Dracula

By Bram Stoker

Yeah, he's crawling through the walls...

     Hi, everybody! Whoever you may be. Now I'm going to talk about this classic I've been reading.

     To be honest, I never knew much about the book. I knew it was about a Count Dracula guy who was a vampire and somehow came to England and sucked the blood of his victims or turned them also. You know most basic thing vampires do. 

     I wasn't very interested due to other vampires movies either good ones or bad ones with their violent or (dumb cheesy) love themes UNTIL one day when I was lazily doing my homework in a Halloween night I came upon a movie. This movie was very funny, well, it had to be, because it was a parody, of course. I just wanted to know what was the real deal.

     So I have to say this book is unique, it really captures you into its atmosphere. It's written as a big book full of diary pages, newspapers or telegrams.

     Dracula is also different from other vampires I have seen, he isn't agressive or cheesy; he's very intelligent and manipulative but also sometimes you don't know at first if he is good or bad. Rather than using brute force, he would only convince the other person or do his stuff using an alternative plan.

     

     I like to read books without knowing what they're about but if you want, here is a summary.

Summary

     It begins when Johnathan Harker heads to Transilvannia (send by his boss) to meet Count Dracula who wants to buy a property in London. By the way, skeptical Harker doesn't believe the townspeople who insist in not going there. An inn lady forces him to use a crucifix around his neck; he becomes unable to refuse her goodwill even though he mentions his religion taught him not to believe in such things. 

     (Somehow it gives you the hint of why Dracula wants to go the England, don't you think?) 

     He is then brought to the castle by Dracula's driver who is Dracula himself. The townspeople fear him greatly and hand Harker to the driver. The carriage disappears and Harker is later welcomed by Count Dracula who invites Harker to enter and then stands frozen until he enters. Dracula seems interested a lot in England and asks Harker lots of questions and begs him to teach him the accent for he doesn't want to sound like a foreigner.

Don't! Mirrors are not your friends!

     Harker seems pleased with his stay but little by little starts noticing things. One day while shaving using a pocket mirror, he was startled by Dracula who he didn't see in the mirror and cuts himself with the razor. At the sight of the blood, Dracula grasps Harker by the neck, but at the touch of the crucifix takes control of and excuses himself after throwing the mirror through the window. Harker then discovers the main entrance is locked and that he is trapped within the castle with Dracula and three other beautiful but scary women who seem to want to eat him.

     Dracula forces Harker to write three fake letters telling he has leave the castle, another like if he was in a town and the last as if he was about to get back home. As the last day approaches when Dracula sents the last letter and feeds him to the women, Harker tries to find the key and ventures into Dracula's bedroom through the window where he only finds a door leading to a chapel. There he sees Dracula sleeping with open eyes in one of the wooden cases. He is then startled by Dracula who suddenly turns his head at him while he tries to hit him with a shovel, managing only to hit him in the forehead and fleeing. The lid falls over the case and some men enter through an unknown entrance and take the wooden cases. 

     Johnathan then finds himself in the darkness alone with the three women frantically looking for him in the castle. Trying to conserve his sanity and composture, Johnathan hopes he may find an exit if he tries going deeper into the castle and maybe escape the three monstruous ladies.

     Johnathan diary ends here and starts the letters sent between Mina Murray, Harker's fianceé, and Lucy Westenra, her friend. Most of the letters of Mina tell Lucy she has received Harker's fake letters and doesn't suspect anything. Lucy tells her about John Seward, Quincey Morris and Arthur Holmwood. All three then propose to her but she chooses Arthur. Mina finally after not receiving any more letters of Harker starts to worry but can't do anything but wait. 

     Mina and Lucy then travel to Lucy's mother's house near a harbor and lead a normal life walking and chatting with the townspeople. Mina records in her diary how Lucy relapse again in somnambulism and how she has to lock the door to their bedroom so she doesn't go out.

Here I come, suckers!

     The newspapers record the coming of a storm and, how in the middle of it, a foreign ship was trapped within it. Suddenly mist covers the sea and moments later the ship strucks on the beach. People gather while a dog suddenly escapes through the broken prow. Later people discover the dead captain with his hands tied to the wheel, a crucifix in the hand and some notes in a bottle hanging from his clothes. It details the mysterious disappearance of the crew and the sightings of a tall pale man.

