5th of June

The 5th of June appears twice in the narrative of The Count of Monte Cristo, each time as a pivotal date in the story of the Morrel family. On the first occurrence, the date marks the beginning of a reprieve; on the second, it marks the culmination of that reprieve and the miraculous salvation of the house of Morrel & Son.

The Granting of the Extension

On the 5th of June, the day after the wreck of the Pharaon is confirmed, the confidential clerk of Thomson & French of Rome — in reality the Count of Monte Cristo in disguise — visits the offices of Morrel & Son in Marseilles. He finds the firm on the brink of ruin: Pierre Morrel, the owner, has just learned that his last vessel, the Pharaon, has been lost, and that he cannot meet the 287,500 francs in debts falling due. The clerk, after hearing the full account of the shipwreck from the old sailor Penelon, offers Morrel a three-month delay on the bills. "To-day is the 5th of June," he says. "Well, renew these bills up to the 5th of September; and on the 5th of September at eleven o'clock, I shall come to receive the money." Morrel, overwhelmed, accepts the extension, which gives him a final hope of collecting resources. The clerk also gives a private instruction to Morrel's daughter Julie: "One day you will receive a letter signed `Sinbad the Sailor.' Do exactly what the letter bids you, however strange it may appear." This promise binds Julie to the mysterious benefactor's plan.

The Day of Reckoning and Salvation

Three months later, on the 5th of September, the second 5th of June — the date of the original extension — becomes the day of reckoning. Morrel has exhausted every resource; he has even been refused by Danglars, now a millionaire banker. With only 15,257 francs to meet debts of 287,500 francs, Morrel prepares to shoot himself rather than face dishonor. His son Maximilian, a lieutenant, discovers the pistols and, after a wrenching conversation, agrees to let his father die with honor. At the last moment, as the clock strikes eleven, Julie bursts in with a red silk purse she has retrieved from a house in the Allees de Meillan, following the instructions of the letter from "Sinbad the Sailor." The purse contains the receipted bill for the full 287,000 francs and a diamond inscribed "Julie's Dowry." Simultaneously, the Pharaon — miraculously restored — is sighted entering the harbor, fully laden with cochineal and indigo. Morrel, his family, and the entire city witness the impossible return of the ship. The Count of Monte Cristo, watching from a hiding-place, murmurs, "Be happy, noble heart, be blessed for all the good thou hast done and wilt do hereafter, and let my gratitude remain in obscurity like your good deeds." He then departs, signaling the end of his role as the benevolent agent of providence and the beginning of his role as the avenger.

Narrative Significance

The 5th of June thus functions as a structural hinge in the novel's moral economy. It is the date on which Monte Cristo, acting as the disguised agent of Thomson & French, first intervenes to save the Morrel family from ruin, and it is the date on which that salvation is consummated. The symmetry of the two appearances — the granting of the extension and the day of its fulfillment — underscores the count's methodical, almost providential, timing. The date also links the two phases of Monte Cristo's mission: the recompense of the good (the Morrels) and, immediately afterward, the punishment of the wicked (Danglars, Fernand, Villefort). The 5th of June is, in effect, the day on which the count closes the account of gratitude and opens the account of vengeance.