Fernand demonstrates that hope can be an engine fueling acts of wanton and selfish cruelty as well. Ironically, this would also become a significant dimension of the hope harbored by the Dantes himself. While there was a portion of his imprisonment in which the hope of young Dantes helped to sustain him with notions of escape and freedom, he still remained frustratingly uncertain about the factors which placed him in prison to begin with. It was not until the abbe Faria helped Dantes to unwind the details of the conspiracy against him that a transformation of his hope occurred. Here, the optimistic hope that guided the young Dantes to dream of freedom became a far more sinister hope, from which would be forged the Count of Monte Cristo himself.

Dumas cites the exact moment of transformation, engaging the abbe and Dantes in a conversation about the role played by Villefort...
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