The Danger in Believing to Have the Authority to Administer Justice The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas is a novel set in parts of Rome and Paris during the early eighteenth hundreds. The main character Edmond Dantes, returns to Marseilles an innocent and joyous man. However, Edmond’s happiness is brought to a sudden and tragic end when he is wrongly accused of being a Bonapartist. Through the arrest and being in prison for 14 years; Dantes, now a bitter man, vows to punish those who accused him. Though Edmond has a chance to forgive and become the joyous man he was, he is unable to let go of the idea that he should be the one to serve justice, which results in negative consequences and a life of emptiness. The once naïve and exuberant Edmond Dantes becomes a resentful man when he discoveries his imprisonment is an act of betrayal, which leads to his unwavering pursuit of vengeance. In the beginning of the novel, Edmond a very naïve and prosperous man does not suspect anyone would want to harm him, but he questions this when he is wrongly sent to the prison of Château d’If. Edmond only finds out his betrayal through the Abbe Faria, who quickly realizes he has planted a seed of vengeance: “‘I almost regret having helped you in your researches… Because I have instilled into your heart a feeling that previously held no place there-vengeance” (97). When Dantes suggests changing the topic it is evidence that he has permanently set his path for justice. The Abbe
While he was successful in his goal, the pain and suffering he caused to innocent people like Edouard, the son of Villefort, and Mercédès, the wife of Fernand, throws the question of whether Dantes was really successful into doubt, as he wanted to reward the innocents and not hurt them. While Dantes was getting his vengeance on the Villeforts, he unintentionally kills Edouard. Dantes immediately regrets what he did when Dumas states, “Monte Cristo paled at the horrible sight. He realized that he had gone beyond the limits of rightful vengeance” (485). Dantes immediately feels regret for killing the innocent boy when he sees him. Dumas emphasizes this regret and sorrow even more by stating how Dantes was pale from the sight of the consequences of his actions, something that only happens when you truly feel terrified of what you’ve done. He acknowledges for the first time in the story that he was wrong in his pursuit of revenge, so he himself admits that he went too far. He realized that while he did get his revenge on the Villeforts, this was too much as Edouard never did anything besides be related by blood to them. Dantes tries to revive Edouard, but he failed to bring him back, which is the first point in the story where he fails during his quest. He punished the bad and was highly successful with that, but the suffering that he caused upon innocent people made him realized his justice was not worth it or even good. Furthermore, the death of Edouard caused Dantes to become the wrongdoer this time, as he unjustly killed a person for no reason. His original idea was to bring justice to all these criminals, but he ended up only becoming one himself and bringing more undeserved tragedy to people. After everything had happened and Dantes achieved the vengeance he wanted, he reflects on his actions when Dumas says, “Having arrived at the summit of his
Everyday people seem change themselves in one way or another, but sometimes people change their appearance and personality to the point where those who were close to them, can not even recognize them in a crowd. The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, is a story of a sailor, Edmond Dantes, who was betrayed during his prime time of his life by the jealousy of his friends. Dantes is sent to prison where he spends countless years planning an escape with the help of a fellow prisoner. The prisoner informs Dantes that he knows where a treasure is that one man can not even dream about. Dantes friend then happens to die, leaving Dantes with the information of where the treasure is.
Edmond Dantès, the main character of The Count of Monte Cristo, is an innocent and unsuspecting young man who is thrown in jail by those who were jealous of him. Once Edmond escaped, he changed his identity to the Count of Monte Cristo, and plotted a harsh revenge against his enemies. At the beginning, he said “Happiness is like one of those palaces in fairy tales whose gates guarded by dragons: we must fight in order to conquer it.” (Dantes 18) He thinks that his marriage with Mercédès is too good to be true, according to his statement. As it turned out, it was, and he was put in prison for fourteen years, and it was fifteen years before he saw her again. The only thing Edmond sought after he escaped from jail was revenge. So he took
Edmond Dantes: the man of many faces including The Count of Monte Cristo, Chief clerk of Thomson, Abbe Busoni, Lord Wilmore, M. Zaccone and Sinbad the Sailor. Edmond is Incredible resourceful, his plan for vengeance against the people who tarnished his innocents and threw him into jail is so large and so complex. The reader gets distracted by the small things, caught up with what is going on not paying to the big picture then boom Edmond shows us his hand. Edmond hustles and cons everyone in the room to doing what he wants them to do. And develops a serious gods complex throughout the novel till he realize later on that he is not the messenger of god, and the world he has created around himself comes crashing down around
The main theme that is presented within The Count of Monte Cristo is that revenge and manipulation is easily able to hurt someone, but also benefit another. In this case, Edmond Dantès takes the side of benefit and those brought underneath his vengeance had been ruined. After a plan carefully schemed by three of his false friends, Dantes was thrown into prison and placed under a situation of betrayal and resentment. This long wait in the chateau d’If had put a need for revenge into Dantès head which had transformed him into the Count of Monte Cristo. Although the Count was considered bitter and cold, his seek for revenge had only benefitted him into a more creatively malicious character. Furthermore, this manipulation that Dantès had been put
Throughout the book edmond seeks out his revenge for his wrongful imprisonment against those who put in the hell of his prison he. When he was released he immediately began planning his revenge. For this paper i will go in depth about his revenge.
