phanero ([personal profile] phanero) wrote2022-09-07 05:43 pm
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Review: Alexandre Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo (Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) (1844)

I can see why this book is as well liked as it is. It was a cool revenge story.

To be honest, I usually find it difficult to engage with classic texts, but I found that this book was fairly easy to follow. So I think I would recommend this book to those who want to dip their toe into classics, but perhaps want something that is a little more action oriented.

Spoilers.



Story

The Count of Monte Cristo was the story of Edmond Dantès. He was a young man who was doing well in life. He had a fiancee, Mercédès, whom he loved dearly, and he had a promising sailing career at a young age. There were three people who did not think well of him. Fernand loved Mercedes and considered Edmond a love rival. Danglars was another sailor on the ship who considered Edmond a career rival. And Caderousse was a neighbour who was just kind of cold and always focused on money. Fernand and Danglars falsely accused Edmond of conducting activities that would be treasonous, and Caderousse let them do so because he was cowardly. Villefort was the judge who was to review Edmond's case. When he saw that the treasonous activities Edmond was accused of was delivering a letter to his father, he did away with the case to protect his political career, and threw Edmond in jail without a fair trial.

Edmond was imprisoned for 14 years. During those years, he learned a lot from Abbé Faria, including technical topics and languages. Abbé Faria also deduced who it was that had Edmond falsely imprisoned. After Abbé Faria passed, Edmond escaped, and using some clues that Abbé Faria left him, he acquired a mass fortune.

After escaping jail, Edmond established himself with a new identity as the Count of Monte Cristo (as well as a number of other identities). He used his vast fortune to help those whom he cared for, including Morrel, the shipowner who looked kindly on him.

After that was done, it was time to exact revenge. First, he extracted information from Caderousse. Technically, Caderousse did the least harm to Edmond, and I guess that was why he let him off easy.

Afterwards, Edmond, using the various connections he'd built as the Count of Monte Cristo, manipulated situations to exact revenge on Danglars, Fernand, and Villefort. He used his business connections and resources to push Danglars to financial ruin. Fernand had married Mercédès and had a son with her. Edmond exposed Fernand's war crimes, and Mercédès and their son Albert turned against him as well. As for Villefort, Edmond exposed the affair that he had with Mme Danglars (when she was still a widow). But he also took advantage of the delicate family relations within the Villefort family, and pushed them (specifically Mme de Villefort) to kill each other.

At the end of the book, Maximilian Morrel and Valentine de Villefort were reunited (after Edmond helped Valentine fake her death), and Edmond himself ran off into the sunset with Haydee, the daughter of a prince who helped with convicting Fernand of his war crimes.

I did occasionally feel that Edmond solved things a bit too easily. The fact that he found treasure was a bit too convenient, because he was able to do so much as a rich man, such as set up a new identity for himself, or buy Morrel out of bankruptcy. But I'll suspend disbelief, as some of my favourite revengers in media do have insanely helpful resources. But because of that, certain things that Edmond was able to do by having a lot of money were not that interesting to me. The de Villefort revenge arc was my favourite, as it used the relationships between people to bring about ruin.

Writing

Of course I read an English version of the book. As I mentioned, I found it easier to follow than I normally do Classics, and I guess it's because there was a direction in what Edmond was doing. I could tell where the conversation was going and it made the words and sentences easier to follow.

I did also appreciate that Dumas built an extensive social background to set the characters in. That's what made the revenge convincing, because we had access to the various aspects of life that Edmond could take advantage of.

Characters

I'm going to be picking and choosing the characters to talk about.

Edmond Dantès

Edmond began as a very righteous and upright man. He was filial, he worked hard at his job, and he was devoted to his fiancee.

Because of the workings against him, he was accused of treason and thrown in jail without a fair trial. His father subsequently died of starvation because no one was taking care of him, and his fiancee married someone else.

During his imprisonment, he befriended Abbé Faria who became his second father and who also imbued him with much knowledge. And with this knowledge he became a colder man.

