La Force

La Force is the Parisian prison where Andrea Cavalcanti, the false prince and escaped convict also known as Benedetto, is incarcerated after his arrest for the murder of Caderousse. Its most notorious section, the court of Saint-Bernard, is known among inmates by the expressive name of the "Lions' Den" — a prison within a prison, with double-thick walls and gratings examined daily by jailers of herculean proportions. Within this grim fortress, Andrea awaits trial, receives a fateful visit from his foster-father Bertuccio, and ultimately stands before the assize court in a scene that shatters the house of Villefort.

Layout and Reputation

The court of Saint-Bernard is designed for the most dangerous and desperate prisoners. Its walls are double the thickness of the rest of the prison, and the gratings are carefully examined every day by jailers chosen for their superior activity and intelligence. The paved courtyard is enclosed by enormous walls over which the sun glances only obliquely; there, pale, careworn, and haggard men pace to and fro from morning till night, like shadows waiting for justice to sharpen its steel. The visiting room is a long rectangle divided by two upright gratings placed three feet apart, a wretched, damp, and horrible spot where agonizing conferences take place between the iron bars. For the condemned men, this room is looked upon as a kind of paradise, so rare is it for them to leave the Lions' Den for any place other than the scaffold or the galleys.

Andrea Cavalcanti's Imprisonment

Andrea enters La Force after his arrest at the Bell and Bottle tavern in Compiegne, where he was discovered hiding in a chimney. Despite his torn clothes, he maintains the bearing of a gentleman, polishing his varnished boots with an embroidered handkerchief and demanding a dressing-gown. The other inmates mock him as "the prince," but when they threaten to subject him to the brutal "savate" — beating with an iron-heeled shoe — Andrea makes a Masonic sign taught to him by Caderousse, and the mob instantly withdraws, recognizing him as one of their own. The keeper, stupefied, searches Andrea for the source of this mysterious power.

The Visit of Bertuccio

Andrea is summoned to the visitors' room, where he finds Bertuccio waiting behind the grating. The steward has obtained an order to speak with Andrea in a private room, a privilege that fills the prisoner with renewed hope that his unknown protector has not abandoned him. In the whitewashed chamber, Bertuccio confronts Andrea about his continued crimes of robbery and murder. When Andrea insolently demands to know who his real father is, Bertuccio reveals that he has come precisely to tell him. Before he can speak, however, the jailer interrupts to announce that the examining magistrate is waiting for the prisoner. Bertuccio promises to return the next day, leaving Andrea in a state of agitated uncertainty.

The Trial and Its Aftermath

Andrea's trial at the assize court becomes the stage for the most dramatic revelation of the novel. When asked his name, he calmly declares himself the son of the king's attorney, M. de Villefort, and recounts the story of his birth at Auteuil, his burial alive, and his rescue by a man who had sworn vengeance against his father. Villefort, overwhelmed, confesses the truth before the entire assembly and staggers from the court. Andrea is returned to La Force, but the prison itself fades from the narrative as the focus shifts to the catastrophic consequences of the trial for the Villefort family. The walls of La Force, which had held the key to the mystery of Andrea's identity, become the backdrop against which the final act of Villefort's punishment unfolds.