     Some days after the storm, Mina wakes up in the middle of the night and finds out Lucy is not there. Mina goes outside seeking the sleepwalking Lucy and finally finds her in their usual chatting place near a chapel where a tall pale figure is leaning against her, but by the time Mina arrives the strange figure is gone. Mina helps the drowsy Lucy back home and she makes Mina promise not to tell anyone.

     The next days Lucy seems struck by sickness but doesn't worsen. Mina doesn't suspects they got to do with the marks of her neck because she confuses them with having pricked her neck with a brooch. News of Johnathan come as a letter to Mina, he's at the care of some nuns who found him ill. Mina hurries to find her fiance.

     Here Mina's diary ends and starts John Seward's who is a doctor at a madhouse who records in his diary specially about his patient Renfield, a zoophagous, and his sudden agressivity whenever Dracula seems to pass by.

     While Mina nurses Johnathan, Lucy worsens and Dr. John Seward is asked by his friend, Arthur Holmwood, to help Lucy while he sees his also sick father. Seward is surprised by the drast difference in Lucy whom he saw last when he proposed to her. Lucy is pale and weak and doesn't seem to improve. 

Renfield, 1# crazy man in the world.

     Seward sends a letter asking for help to his mentor, Abraham Van Hellsing, who arrives and helps Seward with the enigma of Lucy's sickness. Van Hellsing confirms that Lucy is affected by blood loss and makes a transfusion using the newly arrived Arthur. Lucy improves but the next day again she seems affected by blood loss. Seward now donates her blood to Lucy and Van Hellsing suspecting something unusual asks Seward to monitor her the whole night without sleeping while he goes back to Holland. Lucy's condition improves by the next day and when Van Hellsing arrives fills her room with garlic flowers and makes her a necklace with the same flowers. Confident, Van Hellsing lets her sleep by herself and returns next morning with Seward convinced of the improvement in health just to find Lucy's sickly mother happy for having thrown out such smelly flowers. Seward and a somber Van Hellsing find Lucy just as expected: pale and unable to move.

     Van Hellsing donates his blood and manage to get Lucy out of danger. They decide to stay with Lucy at night taking turns and she seems to get better. Van Hellsing has to get back to Holland and suggests Seward to rest at his house as he is unable to continue not sleeping. Lucy's mother decides to sleep in her room.

     At the same time, a wolf escapes from a zoo controlled by Dracula, who is unable to enter the room and seeks his help. The wolf breaks the window and the mother struck by a heart attack grabs and breaks the flowers on Lucy's neck. She calls the maids to get some wine for her mother but the wine had some sleep drug in it and they collapse in the floor (Did each drank a glass or what?) and Lucy find herself alone with Dracula.

Have you heard about something known as
blood types, Doctor? Never mind, she's moving!
...or is she convulsing. Let's say to Arthur it
was the vampire's fault.

     Next morning, Van Hellsing and Seward head to their house but as no one opens they fear the worst and force their entry. They find the drugged maids and when heading upstairs find Mrs.Westenra dead and the dying Lucy. Somehow Quincey Morris, sent by Arthur to check on Lucy, appears and donates his blood to her. Yet she is beyond help and only manages to survive one more night which is enough to let Arthur arrive. As she dies, her behavior changes abruptly, tilts towards and begs Arthur to kiss her. Van Hellsing pushes Arthur aside and she falls again against the bed. She returns to normal and thanks Van Hellsing before she dies.

    Lucy and her mother's corpses are put in the family tomb but Van Hellsing seems uneasy and puts a crucifix around Lucy. He asks Arthur, the new Lord Godalming as his father also died, to give him access to Lucy's personal writings as they can serve as a clue to her death to which he approves, sadly. Later they are notify about the stealing of the crucifix by a maid.

    Some newspapers starts reporting about some children who disappeared and were found the next morning, all said they were with a beautiful lady.

    Van Hellsing wants to dissect Lucy's body and when he tells Seward, he is horrified. Van Hellsing tries to explain him about his suspicions about Lucy becoming an undeath. To convince him he makes him come along at night to the Westenra's family tomb where he uncovers Lucy's coffin and find her absent. Seward is found confused but not convinced with Van Hellsing's explanation. They exit the tomb and patrol separately. Faraway Seward sees a white figure carrying a small bundle. When Van Hellsing approaches, the figure drops the bundle and runs. The bundle was actually a sleeping child. The next day, Van Hellsing makes Seward come again to Lucy's coffin and this time Lucy is in it. They find her beautiful and almost as if living and while exiting Van Hellsing puts a wafer in the cracks of the tomb.

