Author: Alexandre Dumas
notes
Note
I originally had a 1914 copy of this book that was disintegrating, and someone else reserved it after me from the library, so I bought the more modern Penguin translation by Robert Buss. While the pros was very beautiful in the original copy, I believe the new copy censors less of the scenes and focuses more on the experience rather than flowery language, making it an easier read.
- Villefort “holds the balance of life and death in his hands” (69)
- Villefortanalyzes and manipulates with ease
- Villefort’s remorse is extinguished by ambition as he slander Dantès’s name.
- Villefort is hypocritical for imprisoning Dantès. He can’t punish his father directly so he directs his justice outwards.
- Dantès, originally, naïve, kind, and trusting, has become cunning and masterful of manipulation
- I’m so enamored by how easily Dantès assumes different personas. First he was an abbé with a thick Italian accent, now in English man of the house of Thompson in French, laughing charmingly in his exchanges.
- Dantès is like a phantom, “his appearance left no other trace than the different remembrances of him which these three persons retained” (316)
- My favorite scenes are the Rome episodes with Franz and Albert
- Franz is wary of the account motives because his past seems suspicious; Albert remains optimistic and warm, justifying the accounts, actions, and then irrefutable way. Albert is protected, therefore, easy-going, trusting warm and open.
- Franz’s relationship with Albert is super adorable, especially when Albert says “I am hungry, feed me; I am bored, amuse me” (482)
- Chapter 48 is my favorite chapter because of the a clash between Dantès and Villa Fort’s ideologies
- Villefort is a living statue of the law
- I really like the description: hollow eyes, somber appearance, gold spectacles, rigid, distressful, white cravat, “red ribbon which passed in perceptively through his butt hole, and which appeared like a stroke of blood traced with a pencil” 607
- Beautiful contrast between characters: one rigid agent of logic, the other and idealistic and resilient romantic. Logic versus spirituality. Irony is both are acting as agents of justice.
- I find it interesting how Dumas pays a lot of attention to the details of characters dress
- The count is a fool in love. “One is only really in love once.” Dantès is hurt because he thought Mercédès would be loyal to the grave.
- Chapter 90 is crucial in reviewing the ideology, motivations, and character of Dantès. It’s so full of beautiful statements that reveal his ethics and worldview.
- A blow to his grand ego.
- Albert is furious at him for enacting revenge on his father, but Mercedes tells him the true story of her and Dante’s and he is able to forgive. “Yes, Monsieur, you were right to take your revenge on my father; and I, his son, thank you for not having done more!”
- Usually I find such perfect resolutions of conflict tacky and unsatisfying, but Dumas uses it as an opportunity to strengthen and build the characters and demonstrate their ethics. This is so effective that it moved me deeply and sparked admiration for Mercédès and Albert.
- Monte Cristo’s God complex is rightfully, earned and builds up at a good pace, so it doesn’t make him unlikable. He has his own ethics for living that he sticks to originally. All the characters do, and they all differ, which is why do masses writing is so good.
- Dantès takes Haydee as his daughter and mistress second Mercedes. It’s a very strange dynamic, but the two are indeed similar. The power dynamic just makes it really weird.
- Dantès reveals himself to Ferdinand. Ferdinand is met with forboding dread, and goes home and commit suicide after he finds out that his wife and son have left. Dante is so dramatic to change his costume for the big reveal—“of my hundred names, I shall need to tell you only one to strike you down” (1012).
- I cried at the resolution between Dantes and Mercedes (1004). He still loves her and wants the best for her, but fate won’t allow them to be together.
- Chapter 97: Eugenie and Louise leave in the night
- Eugenie dresses as a man and cuts her hair. She is strong, brave and fearless. It’s actually a really sweet chapter.
- Dantès reminds me of Hannibal. They are two different manifestations of the same urge—to be the hand of God. While Hannibal believes there’s no good and evil, only God, Dantès believe in sinners and punishment. Both are puppet masters sitting back to observe what they have wound up. Hannibal does so out of pure curiosity and amusement, while Dante does so out of his desire for justice and divine retribution.
- Dumas creates such lovely and rich characters that I can’t help but want to spend more time with them. I like the philosophical thoughts Dantès has, but he is not my favorite character. His charm was justice and unerring. Now that he has gone too far and the consequences of his revenge have so much collateral damage, he just seems selfish. His character is very interesting though, and there were multiple points in the story where I was absolutely enamored with him.
- My favorite characters are Albert and Villefort. Albert is cute, good, and grows up and matures throughout the story. Villefort is complex — the hand of justice is blind to his own sin; the effect of his power, ambition, and devotion to his life’s work. Not faultless, but flavorful.
- The ending felt very cliché. I liked the revenge plot, but not the revenge itself.
reflection
My favorite novel is The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas because it has had a profound impact on my worldview and relationship with literature. I would even go as far as to say that it was completely life-changing.