Edmond of after was still righteous, but he'd lost the previous naïveté he had about doing good. He realized that good didn't come to those who did good, he realized it came to those who manipulated things to be good. I think it was really important that after he left prison, that Edmond and Mercédès could no longer be together anymore. Too much had happened. Mercédès did technically break Edmond's trust, and they'd both changed too much to go back.

Dumas did still make an effort to make Edmond a compassionate person. He'd intended to have the entire Villefort family die off, but upon hearing that Maximilian loved Valentine, he did what he could to save her. Edmond also remained on good terms with characters like Albert; though Edmond kind of ruined his family, Albert understood where he was coming from and determined that it was the righteous thing to do.

The thing about Edmond Dantès that didn't click with me was that he seemed a bit too perfect. He was an absolute saviour to those he loved and cared about, so much so that they would die for him. And yet he was still portrayed as cool, because only cool guys could exact revenge. It's a bit more nuanced, but not enough for me to take him seriously, I guess.

Abbé Faria

Abbé Faria felt like an "old wise guru" kind of character. He just happened to be super smart, to have knowledge of where to gain massive wealth in a short period of time, AND he loved Edmond like a son. A bit too convenient, eh?

Haydée

Haydée was the daughter of a prince who'd become enslaved after her father was sold out by the likes of Fernand. Edmond had bought her as a slave though he treated her with respect. And most people could tell by the air of dignity around Haydée that she was likely highborn, like a princess.

My gripe with Haydée was that when she was introduced to the story, I really felt like she was portrayed as a daughter figure to Edmond. And by the end, well, she was just so utterly devoted to Edmond that she would be whatever he wanted, as long as he wanted her. This is what I mean by not being convinced by the crazy devotion. It was too cringy for me.

Pierre Morrel

Morrel was Edmond's boss, who looked kindly on him. At the beginning of the book, it was implied that Morrel would probably make Edmond the next Captain, which was what caused Danglars to hate him.

Over time, Morrel's business began to fail, and he was about to commit suicide when Edmond anonymously donated a huge sum of money and a ship to save him from his debt.

Maximilian Morrel

Maximilian was Morrel's son. He was more active of a character after the time skip. He was an associate of the Count of Monte Cristo. He'd also fallen in love with Valentine.

In the end, Maximilian was the only one in the family who found out that not only was the Count their benefactor, but also that he was Edmond Dantès. Edmond also helped Valentine fake her death so that she and Maximilan could be together.

Fernand Mondego

Fernand was Edmond's rival in love. He was always hanging around Mercédès, but she had always insisted that he was just like a brother to her. Presumably after Edmond had disappeared, she thought that he would never come back, and that was why Mercédès agreed to marry Fernand.

Fernand pursued a military career, and it was his war crimes that Edmond used to bring him down. He committed suicide after his wife and son disowned him.

Mercédès

Mercédès was Edmond's beloved fiancee. They were so utterly devoted to each other, even when Edmond went away for long periods of time. Meanwhile, Fernand was always pestering her to give in and marry him instead, but she always insisted that she loved him like a brother.

As mentioned, Edmond's conviction and sentencing was somewhat of a secret, so no one knew what happened to him. It wouldn't be unreasonable for Mercédès to have believed that he died, and to let go of that love.

After the time skip, we found out that she had a son with Fernand, Albert. Mercédès didn't recognize Edmond at first, but eventually she did. And she only confronted Edmond when she realized what he was doing to accuse Fernand. She wasked for Edmond to spare her son during the duel. But understanding what happened between Edmond and his father, he understood what Edmond did was justified.

Mercédès and her son Albert denounced and disowned Fernand, and started anew. They donated all of the wealth that Fernand had earned, and Albert became a soldier.

Danglars

Danglars was a sailor on the same ship as Edmond. After Edmond was locked up, he eventually became a wealthy businessman. Edmond revealed his financial crimes in the process of pushing him to financial ruin.