The result of a happy nailing!

     Van Hellsing explains Arthur, Quincey and Seward about Lucy being an undead and that if not stopped sooner or later she will cause casualities. Skeptical, they follow him and he removes the wafer and hide behind a bush till midnight. Lucy suddenly materializes outside of the tomb and is confronted by them. She tries to win over Arthur but fails. Van Hellsing reapplies the wafer to the tomb and she becomes angry and growls at them. When Van Hellsing convinces them, he removes it and Lucy dematerializes again. They enter the tomb and find her in her coffin again. Arthur follows Van Hellsing's instructions and nails the stake through her heart. Lucy shrieks and after some moments recovers her pure human features. After they leave, Van Hellsing along Seward decapitate her and fill her mouth with garlic.

     

     Seward's diary ends here and once again starts Mina's diary.

     Mina and Johnathan return after marrying to London. Johnathan seems neurotic and extremely nervious and believes his sickness caused him the hallucinations in Dracula's castle. Mina receives a letter from Van Hellsing notifying her about the death of Mrs.Westenra and Lucy and that she wishes to talk with her as she was close to and was mentioned a lot in Lucy's writings. Mina, feeling the doctor can help him, describes his husband's behavior and the horrible diary he had when he travelled. He informs her that her husband is sane and that he wishes to talk with him. Johnathan, suddenly eased to know he isn't crazy, accepts meeting him.

Not what you think...

     Harker wishes to help Van Hellsing stop Dracula and provides him with all the information he needs like the property he bought was actually next to Seward's madhouse. They gather at Seward's madhouse where Van Hellsing tells them about Dracula being a vampire and his suspicions that the wooden cases Dracula sent throughout London are used as shelters to him. They decide not to involve Mrs.Harker as they fear for her safety and leave her in Seward's house while they enter Dracula's. Before leaving, Renfield begs Seward to set him free as he will regret if not, Seward admits he seems sane but because he knows about Dracula he prefers not to set him free.

     While they investigate, Dracula appears before Renfield and promises him lots of lives (the reason he eats insects and animals is because he believes that he consumes their lives) and although wanting to be set free to prevent this, Renfield opens the window and lets him in but Dracula doesn't fulfill the promise.

      Dracula appears before Mina from the mist and sucks her blood while making her think she just had a nightmare. While the men continue investigating the ubication of the wooden cases, he continues visiting Mina. Renfield becomes angry against Dracula, who is stealing Mina's life, and attacks him while entering. Dracula easily overcomes Renfield and harms him to the point of dying. Seward and Van Hellsing arrive and Renfield manage to inform them about Dracula entering and attacking Mina. Van Hellsing, Seward, Quincey and Arthur hurry to the Harker's bedroom to find Harker unconscious and Dracula forcing Mina to drink his own blood. Dracula instantly flees.

In general I only make two questions:
 What is it and how I kill it.

     Van Hellsing trying to protect Mina against Dracula puts a wafer against her forehead which burns her. The men decide they must erradicate Dracula soon to save Mina, who will eventually turn into an undead. They sterilize the wooden cases found hiding along London with a wafer but find one missing. It is then when Mina who is in control of herself in the brief moments of the twilight and dawning of the day, manages to give information of what Dracula transmits to her with hypnotization. The hints lead them to think he is trying to flee to Transilvania with the last wooden case but the boat has already sailed but they now know its destination, so they decide to wait for him there.
     Yet Dracula also knowing through Mina they're waiting for him there, envelops the boat in mist and leads it to another part. By the time they receive the news, the men can no longer reach the boat in time. They let Mina inspect what little they know as they are clueless and Mina assumes after investigating that he most be following a river that goes near his castle. The men divide in pairs. Harker and Lord Godalming get a boat to follow them through water, Quincey and Seward get horses and follow them in land, Van Hellsing and Mina travel directly to the castle as he wants to cleanse it and destroy the other three vampire women.
   
