Monte Cristo Essay, Research Paper

Every man has his rise and his downfall. His rise can be attributed to hardwork, dedication to accomplishing a set goal, or possibly even luck.Sometimes a man can become jealous at another man s fortune and wish forhis downfall. He might even try to make this wish come true in an innumerousamount of ways. At some point in a man s life, there is his downfall. It couldbe a disastrous downfall or maybe just a minor setback. However, if this manis smart he will try to overcome this downfall and try to gain vengeance onthose who brought this bad luck upon him. In The Count of Monte Cristo,Edmond Dantes is living a very successful life until others, who are jealous ofhim, bring upon his downfall in a terrible manner. When he finally recoversfrom this disastrous event, he becomes filthy rich and extremely powerful. Heis determined to bring revenge to those who have hurt him and rewards tothose who had remained faithful towards him. He ruins the lives andsometimes even the families of Monsieur de Villefort, Monsieur Danglers,Fernand Mondego, and Gaspard Caderousse. The Count of Monte Cristo isset in France during the ending of the Napoleonic Era, which lasted from1979 to 1821. The Napoleonic Era was a very dangerous and disruptive timewhere Royalists and Bonapartists consistently fought in order to determinetheir ruler. Much of the action occurs in Paris and Marseilles, which aresituated in France, and in Rome, Italy. Edmond Dantes spends fourteen yearsin his life imprisoned in the dark dungeons of the Chateau D If and is finallyliberated to live in these cities. The Count of Monte Cristo is a story of therises and downfalls of men due to the jealousy and greed of others who haveopposed them. Edmond Dantes was living in the prime of his life. He wasabout to become the captain of the Pharaon and marry Mercedes, his lovelyand devoted fianc e. Everything was going good for Edmond until four men,who were jealous of the young and prosperous captain, sabotaged him.Fernand Mondego and Monsieur Danglers wrote a letter accusing Dantes ofconspiracy with the Bonapartist agents in Paris. Villefort sentenced Dantes toprison in the Chateau D If in order to cover up his father s connections withthe Bonapartists. During the first part of Dantes stay in the Chateau D If, helost hope and therefore became suicidal. His imprisonment seemed to lastforever and he decided to starve himself to death. One day he heard ascratching sound coming from a wall in his cell. His hope was renewed, for itwas another prisoner trying to escape, and he decided to join the effort. Theirtunnels finally combined and they, Dantes and Abbe Faria, were united. Fariathen decided to educate Dantes in mathematics, languages, the sciences, andhistory. Faria eventually loses his life to sickness and Dantes escapes in hisbody bag. Dantes is thrown into the sea and is finally rescued by a ship ofsmugglers. They eventually deliver him to the Island of Monte Cristo, wherehe retrieves the treasure that was given to him by Faria. Dantes first line ofduty after being imprisoned for fourteen years is to find out what hashappened during his stay at the Chateau D If. He disguises himself as a priestand visits Caderouse. Caderouse, who was desperate for money at the time,exchanges his story about Dantes for an extremely valuable diamond. Here helearns of Caderouse s indirect treason towards him. Next Dantes visitsMonsieur Morrel and finds him on the verge of insanity and bankruptcy.Dantes decides to help Morrel, the man who had helped Dantes for so manyyears, by paying off his bills and replacing the lost Pharaon. After helping hisfriend Monsieur Morrel, Dantes decides to take his revenge on those whohave hurt him. He disguises himself as the extremely wealthy and dignifiedCount of Monte Cristo. His first target is Fernand Mondego who married hisbeloved Mercedes. Dantes obtained and then released information to thepeople that proved Fernand is a traitor. After this, Fernand loses hisrelationship with his family and eventually takes his own life. This is thesecond example of the rise and fall of a man. Fernand had everything goingfor him although a lot of it came from cheating; he had a beautiful wife, hehad his wealth, and he had his fame. Dantes came and destroyed this thusleading to Fernand s downfall and consequently his death. Dantes next targetwas Baron Danglers. Danglers was an extremely wealthy banker and Dantesruins him financially by exasperating all of his resources. This is yet a thirdexample of the downfall of a man. Danglers had his wealth going for him. Hewas extremely rich and powerful until Dantes brought upon his downfall thatled to his flea from the city. Dantes third target is Caderousse, who is a very