He is trapped by the guilt that he feels over William’s death, Justine’s execution, and the creation of the Creature. Whilst Jekyll and Frankenstein are trapped in the idea of their creations, Dumas presents Dantès as unable to act outside his own limits, becoming trapped by his own creation. The creation of Monte Cristo traps Dantès by forcing him to constantly adopt a different persona, although he appears less constrained by this than he was as Dantès: the development of the Count places him in a higher social standing than before, which allows him to act above the constraints of society. The novel’s structure therefore does not create the idea that Dantès is trapped - he appears to be liberated in his higher role. Despite this, his time in the Chateau d’If causes him to become trapped by the idea of getting revenge. McKee states that people who are more vengeful are “motivated by power… and the desire for status,” in spite of the constraints of society, which fits with Dantès character after his time in prison. He becomes stuck in the idea of getting revenge and is unable to escape this once his plot has begun. Despite this, and unlike Frankenstein and Jekyll, Dantès is able to act outside the constraints of
Dantes revealing who he was was talking to mercedes about vengeance and how he had been in jail for so long that he has now, “sworn vengeance against either the french officer or the count of morcerf,but against fernand the fisherman”(Dumas 376).This is foreshadowing that in the future he will get revenge against fernand.By using foreshadowing the reader will know that there will be revenge against him giving in the future. The count has also planned how he will get vengeance while talking to franz about dueling but the count explains that, “If i ever wanted to take vengeance on someone that’s not how i’d do it” (Dumas 139).He goes on saying that the revenge would have to be out of nowhere slow and painful and the person would ever know. By saying that's not how he would do it you know that there will be use of vengeance.This conveys a deeper meaning of the theme by setting up that vengeance will be a prominent aspect in the book.Therefore by using foreshadowing it sets up a better knowledge of what the book theme is by making it obvious that there will be vengeance and its importance throughout the
“ I want to win back the happiness that was taken away from me. I must punish my enemies before I die, and I may also have some friends to reward” (Dumas, pg. 77). Dantes is the protagonist of the novel that changed mentally and morally. The reader will recognize his change when Dantes marries Mercedes, meets Abbe Farie, and finally gets his freedom when he is leaving from prison.
Edmond Dantes was a 19 year old man who became captain of a ship name the Pharaon. He was much loved by everyone. He is pretty gullible and becomes vengeful when the one guy he considered his friend betrayed him the other two who he was not to fond of ruined his life. He was a respectable young man who showed that numerous times like when he had to leave Morrel while he was talking to him; he said “I beg you excuse me, Monsieur Morrel (Dumas 5). He was to be betrothed to a girl named Mercedes who he’d loved very much but he loved his father most of all. He felt bad when he found out his father was broke from paying his debt causing him to fall to his knees and said “may God forgive me” (Dumas 9). Dantès is a pretty unique character who
Dantes uses his servant Ali to make himself look good. By having Ali save Mrs. Villefort and her child, he gains their favor and the whole family now completely trusts him with their lives. This act enables Dantes to get closer to Villefort and take his justice. Moreover, Edmond has been able to plan out how he will take his retribution among everyone, all at once. Edmond “reunites” a “father and son.”
He explains to Dantes why he should not have told him anything when he said, “Because I have instilled into your heart a feeling that previously held no place there-vengeance.”(97). This is doubtlessly when Dantes moves from that naive stage to this more revenge ambitious person as he takes that personal oath and contemplates all his meetings with adversity so far. Dantes carefully and ambitiously plans his vengeance out and it shows because at his house in France, “Instead of the flagstones, overgrown with grass, there extended a lawn which had only been laid down that morning and now looked like a vast carpet, upon which still glistened the water with which had been sprinkled.” (323). Dantes also known as ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ used the treasure money he obtained to achieve his vengeance with every little detail intact. It seems unnecessary and complicated yet essential and genius at the same time. The ambitious side of Edmond Dantes definitely gets rid of the naive side as he follows through with his
No matter what, all choices have a variety of different consequences. In the revenge novel The Count Of Monte Cristo Abbe Faria makes a few critical choices whose consequences had a large impact on Dantés. During the book a sailor from Marseille named Dantés gets wrongly convicted of helping Napoleon. While he is in prison at the Château d’F, he meets an. He also knows of a secret treasure. During his time in prison, Abbe Faria’s choices of showing Dantés how to escape, teaching Dantés of secret treasure on the island of Monte Cristo, and allowing Dantés into his life all show a major effect on Dantés.
In Treasure and Vengeance, Justin Kaplan speaks about The Count of Monte Cristo in the highest regard. After a brief back story on himself, he quickly transitions into connecting it with the book itself. Kaplan claims that “in a singular sense, [Edmond’s] motive was disinterested: not the means to anything else and with no purpose other than its own fulfillment” (Kaplan). This is a key aspect in Kaplan’s criticism. He adds that his “revenge, driven by the festering sense of injustice” is what drives Edmond throughout the story (Kaplan). The whole story revolves around Dantès’ dire need to get revenge on Fernand, as well as others who have crossed him. In fact, the Count himself says that “for all evils there are two remedies - time and silence” (Dumas 523). His sole mission is to retaliate against Mondego, who was the cause of his wrongful conviction. He intends to get his revenge for his own needs
'The Count of Monte Cristo' is a novel by Alexandre Dumas. This novel is based on vengeance and revenge. Have you ever wondered what it’s like to get revenge on someone without doing any harm?