HIS 220 - Modern Europe
28 April 2011

The Count of Monte Cristo: Law, Religion and Vengeance

“There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness” (Dumas p. 1461). This quote appears toward the end of a novel written by Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo. The Count of Monte Cristo believes that in order to reach the ultimate gratification, you must first experience absolute hopelessness. The Count of Monte Cristo writes a letter to Maximilian, claiming that his beloved, Valentine, is dead. For months, Maximilian is depressed and almost to the point of committing suicide. The Count of Monte Cristo then brings Valentine back to Maximilian, creating that ultimate gratification between the two lovers. In the novel, The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantès is motivated by vengeance on a few people who haves wronged him in the past.

Revenge is defined as an exact punishment or expiation for a wrong on behalf of, especially in a resentful or vindictive spirit (dictionary.com). It is a natural instinct for any person to seek vengeance against one who has done them wrong in the past. Many people believe revenge is a bad thing as it creates more hostility than is needed. Revenge is everywhere in The Count of Monte Cristo. No matter the situation, no matter who is speaking, it lurks in the corners, moving the story onward.

Law is defined as the principles and regulations established in a community by some authority and applicable to its people, whether in the form of legislation or of custom and policies recognized and enforced by judicial decision (dictionary.com). Often times, law is abused by people and not followed very precisely. For example, driving over the speed limit is against the law. However, almost everyone has driven over the speed limit at least once in their life; you are breaking the law however minor the action is.

Set in France during the 19th century, The Count of Monte Cristo is an intriguing story about a man named Edmond Dantès. Dantès begins the story as a kind-hearted, free spirited, eighteen year-old sailor who has no true hatred in his life. All of this is about to change. On his day of marriage with Mercédès, Dantès is accused of treason by Danglars, Fernand Mondego and Monsieur Villefort. With no trial, Dantès is sentenced to life in prison at the Château d’If, an island fortress where all the most dangerous political prisoners are sent. Throughout his time spent in prison, Dantès gains extreme amounts of knowledge and plots revenge against his so-called comrades who betrayed him in the beginning of the story. After his escape from the Chateau d'If, Edmond Dantès changes his name to The Count of Monte Cristo to disguise himself from his enemies. Dantès sets out on a journey to reward those who had been good to him and to set right the wrongs that had been done to him.

When Faria Abbè and Edmond Dantès are talking in prison, Abbè says; “I regret now,” said he, “having helped you in your late inquiries, or having given you the information I did.” “Why so?” inquired Dantès. “Because it has instilled a new passion in your heart—that of vengeance” (Dumas p. 194). This is an extremely important quote in the book as it proclaims Edmond Dantès is changing emotionally. Dantès had blamed his misfortunes as the result of incredibly bad luck. However, Dantès now realizes that he had been betrayed, changing his innocence forever. Dantès is confronted with the fact the evil is real. After this conversation, Dantès is no longer the simple, kind-hearted man he once was. He turns all emotions into vengeful emotions and changes his entire belief system:
I should fight a duel for a trifle, an insult, a contradiction, a slap and all the more merrily for knowing that, thanks to the skill I have acquired in all physical exercises and long experience of danger, I should be more or less certain of killing my opponent. Oh, yes, indeed, I should fight a duel for any of these things; but in return for a slow, deep, infinite, eternal pain, I should return as nearly as possible a pain equivalent to the one inflicted on me. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, as they say in the East, those men who are the elect of creation, and who have learnt to make a life of dreams and paradise a reality. (Dumas p. 463-464)
The aforementioned quote provides proof of Dantès’ radical transformation from an innocent man, to seeking vengeance upon his rivals. Edmond Dantès is on his way to happiness through revenge of his wrongdoers.

The Count of Monte Cristo begins his revenge endeavors with Fernand Mondego, now known as the Count de Morcerf. The Count of Monte Cristo exposes Morcerf’s deepest darkest secret, Morcerf made his fortune by betraying his former supporter, Ali Pacha; and then he sold Ali Pacha’s wife and daughter, Haydée, into slavery. Haydée, who has lived with Edmond Dantès ever since he bought her freedom seven years earlier, testifies against Morcerf in front of the senate, irreversibly ruining his good name and destroying his prosperity for the rest of his life. Ashamed by Morcerf’s treachery, Albert and Mercédès flee, leaving their fortunes behind. Morcerf eventually commits suicide.

Monsieur Villefort’s punishment takes a lot of time for the Count of Monte Cristo to perform. The Count of Monte Cristo first takes advantage of Madame de Villefort’s murderous intent, subtly tutoring her in the uses of poison. As Madame de Villefort begins killing off each member of the household, The Count of Monte Cristo plants the seeds for another public humiliation for Villefort. In court, it is revealed that Villefort is guilty of attempted infanticide, as he tried to bury his illegitimate baby while it was still alive. With everyone knowing that Villefort’s love is dead and that he will soon have to answer severe criminal charges, he goes insane. With two revenge plots completed, The Count of Monte Cristo has one last revenge goal in mind, Danglars.

As for The Count of Monte Cristo’s last revenge plot on Danglars, he basically manipulates his greed as his number one enemy. The Count of Monte Cristo opens a few false credit accounts with Danglars that cost him large amounts of money. Then, he uses Danglars’ dishonest and adulterous wife, costing him even more money. With almost all of Danglars’ money vanishing fast, The Count of Monte Cristo hires and Italian bandit to kidnap Danglars and take all of his remaining money. Even though The Count of Monte Cristo didn’t kill Danglars, he left him with nothing.

