The Count of Monte Cristo,film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzefViZ6UoU
Alexandre Dumas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Dumas
The Count of Monte Cristo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Count_of_Monte_Cristo
The reader is left with a final thought:
"all human
wisdom is contained in these two words, 'Wait and Hope", citing Dantès's
simple yet disciplined philosophy and principle of life.
The Count of Monte Cristo (French: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo)
is an adventure novel by French author Alexandre Dumas (père). It is one of the
author's most popular works, along with The Three Musketeers. He completed the
work in 1844. Like many of his novels, it is expanded from plot outlines
suggested by his collaborating ghostwriter Auguste Maquet.
The story takes place in France,
Italy, islands in the
Mediterranean, and in the Levant during the
historical events of 1815–1838. It begins from just before the Hundred Days
period (when Napoleon returned to power after his exile) to the reign of
Louis-Philippe of France.
The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book. An adventure story
primarily concerned with themes of hope, justice, vengeance, mercy and
forgiveness, it focuses on a man who is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes from
jail, acquires a fortune and sets about getting revenge on those responsible
for his imprisonment. However, his plans have devastating consequences for the
innocent as well as the guilty.
The book is considered a literary classic today. According
to Luc Sante, "The Count of Monte Cristo has become a fixture of Western
civilization's literature, as inescapable and immediately identifiable as
Mickey Mouse, Noah's flood, and the story of Little Red Riding Hood."
Background to the plot
Dumas wrote that the idea of revenge in The Count of Monte
Cristo came from a story in a book compiled by Jacques Peuchet, a French police
archivist, published in 1838 after the death of the author. Dumas included this
essay in one of the editions from 1846.[5] Peuchet told of a shoemaker, Pierre
Picaud, living in Nîmes in 1807, who was engaged to marry a rich woman when
three jealous friends falsely accused him of being a spy for England. Picaud
was placed under a form of house arrest, in the Fenestrelle Fort where he
served as a servant to a rich Italian cleric. When the man died, he left his
fortune to Picaud whom he had begun to treat as a son. Picaud then spent years
plotting his revenge on the three men who were responsible for his misfortune.
He stabbed the first with a dagger on which were printed the words,
"Number One", and then he poisoned the second. The third man's son he
lured into crime and his daughter into prostitution, finally stabbing the man
himself. This third man, named Loupian, had married Picaud's fiancée while
Picaud was under arrest.
In another of the "True Stories" Peuchet describes
a poisoning in a family. This story, also quoted in the Pleiade edition, has
obviously served as model for the chapter of the murders inside the Villefort
family. The introduction to the Pleiade edition mentions other sources from
real life: the Abbé Faria existed and died in 1819 after a life with much
resemblance to that of the Faria in the novel. As for Dantès, his fate is quite
different from his model in Peuchet's book, since the latter is murdered by the
"Caderousse" of the plot. But Dantès has "alter egos" in
two other Dumas works; in "Pauline" from 1838, and more significantly
in "Georges" from 1843, where a young man with black ancestry is
preparing a revenge against white people who had humiliated him.
The Count of Monte Cristo
Disguised as the rich Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès takes
revenge on the three men responsible for his unjust imprisonment: Fernand, now
Count de Morcerf and Mercédès' husband; Danglars, now a baron and a wealthy
banker; and Villefort, now procureur du roi — all of whom now live in Paris.
The Count appears first in Rome,
where he becomes acquainted with the Baron Franz d'Épinay, and Viscount Albert
de Morcerf, the son of Mercédès and Fernand. Dantès arranges for the young
Morcerf to be captured by the bandit Luigi Vampa before rescuing him from
Vampa's gang. The Count then moves to Paris,
and with Albert de Morcerf's introduction, becomes the sensation of the city.
Due to his knowledge and rhetorical power, everyone (even his enemies, who do
not recognize him) find him charming and seek his friendship. The Count dazzles
the crass Danglars with his seemingly endless wealth, eventually persuading him
to extend him a credit of six million francs, and withdraws 900,000. Under the
terms of the arrangement, the Count can demand access to the remainder at any
time. The Count manipulates the bond market, through a false telegraph signal,
and quickly destroys a large portion of Danglars' fortune. The rest of it
begins to rapidly disappear through mysterious bankruptcies, suspensions of
payment, and more bad luck on the Stock Exchange.
Villefort had once conducted an affair with Madame Danglars.
She became pregnant and delivered the child in the house that the Count has now
purchased. In a desperate attempt to cover up the affair, Villefort told Madame
Danglars that the infant had been stillborn. Villefort then smothered the
child, and thinking him to be dead, he tried to bury it secretly behind the
house. While Villefort was burying the child, he was stabbed by Bertuccio (who
had swore vengeance on him after Villefort refused to do anything about the
murder of Bertuccio's brother). Bertuccio assumed Villefort was burying
treasure. He dug it up, found the near dead child and brought him back to life.
Bertuccio's sister-in-law brought the child up, giving him the name
"Benedetto". Benedetto ends up falling into a very bad crowd and in
the end murders the sister-in-law while trying to steal her money. After that,
Benedetto runs away. The Count learns of this story from Bertuccio, who later
becomes his servant. He purchases the house and hosts a dinner party there, to
which he invites, among others, Villefort and Madame Danglars. During the
dinner, the Count announces that, while doing landscaping, he had unearthed a
box containing the remains of an infant and had referred the matter to the
authorities to investigate. This puzzles Villefort, who knew that the infant's
box had been removed and so the Count's story could not be true, and also
alarms him that perhaps he knows the secret of his past affair with Madame
Danglars and may be taunting him.
