Open sesame

Open sesame is the magic phrase Edmond Dantes utters as he stands before the rock that conceals the entrance to the treasure grotto on the Island of Monte Cristo. The words, drawn from the tale of Ali Baba in the Arabian Nights, are the culmination of a long and patient search, and they signal the moment when the former prisoner, having escaped the Chateau d'If and discovered the hidden fortune, finally takes possession of the wealth that will allow him to become the Count of Monte Cristo. The phrase is not merely a key to a physical door; it is the symbolic threshold between his old life of suffering and his new life of power and vengeance.

The Search for the Hidden Entrance

After being left alone on the island by the smugglers of The Young Amelia, Dantes, feigning injury, begins his search for the treasure that the Abbe Faria had described. He follows the marks on the rocks that he believes were left by Cardinal Spada, and they lead him to a large, round rock that seems to be the end of the trail. He realizes that the rock must have been lowered, not lifted, into place, and he discovers a slope and a wedge that had been used to conceal the entrance. Using a lever and then gunpowder, he manages to move the massive stone, revealing an iron ring set into a square flagstone. With a final effort, he lifts the flagstone and sees steps descending into a subterranean grotto.

The Moment of Discovery

After descending into the first grotto and finding it empty, Dantes remembers the words of the cardinal's will: "In the farthest angle of the second opening." He searches for a second grotto, and after sounding the walls, he finds a section that gives a hollow echo. He breaks through the stucco and stones to reveal a second, lower and more gloomy cavern. At the left of the opening is a dark and deep angle, and it is there that he begins to dig. After a few blows of his pickaxe, he strikes an iron substance, and he uncovers an oaken coffer bound with cut steel, bearing the arms of the Spada family. He forces the lock and finds the treasure: three compartments filled with golden coin, bars of unpolished gold, and handfuls of diamonds, pearls, and rubies.

The Significance of the Phrase

Having found the treasure, Dantes rushes out of the cavern and, standing on a rock overlooking the sea, he is overwhelmed by the reality of his discovery. He returns to the grotto and, still unable to believe his senses, he falls to his knees and prays. It is at this moment, after he has confirmed the treasure is real, that he remembers the tale of the Arabian fisherman that Faria had related to him. He exclaims, "And now, open sesame!" The phrase is not a command to a door, but an acknowledgment that he has found the key to his new destiny. It is the moment he accepts the power that the treasure represents, and it marks the beginning of his transformation from the wronged sailor Edmond Dantes into the mysterious and powerful Count of Monte Cristo.