I was an avid reader in elementary school. I could blaze through an entire volume of Harry Potter or Percy Jackson in less than a day, and I blame books (and genetics) for my nearsightedness. However, I had trouble transitioning from middle grade to more “adult” books, so my love for reading fell off in high school. I only read for English class and considered it a chore at times. Last year, I decided that I wanted to pick up reading again. I blindly picked a classic and placed a request at Odegaard Library. Little did I know that The Count of Monte Cristo would be a huge “doorstopper” book! The edition I picked up was from 1946 and felt like it was on the verge of disintegrating as I flipped the pages. But its yellowed pages and worn binding fueled my excitement to start reading again, as I felt like I was accessing old and mysterious knowledge. From January through March, I read at least a chapter every morning and was transported to the wondrous world of Edmond Dantes through Dumas’ omniscient narrator. I eventually bought my own copy, and I felt empty as I flipped the final page on March 9th, 2023. I still remember the date off the top of my head — it felt as if I were parting ways with a beloved morning companion. It was devastatingly bittersweet.
This story accompanied me through a rough period in my life. It made me realize that literature can comment on every aspect of the human experience, from society to existential realizations. This is my favorite quote from the Penguin Classics edition translated by Robin Buss: “What, this ‘I’ that I thought was something; this ‘I’, of which I was so proud; this ‘I’ that I saw so small in the dungeons of the Château d’If and managed to make so great, will be, tomorrow, a speck of dust!” (987 [2003]). I come from a Buddhist background, but this novel’s descriptions of Providence and fate catalyzed my current devotion to my spiritual practice. And I loved the ideological juxtaposition between the main character, the enigmatic adventurer Edmond Dantes, and his foil, the stoic lawyer Villefort, in Chapter 48: Ideology. It felt like watching the climax of a drama, and I was glued to the pages and sitting on the edge of my seat. I could talk about this novel forever!
My journal entries from the time were very dramatic and reflected the paradigm shift I was experiencing: “But the beauty in the unknown, in the experience of living, of simply being! I do not claim to know myself the design of life or the nature of the Divine, yet I can still bask in the light reflected from the refulgent, glimmering fragments so graciously bestowed upon my path by fate”. This entry from February became the foundation for my current perspective on literature — each good novel is a fragmented account that reflects the same light, the universal truth of the human experience. After finishing this giant novel, I continued to engage with various texts, from Dazai’s The Setting Sun and Paolo Coelho’s The Alchemist to Byung Chul-Han’s The Agony of Eros and Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet. Thanks to Dumas, literature once again excites me and is my reason for living a vibrant life today.
highlights
Fear not, for your dear sake my justice shall be tempered with mercy. – p. 68
He who himself hates is never mistaken in the sentiment of others. – p. 35
In politics, … There are no men, but ideas — no feelings, but interest; in politics we do not kill a man, we only remove an obstacle – p. 114
Still, from an artificial civilization have originated once, vices, and false taste, which occasionally becomes so powerful as the stifle within us all good feelings, and ultimately to lead us into guilt and wickedness – p. 170
However, civilization has given us needs, vices and artificial appetites which sometimes cause us to repress our good instincts and lead us to wrongdoing. – p. 161
‘And now,’ said the stranger, ‘farewell, goodness, humanity, gratitude … Farewell all those feelings that nourish and illuminate the heart! I have taken the place of Providence to reward the good; now let the avenging God make way for me to punish the wrongdoer!’ – p. 300
Nature subdued must yield in the combat, the dream must succeed to reality, and then the dream reign supreme, then the dream becomes life, and life becomes the dream. But what changes occur! It is only by comparing the pains of actual being with the joys of the assumed existence that you would desire to live no longer, but the dream thus forever. – p. 349
In reality, when you have once devoted your life, you are no longer the equal of other men, or, rather, other men are no longer your equals; and whosoever has taken this resolution feels his strength and resources are doubled. – p. 554
‘Admire yourself and others will admire you’, a hundred times more useful in our days than the Greek one: ‘Know thyself’, which has now been replaced by the less demanding and more profitable art of knowing others. – p. 548
An all wise Providence from its not sinners to escape this easily from the punishment they have merited on earth, but reserves them to aid his own design, using them as instruments whereby to work his vengeance on the guilty. – p. 569
Moral wounds have the peculiarity that they are invisible, but do not close: always painful, always ready to bleed when touched, they remain tender and open in the heart. – p. 952
Truly generous men are always ready to feel compassion when their enemies misfortune exceeds the bounds of their hatred. – p. 953
What, this “I” that I thought was something; this “I”, of which I was so proud; this “I” that I saw so small in the dungeons of the Château d’If and managed to make so great, will be, tomorrow, a speck of dust! – p. 987
What is death? One step further into calm and two perhaps into silence.
a man who, like Satan, momentarily fought himself, the equal of God, and who, with all the humility of a Christian, came to realize in God’s hands, alone reside, supreme power, and infinite wisdom – p. 1242
Note: I felt that this ending letter from Dantès made the tone of the novel too moralizing