The law’s normal purpose is to simply bring safety and support to society by persecuting law breakers. However, in The Count of Monte Cristo law falls short and simply brings justice to the people. While attempting to provide a strong image of safety, the story lacks this presence of true law enforcement. Governments often times will find a scapegoat to blame for actions not committed by said person. Such as Dantès, who is framed and falsely imprisoned for being accused of being a Bonapartist.

The Count of Monte Cristo has false judgment based on personal motivation and the law follows right along and agrees with these false accusations. Plain and simply stated, the law is corrupt and often times unjustified. In the story, Edmond Dantès is used and abused by the court system. Three people with some sort of hatred toward Dantès take advantage of the law. Danglars, Fernand and Villefort all conspire to falsely accuse Edmond Dantès of treasonous actions. Danglars is jealous of Dantès and Fernand wants to marry Mercédès, Dantès wife. “Two men jealous of him, sir; one from love, and the other ambition, – Fernand and Danglars” (Dumas p. 311). Although the arrest of Dantès is a false accusation, Danglars and Fernand will receive their “just desserts”. The last man, Villefort is a little more complicated.

The twisted and corrupt law system continues with Monsieur Villefort. Dantès is carrying a letter with him addressed to Villefort’s father. Villefort says: “This accursed letter would have destroyed all hopes. Oh! my father, must your past career always interfere with my successes...” (Dumas p. 84). Villefort realizes that this is a chance to become prosperous. He uses the law for his own gain. The law’s role is to provide safety and justice, while it does meet this demand several times throughout the story, its corruptibility and shortcomings make it an institution that is not entirely reliable for justice. The law is easily manipulated by individuals. This corruption is illustrated in Edmond Dantès’ persecution.

God and religion both play significant roles in the story written by Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo. Edmond Dantès finds religion and God as a power that can help create hope and motivation to succeed through his adventures in life. Dantès was falsely accused of treason and sentenced to life in prison, where he is slowly deteriorating and losing hope on life. However, before all hope is lost, Dantès finds hope through answered prayers from God. God and religion are the main benefactors that inspire Dantès’ revenge on his wrongdoers and his friends in need of his help. Before Dantès acts on anything, he justifies his reasoning by assuring the fact that God would accept his actions.

Religion can be defined as a certain set of standards and actions as directed by a source of power. Under such power one is able to find direction and reason for his or her being. In this particular case, Edmond Dantès’ religious icon was God. The main character in the story, Edmond Dantès, relies on God to guide him after he was wrongfully accused of treason and imprisoned. Through his religious beliefs and hopefulness, Dantès is able to find a way to escape and devices a plot for his revenge against his enemies. The vengeful actions are carried out by Dantès, although against the moralities of most, are permissible as he believes that they are God’s wishes, and are done in His name.

While in prison, Edmond Dantès is beginning to lose all hope for good in the world, spending most of his days in bereavement, until he turns to God and religious belief for support. After turning to God for guidance while in prison, Dantès instantly becomes overwhelmed with a sense of hope for a bright future: I, too, as happens to every man once in his life, have been taken by Satan into the highest mountain in the earth, and when there he showed me all the kingdoms of earth, and as he said before, so he said to me, ‘Child of earth, what wouldst thou have to make thee adore me?’ . . . I replied, ‘Listen . . . I wish to be Providence myself, for I feel that the most beautiful, noblest, most sublime thing in the world, is to recompense and punish. (Dumas p. 664) Edmond Dantès passes this information to Villefort, during their final meeting together. Dantès’ obsession with vengeance and punishment of his wrongdoers is the catalyst throughout the novel, and this passage helps show his concept of his goal through religion. The reason this passage stands out so much is the fact that Dantès relates his revenge mission not only with God, but also with the devil, signifying a struggle between justifying what is right and what is wrong.

After escaping from prison, Dantès plans to visit all the people who remained true to him and did not partake in his downfall to imprisonment. Dantès’ disguises himself, and makes his was to visit an old friend, Calderousse, who now is an impoverished inn keeper. Calderousse confirms Dantès’ suspicion of Fernand and Danglars. Calderousse’s complacent and reserved mannerisms, make Dantès believe he was honestly not at fault for any of Dantès’ downfall. Dantès then rewards Calderousse a diamond for his honesty which is more than enough to lift Calderousse out of his slump. Dantès actions were in the hands of God. God’s power and strength will help guide Calderousse to prosperity and well being. Dantès next act of generosity is for his ship captain, Monsieur Morrel. Dantès disguised as Sinbad the Sailor, writes a letter to Morrel’s daughter telling her to look in her purse. She finds the purse with a large diamond and a large receipted bill. Not only does Dantès repay Morrel for his good deeds, he leaves his daughter a gift also. Once again, Edmond Dantès uses religion to justify his kindness toward those who have helped him in the past.

The Count of Monte Cristo is an extremely intriguing story that explores the boundaries of law, religion and vengeance. As Edmond Dantès destroys his enemies’ lives through acts of vengeance, it seems like he has no emotion and relies on God to justify his reasons for attempted such harsh actions. Although, his actions are justifiable to a certain extent, how far will one man go to seek revenge? I have been told that it's always good to end a paper with a quote. Someone else has already said it best. So, if you can't top it, steal from them and go out strong. "Live, then, and be happy, beloved children of my heart, and never forget, that until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these two words, --- `Wait and hope’ (Dumas p. 1492).

Works Cited
Dictionary.com | Free Online Dictionary for English Definitions. Web. 02 May 2011. <http://dictionary.reference.com/>.
Dumas, Alexandre. The Count of Monte Cristo. New York: Modern Library, 1996. Print.