Hermine Danglars

Hermine was formerly a Baroness, and once a widow. When she was a widow, she'd had an affair with Villefort, resulting in a baby. Villefort had tried to bury the baby alive, without her knowledge. That baby grew up to be a man who later revealed the truth of his origin, which shamed Villefort.

Gérard de Villefort

I think Villefort was technically the big bad villain of this story. He was the one with the biggest power in terms of all the antagonists. He'd worried that the news of Edmond delivering a treasonous letter to his father would ruin his career, so he buried it.

After the time skip, Villefort now had a second wife. Edmond took advantage of delicate family dynamics in the blended family to kill nearly the whole family. In the house lived Villefort, his father Noirtier, his daughter from his first marriage Valentine, his second wife Héloïse, and his son with Héloïse Édouard.

Edmond didn't have to do anything to Villefort directly, he just had his life collapse around him. I wouldn't even say that Villefort was a particularly evil man, he was just a corrupt official and Edmond would have him punished for ruining him personally.

Héloïse de Villefort

When Edmond first met Héloïse under one of his cover identity, he introduced her to the world of poison, giving her a way to commit her evil thoughts.

She was eyeing the inheritances in the family and wanted them all to come to her son and by extension her. She first killed the Saint-Mérans, the parents of Villefort's first wife. They had left a fortune to Valentine.

Then she tried to killed Noirtier but failed and ended up killing a servant instead. She then targeted Valentine so that without another heir, Édouard would be the only heir and everything would flow to him.

She was revealed as the criminal after Edmond spoke with Valentine, helping her to fake her death and also telling her not to fall asleep so she could see who the true culprit was.

Noirtier realized that Héloïse was the true culprit. Villefort found out from him, and confronted her. Of course, he was incredibly angry and forced her either to be executed or to commit suicide.

However, Villefort then went to the trial of Andrea Cavalcanti, who was revealed to be his illegitimate son. That of course shamed Villefort quite a bit. Villefort returned home, thinking that he and Héloïse could run away together since they were both shameful now, but at that point, Héloïse had already poisoned both her and her son.

Valentine de Villefort

Valentine was the daughter of Villefort and his first wife. She was fiercely devoted to her grandfather Noirtier, and was one of the few to be able to communicate with him (he was paralyzed).

Valentine fell in love with Maximilian, which took Edmond off guard. He hadn't cared about letting her die, but now that Maximilian cared for her, he had to save her.

Edmond lived in the house next to the Villeforts, and there was a secret connecting door with Valentine's room. Whenever Valentine was given poison, Edmond would sneak in and exchange the poison so that she wouldn't die.

However, Valentine was still presumed to be poisoned to death by everybody else. In the meantime, Edmond had smuggled her out and she had spent time with Haydée and they grew very close. By the end of the book, she was reunited with Maximilian.

Noirtier de Villefort

I thought that Noirtier would have been portrayed as a very evil man considering his treasonous past, but he was pretty neutral. After the time skip, he was paralyzed, only able to communicate with his eyes. He loved his granddaughter Valentine fiercely.

He tried to use his power to protect her from marriages that she didn't want. He was also the one who told Villefort that his wife was the murderer in the family.

Themes

Justice

Justice was probably the biggest theme in the book. People should get their due, but what happens if they don't? What happens when bad things happen to good people? Edmond is one of those people, but so are some of the innocents in the book, such as Édouard de Villefort.

Edmond played both judge and executioner, because he realized that the actual judge and executioner would not carry out actual justice. Instead, he used those arbitrary rules of official justice as weapons to inflict revenge on his enemies.

Edmond also understood that even though he could exact revenge on his enemies, the damage was done. He would never get his father back. He and Mercédès would never get back together. The past was the past.

Overall

I did find this book a good read. I am personally a big fan of political thrillers with scheming, so of course this kind of book was right for me. I did find some of the writing a bit cringy, like Haydée's devotion to Edmond, or how Edmond could solve so many things with just being extraordinarily rich, but I'll let those go as there was still some really compelling ideas and plot points.