:Eugenie and Andrea/Benedetto are half siblings, sharing the same mother, and they very nearly get married.]] This is never mentioned, though, and since he is unaware of that side of his heritage and she skips town before knowing his true identity, it's unlikely they'll ever find out.
* ThatManIsDead: When Mercédès addresses the Count as "Edmond", he tells her that he no longer knows anyone with that name.
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* UndisclosedFunds: It's never said just how much the Monte Cristo treasure hoard is worth. The initial valuation provided by Thomson and French is 150 million francs -- which is explicitly said to be an absolute minimum based only on the stuff they could value quickly, like the gold bars, and not including any of the jewels that needed to be assessed by experts. That's already a lot, and it's only a fraction of the undisclosed full value.
* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:Villefort has a complete breakdown and goes insane at the end, after realising he's been defeated by Edmond.]]
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: All of the Count's enemies have risen to high status in Parisian society and are well-respected with good reputations among their peers.
* WhatYearIsThis: Edmond asks Jacopo after escaping from the Chateau d'If. It's easy to lose track of time over fourteen years of imprisonment.
* WickedCultured:
** Benedetto, a young career criminal who has no trouble posing as a cultured aristocrat.
** The Count himself has impeccable taste and if not an outright villain, is a ruthless WellIntentionedExtremist.
* YouKilledMyFather: Fernand betrayed and murdered Haydee's father.
* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:Villefort has a complete breakdown and goes insane at the end, after realising he's been defeated by Edmond.]]
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: All of the Count's enemies have risen to high status in Parisian society and are well-respected with good reputations among their peers.
* WhatYearIsThis: Edmond asks Jacopo after escaping from the Chateau d'If. It's easy to lose track of time over fourteen years of imprisonment.
* WickedCultured:
** Benedetto, a young career criminal who has no trouble posing as a cultured aristocrat.
** The Count himself has impeccable taste and if not an outright villain, is a ruthless WellIntentionedExtremist.
* YouKilledMyFather: Fernand betrayed and murdered Haydee's father.
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* AdaptationalHeroism:
** The Count's revenge caused a lot of AesopCollateralDamage in the novel; this adaptation omits most of it, making him a more straightforwardly heroic figure.
** In the novel, Caderousse is corrupted by the diamond Edmond gives him as a reward for his friendship, becomes a murderer and thief, and comes to a bad end; in this adaptation, he disappears from the story immediately after receiving the diamond, leaving the implication that none of his subsequent misadventures occurred in this version.
** The Count's revenge caused a lot of AesopCollateralDamage in the novel; this adaptation omits most of it, making him a more straightforwardly heroic figure.
** In the novel, Caderousse is corrupted by the diamond Edmond gives him as a reward for his friendship, becomes a murderer and thief, and comes to a bad end; in this adaptation, he disappears from the story immediately after receiving the diamond, leaving the implication that none of his subsequent misadventures occurred in this version.
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* DramaticIrony: After murdering [[spoiler:his fake father, Major Cavalcanti]], Benedetto attempts to cover up the crime by burying the body in the garden of the house Monte Cristo has lent him -- which, unknown to Benedetto, is the same garden where Benedetto's real father attempted to bury him years before.
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* {{Foreshadowing}}: After Albert chooses not to duel Monte Cristo, Fernand challenges Monte Cristo himself, declaring that any man who stands before his enemy with a weapon in hand and chooses not to strike is a coward. Minutes later, faced with the same revelation that changed Albert's mind, Fernand -- standing before his enemy with a weapon in hand -- turns and walks away without another word.
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* AtTheOperaTonight: Monte Cristo is at the opera when Albert confronts him and challenges him to a duel. Monte Cristo complains about his timing, and Albert points out that he's been taking care to be unavailable and this is the first chance Albert has had to talk to him.
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* DecompositeCharacter:
** Mr. Thomson is an Englishman from the bank of Thomson and French who appears in several episodes acting on behalf of Edmond; the things he does were done in the original novel (in which he does not appear) by Edmond himself, impersonating an Englishman from the bank of Thomson and French.
** In a process of decomposition and recomposition, part of Caderousse's role in the plot is taken from him and given instead to the false Major Cavalcanti.
** Mr. Thomson is an Englishman from the bank of Thomson and French who appears in several episodes acting on behalf of Edmond; the things he does were done in the original novel (in which he does not appear) by Edmond himself, impersonating an Englishman from the bank of Thomson and French.
** In a process of decomposition and recomposition, part of Caderousse's role in the plot is taken from him and given instead to the false Major Cavalcanti.
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* GloveSlap: Downplayed. Albert, glove in hand, confronts Monte Cristo to challenge him to a duel. Monte Cristo taunts him into losing his temper, and his seconds hold him back. Monte Cristo takes the glove from his hand and says they'll take the challenge as read.
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* HighClassGlass: Lucien Debray wears a monocle in some scenes.
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* POVCam: When a mysterious veiled woman arrives to testify at Morcerf's trial, there is a shot from her POV, looking at the panel of judges through the veil.
