forum “And like the wind it slips again, out of my fingers…” (The Count of Monte Cristo small group)

Started May 12, 2022 by @Tired-but-passionate

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This is literally bc I regret my decision to read The Count of Monte Cristo for school and I need to make it worth something. I was unsatisfied, okay? It’s a long book, I’ve got better things to do, and I don’t have time for Dumas’s casual, not-so-subtle misogyny.
Plot can go a couple of different ways. Either what happens to the other characters after the events of the book, or maybe something to do with what happens while Dantès is stuck in prison.
If you’re not familiar with the book, it’s totally fine, I’m giving some info on the characters I want to focus on and what happens to them. They will be partially described by their relationship to Dantès, since he is the mc of the book. Btw all of the characters are French, if you don’t know.

Characters
Mercédès de Morcerf: originally Dantès beautiful fiancée, a kind woman who ends up marrying Dantès rival (and her cousin-) Fernand Mondego due to Dantès being, ah, absent. Due to Monte Cristo’s schemes for revenge, she and her son eventually leave her husband and his ill-gotten fortune, and now, almost penniless, tries to make a life for herself.
Albert de Morcerf: Mercédès’s son. Originally encounters Monte Cristo in Italy and is saved by him a couple of times. A brave, honest man, and by the end of the book is enlisted into the army.
Valentine d’Villefort: the angelic daughter of Villefort, the prosecutor who sentenced Dantès to a life in prison. She is also saved by Monte Cristo from her murderous stepmother, and eventually marries Maximilian.
Maximilian Morrel: the son of Monsieur Morrel, who was a good friend of Dantès and attempted to get him out of prison. Like his father, Maximilian is honorable and humble, and his favored by Monte Cristo throughout the novel. He becomes Monte Cristo’s beneficiary along with Valentine.
Eugénie Danglars: the daughter of Baron Danglars, the man who originally plotted Dantès’s downfall. Described as bold, independent, and rather masculine. A talented musician who detests men. After almost being forced into marriage by her parents in order to get them richer than they already were, she flees to Italy with her true love.
Louise d’Armilly: Eugénie’s companion (some would say lover, and that someone is me) and music teacher. She goes with Eugénie to Italy, both disguised as sister and brother.

Questions, comments, and concerns are all appreciated! The Count of Monte Cristo is long and convoluted, and there’s a lot more to the characters than what I put here!
@dumpster-slime here it is! @Icefire you can join too if you’d like ^^ we can do this like we did with league, revamp the characters a little bit and y’know, make the women into something other than passive angelic beings who are always idealistically pretty.

Plot Avenues bc I really don’t care, we can do anything
Epilogue: Expanding the story after the events of the novel, focusing on all of the characters I listed. We could start out with all of the characters in their separate locations and eventually have their stories intertwine, that could be cool.
Slice of Life: Something more chill than the Epilogue, where we just focus on one pair of characters (Eugénie & Louise/ Valentine & Maximilian/ Mercédès & Albert) after the events of the book. This would have to be an oxo.

• Eugènie & Louise: basically a coming of age story where they realize they love each other, or alternatively they already know but they still have to hide it, at the same time they try to become successful musicians. Eugénie had planned to live two years off of the money they brought with them, and by the end of that time, they would find success. Would take place in Belgium as they try to make their way to Italy.
• Valentine & Maximilian: basically a drama. Both of them are kinda traumatized by what happened to them and need to figure out how to heal. Could either start when they get married or after, and would be about them trying to figure out their relationship. They discover they have different wants and needs, and are maybe even incompatible? Who knows, but I do want a balance of angst and fluff with this. Kinda also want smth to do with Valentine being reluctant to have children, and the couple going to visit Maximilian’s sister and her husband a lot. Would mostly take place in Paris.
• Mercédès & Albert: basically a slice of life in the truest sense. Mercédès deserves to be loved goshdangit, so either she finds romantic love with another person or familial love with Albert (if we have an alternate story where he doesn’t enlist in the army), I’m open to either. If Albert does enlist in the army, then we may have to do a split POV with the two of them only interacting through letters. I think it would be interesting if Albert went to Greece, like his father did, and had to fully comprehend the crimes that his father committed there. Basically like, “oh wait, my father was a bad person!” lol. So this would take place in Marseilles and/or Greece.

Flashback: Since Dantès is in prison and doing shenanigans as Monte Cristo a lot, we don’t see a lot of what the characters go through and only hear about it. Dumas doesn’t really expand some of his side characters beyond exposition, and that makes me sad. Again, we could focus one pair of characters, but also have the others come in too, since they would all be in the same relative location and interacting with each other. Since Dantès enemies would also still be alive, we could have drama with them too. This would be extremely complicated to explain the details of with each character, so I’ll just see what y’all think.