     The diaries depict there troubles and thoughts but Van Hellsing's is the most interesting as he travels to the castle with the almost undead Mina. Mina gets pale and long canines, grows everyday more beautiful, less hungry, more sleepy in the day. Van Hellsing decides not to sleep at night fearing she may attack him as he once caught her gazing at him in sleep. Mina guides him to the castle where they camp in the outside.
     Van Hellsing traces a circle with a wafer and finds that Mina is unable to cross it and so suspects other vampires. Actually when night struck the vampire women appeared amist the blizzard and entreated Mina to join them. Mina gazes disgusted much to his relief. By the time the sun appears the vampires disappears.
     He leaves Mina in the holy circle and ventures into the castle. Following the descriptions in Harker's diary, he finds the chapel and finally finds one of the three vampires in her coffin. He is astonished and petrified by her endearing beauty. Only when he hears Mina's cry, he snaps out of it and gaining courage strikes the vampire with a stake and so does with all three and all three vanish into dust.

     When Van Hellsing returns, he is notified by Mina that he is approaching but he is more worried about the wolves that may attack them, so he hides with Mina in a strategic spot. Later on, they spot the men carrying Dracula's coffin to the castle and the sun almost setting. But also in the blizzard find four men riding in pairs from different directions trailing them, riding crazily against the sun that's trying to set.
     Mina and Van Hellsing corner them with their guns and give the men time to reach them. When the men reach them, they break their way to the coffin. The slovaks fight against them and so the men in a messy fight. The coffin falls off and so the lid; a smiling Dracula gazes as the sun it's about to set. Instantaneously, a stake is nailed though his heart, a knife through his neck and the men desperately tear him with their knives and stakes. Dracula turns into dust and the slovaks run away.
     Mina is lift from the curse and the men sigh in relief yet, in the fight, Quincey was stabbed and before dying says, "This is a cause worth dying for."

     There's a little and nice epilogue about their lives after the incident. 

     They're lots of powerful scenes I can't describe trying to write a summary but I recommend the one where Harker meets for the first time the three vampire women. That's actually my favorite part! 

     Well, I will read The Alchemist (Coelho) or 100 Hundred Years of Solitude but it will take me a while as I'm in exams and for some reasons they asked me homework.

     Happy reading!

The Count of Montecristo

By Alexandre Dumas (father)

"Everybody likes revenge." (GLaDOS)

     Hello there again! I've been busy. School's hellish and eats all my time.

     I'm actually stuck reading Dracula, lost all motivation, but good thing is school is here but not for studying and stuff. So I always carry a book and read in class. School's boriness gives me motivation to read. So it's really a win-win situation. I have fun while being at school and school thinks he's funny.

     What I'm trying to say you people who may say, "Are your grades okay?" (they are, thank you) is that I'm going to recommend you a book I already read. Big book but cool story. Made a huge movie which I haven't seen or have the time to. What I have gather from some fans of this book is that actually it was a story that appeared at a newspaper or something like that bit by bit. 

I can't exactly remember all the plot as I read it almost two or one years ago so I'm going to more less tell you what's about.

     Edmond Dantès is a nice fellow who is a sailor in a boat of the Morrel's business. While in the sea, the captain fells ill and asks him to deliver a letter when they return to Marseille. By the time they arrive the captain has died.
     Dantés is a truly blessed boy who has a beautiful fianceé named Mercédès who he is going to marry soon, he's going to become the next captain of the boat and is saving up money so his poor father can have a better life. His life is heading in a good direction but as his blessings increase so his enemies.

    One of them is the cousin of Mercédès, Fernand, who is madly in love with her. The next is is Danglars, a fellow sailor who is jealous of his rise to captain. Finally Caderousse, the room provider, believes Dantés to have money hidden. While the three grieve in a bar, Danglars suddenly makes a plan to make Dantès seem like a traitor. Caderousse is too drunk to stop them but Danglars persuades Fernand into working with him. They send a letter to the police saying that Dantès is a spy from Napoléon.

     While Dantès is a about to marry Mercédès, the police appears and take him under arrest. As Danglars foresaw, the letter the late captain gave to an ignorant Dantès was addresed to an enemy of the crown. Villefort, a man who married the same day Dantès was supposed to, judged him and felt sympathy for him. Yet all his intentions to help him vanished when he saw the letter adressed to his own father. Villefort, sneakily burned the letter and made Dantès think that he would be safe is nobody knew to whom the letter was adressed to. Innocently, Dantés believes him and so Villefort dooms him.

      Dantès, who believes he will set free as he is innocent, waits patiently to discover he's going to be taken to a prison, the Château d'If. He discovers it too late and can't escape. Dantès is imprisoned in the basement cells where he gets depressed and thinks of taking his life by becoming anorexic. 