greedy man. Dantes watched as Caderousse s greed leads him to his death.Dantes fourth target is Villefort. The downfall of this man is brought uponindirectly by Dantes. Dantes hands a poison to Madame de Villefort andwatches as she kills four people in the family in order to preserve theinheritance for her son. Then Villefort is publicly humiliated when the story ofa past affair, which led to the birth of Andrea Cavalcanti, is told during a trial.He wanted to take revenge for the loss of his daughter and other members ofthe family, therefore he demands his wife to take her own life. She abides andtakes her life along with her son s life. Villefort is yet a fourth example of adownfall of a very powerful man. He was reduced to absolutely nothing buthis own life after Dantes had taken his vengeance. After seeing the downfallof Villefort, Dantes is horrified. He believed that he took his vengeance toofar. He tries to reunite with Mercedes but she rejects him due to theheartbreak of losing her son. Dantes gives up on Mercedes and reunitesMaximilian and Valentine. He then sets sail with Haydee and is never seenagain.Edmond Dantes (alias: Count of Monte Cristo, Abbe Busoni, LordWilmore, and Sinbad the Sailor) is the main character in this novel. He is avery strong, powerful, dignified, and wealthy man. He uses the fortunes thathe has worked to achieve to seek vengeance on those who have wronged himand to reward those who have been good to him. Monsieur de Villefort is theDeputy Minister of France and an enemy to Edmond Dantes. He sentencesDantes to a life of prison in order to protect his name and not reveal that hisfather is connected with the Bonapartists. This reveals an importantcharacteristic about him. He would do anything to give himself an advantagein gaining fame, wealth and power, including denying the existence of hisfather and killing his newborn son. He is a greedy, despicable man whodeserves the vengeance that was brought upon him by Dantes. MonsieurDanglars (alias: Baron Danglers) is an enemy of Dantes. He wrote the letterto the government accusing Dantes of Treason. He did this out of jealousyand hatred towards Dantes. This again shows his true character: he will doanything to profit himself. When Dantes is arrested Danglers is pleased andeventually becomes a powerful banker. Danglers is eventually bankrupted byDantes and he exiles to a foreign country. Fernand Mondego (alias: TheCount de Morcerf) is the enemy of Dantes. His love for Mercedes caused himto betray Dantes by help writing the letter. He to did this because of jealousyand greed. He coveted Mercedes and instead of challenging Dantes for her,he simply got rid of him by sending Dantes to prison. This shows thatFernand is not only jealous, but he is also a coward. He eventually commitssuicide due to the unbearable sadness of losing his family. I am not sure Ireally liked or disliked any of the characters in the novel. I am not indifferenttowards them; it is just that each has certain qualities that I liked, and eachhad some qualities that I detested. I liked Edmond Dantes for the fact that heset a goal and was determined to carry it out. He wanted revenge on thepeople that had hurt him so much, and he was determined to carry this wishout. I also liked the way in which he spoke and conducted himself. He rarelylost his temper and I admire him for this feat. I feel that he did not need totake his vengeance as far as he did. He completely destroyed Villefort sfamily and led Fernand to suicide. Although Dantes was hurt by these men, hehas absolutely no right to take their futures and destinies in his hands. I alsodid not like the indifference to which he showed people when they wereabout to die or while they were suffering. This showed, in somecircumstances, that he only cared about himself. I neither like or dislikeMaximillien. However, I can relate to him. I, like him, feel very stronglyabout a girl and I cannot be with her. I can relate to the suffering that he feltwhen he was not allowed to see her or when he thought he had lost her forgood. I hope that one day I will be united with her just like Maximillien wasunited with Valentine.This book was extremely exiting to read. Once I gotstarted reading it, I found it hard to put down. The emotions and romancebehind this story are incredible and I enjoyed the way that Dumas expressesthese feelings through his characters actions. There was one part that I did notenjoy. This part dealt with the different names that people were given. Thismade it extremely difficult to read and understand. For example, in oneparagraph they would be talking about how Fernand did something and thenin the same paragraph refer to how the Count de Morcerf did another. Otherthan that point I thoroughly enjoyed the book and I am looking forward toreading The Three Musketeers, which is also written by Alexander Dumas.