Meanwhile, Benedetto has grown up to become a criminal and
is sentenced to the galleys with Caderousse. After the two are freed by
"Lord Wilmore", Benedetto is sponsored by the Count to take the
identity of "Viscount Andrea Cavalcanti" and is introduced by him
into Parisian society at the same dinner party, with neither Villefort nor
Madame Danglars suspecting that Andrea is their presumed dead son. Andrea then
ingratiates himself to Danglars who betroths his daughter Eugénie to Andrea
after cancelling her engagement to Albert, son of Fernand. Meanwhile,
Caderousse blackmails Andrea, threatening to reveal his past. Cornered by
"Abbé Busoni" while attempting to rob the Count's house, Caderousse
begs to be given another chance, but Dantès grimly remarks that he had done so
twice and Caderousse did not change. He forces Caderousse to write a letter to
Danglars exposing Cavalcanti as an impostor and allows Caderousse to leave the
house. The moment Caderousse leaves the estate, he is stabbed in the back by
Andrea. Caderousse manages to dictate and sign a deathbed statement identifying
his killer, and the Count reveals his true identity to Caderousse moments
before Caderousse dies.
Years before, Ali Pasha, the ruler of Janina, had been
betrayed to the Turks by Fernand. After Ali's death, Fernand sold his wife
Vasiliki and his daughter Haydée into slavery. Haydée was found and bought by
Dantès and becomes the Count's ward. The Count manipulates Danglars into
researching the event, which is published in a newspaper. As a result, Fernand
is brought to trial for his crimes. Haydée testifies against him, and Fernand
is disgraced. Mercédès, still beautiful, is the only person to recognize the
Count as Dantès. When Albert blames the Count for his father's downfall and publicly
challenges him to a duel, Mercédès goes secretly to the Count and begs him to
spare her son. During this interview, she learns the entire truth of his arrest
and imprisonment. She later reveals the truth to Albert, which causes Albert to
make a public apology to the Count. Albert and Mercédès disown Fernand, who is
confronted with Dantès' true identity and commits suicide. The mother and son
depart to build a new life free of disgrace. Albert enlists as a soldier and
goes to Africa in order to rebuild his life
and honour under a new name, and Mercédès begins a solitary life in Marseille.
Villefort's daughter by his late first wife, Valentine,
stands to inherit the fortune of her grandfather (Noirtier) and of her mother's
parents (the Saint-Mérans), while his second wife, Héloïse, seeks the fortune
for her son Édouard. The Count is aware of Héloïse's intentions, and
"innocently" introduces her to the technique of poison. Héloïse
fatally poisons the Saint-Mérans, so that Valentine inherits their fortune. Valentine
is disinherited by Noirtier in an attempt to prevent Valentine's impending
marriage with Franz d'Épinay. The marriage is cancelled when d'Épinay learns
that his father (believed assassinated by Bonapartists) was killed by Noirtier
in a duel. Afterwards, Valentine is reinstated in Noirtier's will. After a
failed attempt on Noirtier's life, which instead claims the life of Noirtier's
servant Barrois, Héloïse then targets Valentine so that Édouard will finally
get the fortune. However, Valentine is the prime suspect in her father's eyes
in the deaths of the Saint-Mérans and Barrois. On learning that Morrel's son
Maximilien is in love with Valentine, the Count saves her by making it appear
as though Héloïse's plan to poison Valentine has succeeded and that Valentine
is dead. Villefort learns from Noirtier that Héloïse is the real murderer and
confronts her, giving her the choice of a public execution or committing
suicide by her own poison.
Fleeing after Caderousse's letter exposes him, Andrea gets
as far as Compiègne before he is arrested and returned to Paris, where Villefort prosecutes him. While
in prison awaiting trial, Andrea is visited by Bertuccio who tells him the
truth about his father. At his trial, Andrea reveals that he is Villefort's son
and was rescued after Villefort buried him alive. A stunned Villefort admits
his guilt and flees the court. He rushes home to stop his wife's suicide but is
too late; she has poisoned her son as well. Dantès confronts Villefort,
revealing his true identity, but this, combined with the shock of the trial's
revelations and the death of his wife and son, drives Villefort insane. Dantès
tries to resuscitate Édouard but fails, and despairs that his revenge has gone
too far. It is only after he revisits his cell in the Château d'If that Dantès
is reassured that his cause is just and his conscience is clear, that he can
fulfil his plan while being able to forgive both his enemies and himself.
After the Count's manipulation of the bond market, Danglars
is left with only a destroyed reputation and 5,000,000 francs he has been
holding in deposit for hospitals. The Count demands this sum to fulfil their
credit agreement, and Danglars embezzles the hospital fund. Abandoning his
wife, Danglars flees to Italy
with the Count's receipt, hoping to live in Vienna in anonymous prosperity. While leaving
Rome, he is
kidnapped by the Count's agent Luigi Vampa and is imprisoned the same way that
Albert was. Forced to pay exorbitant prices for food, Danglars eventually signs
away all but 50,000 francs of the stolen five million (which Dantès anonymously
returns to the hospitals). Nearly driven mad by his ordeal, Danglars finally
repents his crimes. Dantès forgives Danglars and allows him to leave with his
freedom and the money he has left.
Maximilien Morrel, believing Valentine to be dead,
contemplates suicide after her funeral. Dantès reveals his true identity and
explains that he rescued Morrel's father from bankruptcy, disgrace and suicide
years earlier. He persuades Maximilien to delay his suicide. On the island of Monte Cristo one month later, Dantès
presents Valentine to Maximilien and reveals the true sequence of events.
Having found peace, Dantès leaves the newly reunited couple his fortune and
departs for an unknown destination to find comfort and a new life with Haydée,
who has declared her love for him. The reader is left with a final thought:
"all human wisdom is contained in these two words, 'Wait and Hope",
citing Dantès's simple yet disciplined philosophy and principle of life.