      But one day, he hears some knocking in the walls and discovers a fellow prisoner trying to dig his way out. This person is known as "The Mad Priest" who the jailers deem as a happy lunatic which believes he knows where to find a huge treasure. Abbé Faria is also an unjustily imprisoned man who was the servant of the last member of a once rich family which it's believed to have their fortune hid somewhere. Faria reveals to Dantés the possible culprits of his unfair imprisonment and the reasons they may have. He also teaches Dantés about all-type of subjects and he learns fast over the thirty years (I believe it was) and soon learn the secret hideout of the lost fortune in a fragment. They promise to divide the fortune once they escape but Faria suffers of a chronic sickness and dies.

      As their tunnel plan has failed, Dantès reasons that only dead people may exit. In a last effort he changes places with Faria. Takes Faria to his room and he enters the sack where they had put Faria. In fact, he is taken to the graveyard outside the castle but this graveyard is the sea. They throw the sack and somehow Dantès survives and swims away. He's later taken by a smuggler ship which help him head to the island of Monte Cristo where the lost fortune was and becomes dirty, dirty rich.

What are you gonna do with all that money?
Bath in money while I make my enemies' life
a nightmare...

      He returns to Marseilles seeking for his father and fianceé only to discover that his father died of hunger and that Mercédès was no longer there. He also finds the Morrel family struck by misfortune and the only persons to believe Dantès was innocent. Touched by their loyalty, using the alias Sinbad the sailor, he helps them out of the situation before Morrel (father) tries suiciding due to bankruptcy in order to save their honour. 

      As he sees the heartwarming happiness of his dear friends, Dantès decides it's time to abandon all traces of humanity and devote to revenge against the ones who unfairly imprisoned him.

      He appears in Paris as the rich Count of Montecristo and is introduced to the Count de Morcef (Fernand), Baron Danglars and procureur du roi Villefort. Yet the only one to recognize him is Mércèdes who is truly sorry to Dantés, who doesn't forgive her and she is unable to stop him. He slowly but surely makes their lives once happy into a nightmare. Reveals dirty secrets, makes own members of a family kill themselves and tricks them into losing all even when his actions drive innocent people as well.

     

     The fun part is knowing how he does it! So I will put the spoiler at the end. So the people who want to read the book without spoilers beware: I will put them below.

Ruin of Count de Morcerf

     Montecristo moves Danglars to investigate what happened in Janina and appears published in the newspapers. It accuses Morcerf of betraying his benefactor, Ali Pasha. 

     Albert, son of Fernand, blames Monte Cristo for the disgrace and promise to duel to death the next day. Mércèdes meets Montecristo at night and begs him to not kill her son. He is moved by her and is able to tell her the truth about her imprisonment. She later tells the truth to Albert who makes a public apology to Montecristo. 

     Morcerf is brought to court and tries to lie his way out but is exposed by Haydeé, sent by Montecristo, that he betrayed his father and leader of Janina, Ali Pasha, to the Turks for the sake of money and sold her to slavery along with her mother. This totally ruins his family's honour. His wife and son abandon him and Fernand is confronted by Montecristo who reveals himself as Dantès and the cause of his misfortune (In your face!). Fernand who can't bear the disgrace and the lost of his family shoots his brains out.

Ruin of Villefort

     Montecristo becomes friend of the current bride of Villefort, Eloísa, who is also the stepmother of Valentina. He recommends her the use of a venom as medicine but hints that in high doses it can kill a person without leaving a trace. 

     As Eloísa sees Valentina will inherit alone the Saint-Mérans (her mother's family) and also Nortier's (Villefort's father) inheritance when they die and leave his own son peniless, she starts poisoning the members of the family. First she poisons the Saint-Mérans, making Valentina inherit the money and tries to kill Nortier but fails. 

     Villefort knows by his doctor friend that a person in the house is poisoning the family, he suspects Valentina. And Villefort starts believing so too.

     Montecristo grinning while seeing the house of the Villeforts crumble is then pleaded by Morrel (Jr) who desperately begs him to save Valentina, whom he loves. Montecristo is struck between his desire to please his most dear friend whom he deem as a son and his darker desire for vengeance against an evil family. But at last promises Morrel to do all in his might (almost God-like) to help him.
     Eloísa starts targetting Valentina as she was unable to poison Nortier. She reasons that when she dies Nortier will have to make his son inherit the money, so she starts going at night to introduce the venom in the water glass near her bed. Montecristo appears (not sure how) in her bedroom and throws the poison, says he's sent by Morrel and asks her to drink of the mix he brought. The next morning Valentina appears dead.
     Villefort is shocked by her death as he believed her to be the culprit and is full of regret and confusion about the real murderer. This is when Nortier even when completely paralyzed is able to point out with his eyes that the culprit is Eloísa who is playing with her son in a heartwarming scene. He faces her and lets her choose between public execution or suicide by her own poison and leaves even when she begs him.

