How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Dantès was now thirty-three years old, as we have said, and his fourteen years in prison had brought what might be described as a great spiritual change to his features. He had entered the Château d'If with the round, full, radiant face of a contented young man whose first steps in life have been easy and who looks to the future as a natural extension of the past All that had changed utterly. […]
Edmond smiled when he saw himself. It would have been impossible for his best friend—if he had any friends left—to recognize him; he didn't recognize himself. (22.9, 11)
Here we see a "spiritual change" made manifest via a physical transformation.
Quote #2
"The time when there were two nations in France has passed. The leading families of the monarchy have melted into the families of the empire and the aristocracy of the lance has married the nobility of the cannon." (51.36)
It needs to be remembered that, even as Edmond's life is being transformed, so too is the entire country of France.
Quote #3
"Like the Sleeping Beauty's castle, the whole house had been awakened from its long sleep and come to life; it sang and blossomed like one of those houses that we have long cherished and in which, when we are unfortunate enough to leave them, we involuntarily relinquish a part of our souls." (62.5)
Some of the Count's transformations are entirely superficial and, it seems, totally positive. In this case, the pleasant new exterior masks a dark secret.