In literature, there are two types of revenge. Firstly, revenge is where the good overcome the bad guys, much to the reader’s satisfaction. Then there is the other type of revenge, cruel, savage, the one that rushes blindly before you like a furious bull, leaving the reader perplexed.
He remained for thirteen years in a cell at the Château D’If, during which young Edmond’s frankness and generosity will slowly erode to give way to a fierce hatred against the infamous people who condemned him to the slow agony of prison. He will happily find in the person of his cell neighbor, Abbé Faria, a friend and teacher who will teach him science, philosophy, history, but above all the secret location of a fabulous treasure hidden on the rocky island of Monte Cristo. When Edmond finally manages to escape, he is no longer the same man. He is more educated, successful, and considerably richer, but anger and bitterness have consumed his heart, driving out almost all warm feelings.
The Count of Monte Cristo is a fabulous character, a charmer who seems to have come out of the Arabian Nights tales, a sorcerer from the Middle Ages. Behind this character hides a man who only has one idea in mind; revenge.
Three men, each of them representing justice, money and the army, three powerful men therefore, established their fortune and their notoriety on a false and diabolical denunciation. They represent selfishness, greed and hatred. Alexandre Dumas shows the hypocrisy, pettiness and cruelty of an opportunistic society obsessed with maintaining its social position and the respectability or powers that it gives it, including the different gears – army, justice, finance – are subject to pettiness and the selfishness of those who direct them.
The Count of Monte Cristo is a small romantic gem, a passionate story of a long-prepared revenge story with an elaborate plot, but beyond the intrinsic interest of the story, it is above all a formidable book about psychology characters, conflicts between social relations classes, the danger of expressing political opinions or romantic rivalries. With many details and precision, the author tells a story of intense suspense where the tension insidiously increases, until the final outcome. This novel also follows the spirit of Balzac’s stories, where beings become vile, revealing all the darkness of the human soul, taking advantage of an opportunity situation and atmosphere, offering the reader a paranoid panorama of a society of unscrupulous careerists, ready to do their worst to climb the social ladder, for money, out of jealousy or to protect themselves from a scandal. If Dumas is not Balzac, in this book he lends him a certain style, but without ever combining it, however, we will maintain many other influences that are very much in vogue, such as an oriental exoticism in the sets and costumes, or an atmosphere of flirtation with dark romanticism sometimes. But this novel remains above all a story that raises real questions, in particular about the notion of justice, evoking denunciation, iniquity, personal revenge and the private justice that replaces that of men, precisely because the latter failed in its impartial application by the rule of law.
\- the setting of the first part, which takes place during the Restoration and the Hundred Days – a period so superficially studied in secondary studies, but which I am beginning to know better thanks to the novels –, a period marked by strong governmental instability that will lose Edmond Dantès trapped in the game of loyalty to the emperor or king;
\- Dumas’ pen, at once beautiful (despite some redundancies) and full of humor and jokes, draws vivid portraits in just a few lines;
\- the fascinating figure of the count, inscrutable most of the time, moving when an emotion arises, a prisoner of his revenge that induces an almost absolute loneliness, whose hand moves his human pawns as other hands once disposed of him. From the sympathy we have for Edmond Dantès and beyond the joyful aspect of his Machiavellian plans, we begin to question ourselves about the megalomania of the count who presents himself as the hand of God to punish the wicked.
The ending of the book was very appropriate. Edmond had transformed from the gentle sailor to the cruel Count of Monte Cristo in the dungeons of Château D’If. Edmond Haia remained there, the one who escaped was the Count of Monte Cristo. Mercedes does not love that bitter and vengeful man who is very different from her loving Edmond with whom she fell in love. And he cannot love the woman who was married to his enemy. The power of love has its limits, it can help her financially, it can spare the life of her son, but it cannot marry the one who for years was together with one of those responsible for his incarceration in Château D’if. No confession of love would make him forget that. Haydée is suitable for the Count, because she is his mirror, her father was betrayed and killed by Fernand Mondego, she was sold into slavery, until she was rescued by the Count. The same man who was responsible for Haydee losing her family and being sold into slavery, was one of those responsible for Edmond’s incarceration, one of those responsible for his father’s death and kidnapping his bride. The two had a similar fate and each understands well what the other went through and both have the same motivation, seeking revenge against those responsible for their suffering. Haydée is the Count’s mirror, it is much easier for one to understand what the other is facing and to offer the support and love that the other needs.
by fernadsilv82