     Villefort heads to the court where he is to sentence Andrés Calvancanti who's really Benedetto, the bastard son he had with Mrs. Danglars. Benedetto reveals in court that Villefort is his father and that he tried to kill him when he was born thus making Villefort an infanticide and father of a murderer.

     With his honour totally destroyed, as a criminal and a change of heart, he returns home hoping he may reach his wife before it's too late. By the time he arrives he finds his wife has chosen to suicide but also decided to take her little son with her. Montecristo comes to mock him and reveal himself as Edmond Dantés like saying, "In your face!," but a desperateVillefort questions him about the death of his son as also part of his plan. Dantés tries to save the boy but is unable to do it. Villefort finally snaps, turns mad and starts digging the soil searching for the box where his bastard son, Benedetto, should have been.

Ruin of Baron Danglars

     Danglars became a wealthy bank owner over the years and what he was more interested than anything is in becoming richer. 

     Montecristo makes a deposit in his bank of a lot of money and retrieves a little with the condition that he can retrieve the rest any time he wants. He later proceeds to make an information fraud so that Danglars who always receives those kind of information early makes the wrong move and therefore lose the majority of his fortune along with multiple bankruptcies and the like which continue undermining his wealth.

     In a last attempt to regain his fortune, he cancels the engagement of his daughter, Eugenia, to Albert de Morcef and changes it to Andrés Calvancanti believing he's rich. Which, in the day of the wedding, is set under arrest in a similar fashion to Dantès and judged as a murderer known as Benedetto. Eugenia freed from an unwanted engagement, elopes with her friend to to make her dreams of becoming an famous pianist a reality.
     Finally Montecristo, when Danglars seems to be pending from the edge, like a jerk demands the withrawal of all his money. Danglars is unable to and some people who study this things may know better than me how screwed he became. He gives him back his money but escapes with the deposit of a hospital he was managing leaving her wife without prior call.

     He travels to Rome in hope to reopen business with what he has left of the money he stole and start again. This is so until he is kidnap by the bandits and taken to a cave where he meets their boss, Luigi Vampa. Luigi imprisons him in a cell where he is actually comfortable. The floor is covered by fur, he has a table, a bed and like that.
     He starts growing hungry and asks his jailer when they're gonna bring the food. The jailer acts suprised and assures him that he only has to ask for it. Danglars seems pleased until the jailer tells him that he has to pay for it as it is difficult getting food. As a pro greedy man, Danglars prefers to wait until he can no longer. He asks for the prices which are so exorbitant that Danglars has a hard time deciding. All the food is extremely expensive and when Danglar can resist no longer the hunger he buys and the next day even though he refuses, he does so again. Until he is left with a misery compared with what he had before.

     When he screams out of desesperation at the bandits, Montecristo who is a good friend of Luigi comes in and tells him with a solemn face that he is Edmond Dantès. Danglars discovers that the misery of Fernand and Villefort are his doing and supposes he came to do the same. Yet Montecristo says he learned his lesson, he sets Danglars free with what little money he has left as he has received enough punishment and lets him go away. He also assured him that he had already paid the money he owed to the hospital.


     Well many of you may say what happened to Caderousse, if any of you remembers. Well, Caderousse also died because Montecristo was angry because he knew and didn't do anything to help him, and also with time had turned even nastier and a killer. He was murdered by Benedetto and was pinpointed out moments before he died so that's why Villefort had to prosecute him as he was like a judge.

     As you may see many thing are interwined and is hard to put it all, so I only put you the most important characters which are Montecristo who by the way pretends to be other three persons, and the persons he want revenge from. So practically this is a story about a good innocent guy turn rich, believes he's justice and wishes revenge. And well, everybody likes revenge, much more when they guy owns them the way he did and is dirty rich. 
     But he also through revenge discovers he has to seek for forgiveness.

     Also another spoiler: Valentina isn't dead. Montecristo did something similar to Juliet in Romeo & Juliet.