"Poor young man!" Monte Cristo muttered, so low that even he could not hear these words of compassion as he spoke them. "It is written that the sins of the father shall be visited on the sons, even to the third and fourth generation." (85.135)
As far as Monte Cristo is concerned, Justice is a powerful and unrelenting force.
A moment later, the door through which the priest had entered opened and Monte Cristo appeared. "Forgive me, dear Baron," he said, "but one of my good friends, Abbé Busoni, whom you saw enter, has just arrived in Paris. It is a long time since we last met and I could not tear myself away from him immediately. I hope that this reason will be sufficient to persuade you to excuse me for keeping you waiting." (66.6)
The facility with which the Count can change his appearance and behavior is amazing, at times comically so.
"For in spite of all my woes, in spite of all my tortures, I can now show you a face rejuvenated by the joy of revenge, a face that you must have seen often in your dreams since your marriage…your marriage to my fiancée, Mercédès!" (92.105)
Here, the most powerful transformation is actually a return to the original state, a regression.