The Count of Monte Cristo is an interesting tale about a sailor named Dantes who changes his whole persona in order to get back at his enemies. Dantes becomes a number of different people in order to carry out his plans.
The changes Dantes went through made his different stages as a sailor and later as a mastermind of vengeance seem like day and night. Although Dantes seems very naive at the beginning of the story, he becomes very sharp during his stay in jail. By the amount of detail and preciseness in his plans, Dantes as the Count can be looked as a mastermind. Much of Dantes’ knowledge comes from the old, thought to be crazy, priest named Faria that taught him in prison. Faria was also responsible for much of Dantes character change due to his great power of reasoning. Because Faria had given him a treasure and a hunger for vengeance, Dantes was willing and had enough money and power to carry out revenge on his enemies.
Faria is the first person that opens up Dantes’ eyes so that he can see who his enemies really are. When Dantes first meets Faria, he is overjoyed because he hasn’t seen another person, other than the guard, for years. Faria reaches Dantes by means of a tunnel that took him 3 years to dig with his makeshift tools. Even though he had limited resources, Faria made matches, a lantern, a ladder, and a knife.
Faria hid all these tools behind two separate rocks in his cell. All of these things show how smart Faria really was. Faria’s intelligence is what helps Dantes make his transformation. ‘There is a maxim of jurisprudence which says, ‘If you wish to discover the guilty person, first find out to whom the crime might be useful. ‘ To whom might your disappearance be useful?’; This quote makes it apparent to Dantes that it wasn’t just a big accident that he went to jail. When Dantes found this out, you could see an immediate change in his character.
After Dantes gets the treasure that Faria gave him, he starts to put his plot for revenge into action. The first thing Dantes does after he gets the treasure is to change into the Count of Monte Cristo. Dantes seems to be smarter, wittier, and wiser as the Count of Monte Cristo. As the Count, Dantes’ first move is to make a good impression on Albert so that he can get to Paris and work from there. Dantes also poses as a priest, a sailor, and a businessman in his travels.
As a businessman, Dantes’ only objective is to find out the details on why he went to jail, and to reward someone that was truly his friend. The Count says to Albert: ‘Incredible but true. However, for some time I’ve been feeling like you, that it is impossible for me to go on being ignorant of the capital of the intelligent world. Furthermore, I might have made this indispensable journey if I’d known someone who could introduce me into Paris society. Now your offer has decided me. ‘; (p.
133) This quote shows how the Count does favors for people so that that person owes the Count a favor in return. When it is put in context, it seems like the Count just uses people for his own gains and doesn’t really care about them. The Count is almost done carrying out his plans when he starts to feel like he’s really gone too far. When the Count realizes that it’s his fault that Villefort’s wife and son is dead, he really feels guilty. At this point the Count reveals to Villefort that he is Dantes. Villefort goes mad right after Dantes reveals himself; which is all the more incentive for him to feel bad.
‘Monte Cristo paled at the horrible sight. He realized that he had gone beyond the limits of rightful vengeance and could no longer say, ‘God is for me and with me. ‘;’; (p. 403) We see here how bad the Count really does feel and that we’re all human in the end and you can’t hurt people forever until you start to feel bad. The Count of Monte Cristo is a great story that helps you to realize how far the reaches of vengeance can really go. When the Count is going around ruining people it seems like he is more of a machine than a person.
It seems like he has no emotions and can’t forgive the people who hurt him. Although some people might argue that the people who wronged the Count truly had what was coming to them, some of the Count’s actions could be seen as unnecessary. In the end everyone will be punished or rewarded by God and you shouldn’t be worried about what other people do or say as much as you are worried about yourself.
