РефератыИностранный языкMCMCM Essay Research Paper The Count of

MCM Essay Research Paper The Count of

MCM Essay, Research Paper


The Count of Monte Cristo


Theme:


The Count of Monte Cristo is a very powerful book.


So powerful in fact, that was controversial when it was


first released. The Catholic church in France condemned it


because of its powerful message it presented the reader.


This theme was one of revenge and vengeance. Monte Cristo


had two goals- to reward those who were kind to him and his


aging father, and to punish those responsible for his


imprisonment and suffering. For the latter, he plans slow


and painful punishment. To have spent fourteen years barely


subsisting in a dungeon demands cruel and prolonged


castigation.


Setting:


The Count of Monte Cristo is set within the


nineteenth century of France in large and populous cities.


This was a time of great disruption. There was confusion all


over the land in regards to who led France, King Louis or


Napoleon. The citizens of France became divided by the two


ruling parties. Royalists and the Bonapartist cut at each


others throats in order to declare that their ruler was


supreme. This situation has a profound effect on the events


of the story. Dantes’ enemies used the rivalry between the


two parties in order to convince the Royalists that Edmond


is a Bonapartist, therefore it is the basis for his arrest


and inevitable captivity in the Chateau D’If..


Basic Plot:


The Count of Monte Cristo is a story about a sailor,


Edmond Dantes, who was betrayed during the prime of his


life and career by the jealousy of his friends. His


shipmate, Danglars, coveted his designation as the captain


of the mighty Pharon. Ferdinand Mondego wished to wed


Mercedes, who was affianced to Edmond.


Danglars and Ferdinand wrote a letter accusing


Edmond of carrying a letter from Elba to the Bonapartist


committee in Paris. Caderousse, a neighbor, learned of the


plot but kept silent. On his wedding day Edmond was arrested


and taken before a deputy named Villefort, a political


apostate, who, to protect himself, had Edmond secretly


imprisoned in the deepest dungeons of the Chateau D’If.


There Dantes’ incarceration was secured by the plotting of


his enemies outside the prison, particularly towards


Villefort, who wished to cover up his own father’s


connections with the Bonapartists. Dantes suffered for


fourteen grueling years. While in prison, he was determined


to escape and began digging a tunnel in hopes that it would


lead to freedom. During this exercise, he met an elderly


inmate named Abbe Faria whose attempt to dig his way to his


salvation had led him only to Edmond’s cell. The two meet


daily and an incredible relationship flourished. The old man


taught Edmond history, mathematics, and languages. In


Edmond’s fourteenth year, Faria became mortally ill. The


wise elder told Edmond where to find a massive buried


fortune. When Faria finally did die, his body was placed in


a burial sac. Edmond seized the opportunity of escaping and


replaced Faria’s corpse with himself. Jailers threw the sack


into the sea which allowed Dantes to escape. He is rescued


by a passing ship which gives him a position on the boat.


After paying homage for the noble act, Dantes recovered the


buried treasure and became extremely wealthy. He returned as


the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo and dazzled all of


Paris with his extreme wealth and social graces and also he


ingeniously managed to be introduced to the cream of French


society, among who he goes unrecognized. But, Monte Cristo,


in contrariety, recognized all of his enemies, which now are


all powerful and influential men. Therefore, he was slowly


plotting the ruin of the four men who had caused him to be


sent to the Chateau D’If.


Ferdinand had married Mercedes and was now the Count


de Morcef. Monte Cristo released information to the press


that proved that Morcef is a traitor, and Morcef is ruined

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socially. Then Monte Cristo destroyed Morcef’s relationship


with his family, whom he adored. When they leave him, he was


so distraught that he committed suicide.


To revenge himself on Caderousse, Monte Cristo


easily trapped Caderousse because of his voracious greed.


Monte Cristo awakened this greed with the gift of a diamond.


Later, urged by his wife, Caderousse committed robbery and


murder. Now escaped from prison, Caderousse unsuccessfully


attempted to rob Monte Cristo. The Count watched as one of


Caderousse’s companions mortally wounding him. As the man


lay dying, Monte Cristo exposed his true name- Edmond


Dantes. To revenge himself on Danglars, who loves money more


than life it self, Monte Cristo ruins him financially. To


revenge himself on Villefront, Monte Cristo slowly reveals


to Villefront that he knows about a love affair that


Villefront had long ago with Madam Danglars. He also


revealed to him, by hints, that he knows about the


illegitimate child whom he fathered, a child whom Villefront


had believed to be buried alive. The child lived, however,


and was now engaged to Mademoiselle Danglars, who is really


his half-sister.


Ironically, Villefront’s wives proves to be more


villainous than her husband, for she poisons her parents and


her daughter so that her real son can have the full


inheritance. Villefront, however, discovers the plot and


Threatens to kill her if she doesn’t do it first, and so she


kills herself and her son.


The Count had rescued Valentine from a drug induced


coma and reunited her with her love, Maximilian, on the


island of Monte Cristo leaving the two young loves his


entire fortune. The Count sailed off into the sunset never


to be seen again.


Major Characters:


Edmond Dantes (alias the Count of Monte Cristo,


Sinbad the Sailor, Abbe Busoni, and Lord Wilmore)


Edmond Dantes is the dashing and idyllic champion of the


novel. He is a sailor who, at the prime of his life and


career, is betrayed by close friends because of their


jealousy. He is imprisoned for fourteen grueling years


during his imprisonment he meets another prisoner named Abbe


Faria, who teaches Dantes many languages, sciences, history


and other subjects, they become like father and son, and


when the Abbe was about to die, he revealed to Dantes the


hiding place of a long-secret buried treasure consisting of


untold wealth, diamond, gold coins, and other precious


jewelry. After his miraculous escape from the prison,


Dantes recovers buried treasure on the island of Monte


Cristo. The rest of his life is spent, at first, performing


acts of goodness and charity for the good people whom he has


known, then he devotes his life to brining about gods


retribution against the evil people who were responsible for


his imprisonment.


Monsieur De Villefort


Villefort is the type of person, as describe


early in the novel, which sacrifice anything to his


ambition, even his own father. Villefort, the prosecuting


attorney, is most responsible for the suffering of Dantes


because it was he who ordered that Edmond be sent to prison


which ignited his spark for revenge. Villefort is willing to


have an innocent man imprisoned for life. Thus, he becomes


the central enemy against whom the Count of Monte Cristo


affects revenge.


Fernand Mondego (alias the Count de Morcerf)


During the time in which Edmond was a


sailor, Fernand was a simple fisherman and sometime smuggler


who was in love with the same woman whom Edmond Dantes was


ingaged to. Because of his jealousy, Fernand mailed the


letter condemning Dantes, hoping that if Dantes was


arrested, he would then be able to marry Mercedes. Fernand


gained much wealth by smuggling and by betraying the great


Ali Pasha. When all of his treachery was exposed, he


discovers that his wife and son have deserted him, thus he


commits suicide.

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