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The Count of Monte Cristo: August Reading, Chapters 84-117 (Unabridged); Chapters 54-71 (Abridged)
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Alison, the guru of grace
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Aug 02, 2008 08:28AM
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I've finished the book! Yes... in one day I finished August's reading section! I just couldn't put the book down... plus I need to read some other things so I was dying to finish.I thought the last part of the book was excellent. So much going on! Though some of the outcomes were sad, and I was glad to finally see that the Count was realizing that what he was doing was hurting the innocent as well as the guilty.
I was sad for Mercades. I think all that she did was what she thought she was supposed to in life. Who can wait around 20 years for someone? And I am glad the Count did not end up with her because after 20 years he barley new her. I don't mind so much the relationship with Haydee. (I think that's how you spell it). At least he knew her but what was kinda creepy is that he was more of a father to her.
And here again (as I mentioned in the thread for the first part of the book) is the reoccurring theme of suicide. I think that must be a writer's thing. I just felt like everyone wanted to off themselves. Even when Morell used it against Valentine that if she didn't marry him then he was going to kill himself.
Next I am going to rent the movies to see them again!
I definitely wouldn't mind seeing a film version of this now that I've read it. The whole thing was just so amazingly relevant to modern day life, somehow, even though it utilized societal mores that are long gone. I think the key is that regardless of the setting, the human emotions were so complete and honest that it felt true and timeless. What a masterful soap opera writer :) Seriously, it was a terrific story. And WHY does anyone make it into a "swashbuckling" film -- there's what, exactly ONE swordfight in it? And that being the death of Franz's father, like 20 years ago. Maybe I'm not getting the idea of the word "swashbuckling".
I was fascinated with how, as someone mentioned, the Count was careful to allow the objects of revenge to ruin themselves by playing on their worst instincts. I thought that his second-guessing with regard to his role as Providence was touching and evocative -- I could feel what he must have felt, learning that his intentions had gone much further and with more devastating results. I greatly appreciated that he did have his humanity, and tried to allow the person to repent and serve his punishment, and then move on.
Regarding Mercedes: well, I think this is the only way it could have worked out. She did, in the end, choose someone else over Edmond, even if that was understandable (being her son). And yes, they had not known each other, and people do move on and grow. I'm not bothered by the relationship with Haydee, because for the first few chapters where she was mentioned, I assumed she was more concubine than anything else. And I knew she loved HIM, and him finally allowing himself to receive that love felt perfect to me. I like the idea that Albert did distinguish himself and she lived a happy life in the end, content with her honorable son.
Morell and Valentine are great, and I particularly loved that at her "funeral", he onserved from behind the tomb of Abelard and Heloise. One of those little details that my awesome history teachers taught me to appreciate ;) And while I did love the 5th of October and Morell finally meeting his love again, I was much more touched at the symmetry of the Count stopping Max's suicide exactly 10 years to the day after saving the father.
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Just wanna say that I've finished this book last month. Love it! :-)
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As I said in my review here, I think the Count's thirst for revenge has corrupted his own soul. At the beginning of the novel he is the epitome of innocence — noble-hearted, faithful, and almost universally loved. Those who hated him must only be jealous of his position or his good luck in procuring Mercedes' hand in marriage. But look where he ended up as a person? Although he did some good things and only acted indirectly in the downfall of Danglars, Morcerf and Villefort, I don't think he could live the rest of his life without the burning conscience of what he did to all those people, the innocent as well as the guilty. In the final chapters he even acts as if by saving Morrel and Valentine he's doing the ultimate good deed to make up for what he's done. Alas, I don't think that's enough! ;)
Somebody mentioned Romeo & Juliet in relation to Morrel & Valentine — that was dead on. And the reference to Pyramus and Thisbe was also great (I only know them from the play performed in A Midsummer Night's Dream).
Rebecca, you're so right about the swashbuckling. I don't know, is there a lot of swordfight in the movie? Are people trying to make it like The Three Musketeers — it's Dumas so let's just bring out the swords?
Angie, the 'extras' in my book mentioned that suicide in the story "is presented as an honorable and reasonable response to any devastating situation". I don't know if it's the French custom of the time of just a writer's thing, though.
hohohoho.. Dini finally here :-p
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I just saw the newer version of the movie, I was so disappointed. In the book you sympathized with Dantes, in the movie though it felt like he was the bad guy once he turned into the Count. The ending really bothered me too, it isn't supposed to be so sweet. Did anyone else like it?
I haven't watched it in a while so I will rent it and give my opinion. I have been wanting to rent it since reading the book and just haven't got around to it.
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Before we move on with a new book, I wanted to give us a little more time for discussion. It's difficult to discuss this book (to me) because it was so looooooong with so many different plot lines.
Here's a question stolen from the reader's guide in my book:
Discuss the punishments meted out to various characters: Count de Morcef, Danglars, Villefort. Are they appropriate or in any sense symbolic?
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Good question, Alison! I thought the ruination of Morcef, and the exposure of Villefort (and his poisonous (sic) wife)resulting in insanity, were appropriate and symbolic. I think maye Danglars got off easy, in that he was not brought low enough and I believe, in his mind, he thought he could still rise and prosper in some way. He didn't experience the total personal annihilation that Morcef and Villefort experienced. I realize that this speaks to the Count's (by this point he's not really Dantes anymore) realization that he has more or less become what he despised, and his showing of some mercy to Danglars was, in a sense, a kind of atonement. But I wanted old Danglars to suffer more!
OK Dini, I will share my comments about this book :DI loved this book! that's it. I wrote my review in a "different" approach. Since Edmond sent to Chateau d'If prison for the "crime" he didn't committed I can't help but waiting and wondering when will Edmond avenge his enemies. When? when? when? when will he reveal himself as Edmond Dante (not as the Count) to his enemies. And finally he did!
Edmond to Caderousse
He approached the dying man, and, leaning over him with a calm and melancholy look, he whispered, "I am -- I am" -- And his almost closed lips uttered a name so low that the count himself appeared afraid to hear it. Caderousse, who had raised himself on his knees, and stretched out his arm, tried to draw back, then clasping his hands, and raising them with a desperate effort.
"O my God, my God!" said he, "pardon me for having denied thee; thou dost exist, thou art indeed man's father in heaven, and his judge on earth. My God, my Lord, I have long despised thee! Pardon me, my God; receive me, O my Lord!"
Edmond to Fernand
"of my hundred names I need only tell you one, to overwhelm you! But you guess it now, do you not? -- or, rather, you remember it? For, notwithstanding all my sorrows and my tortures, I show you to-day a face which the happiness of revenge makes young again -- a face you must often have seen in your dreams since your marriage with Mercedes, my betrothed!"
Edmond to Villefort
"Who are you, then? Who are you?"
"I am the spectre of a wretch you buried in the dungeons of the Chateau d'If. God gave that spectre the form of the Count of Monte Cristo when he at length issued from his tomb, enriched him with gold and diamonds, and led him to you!"
"Ah, I recognize you -- I recognize you!" exclaimed the king's attorney; "you are" -
"I am Edmond Dantes!"
Edmond to Danglars
"I am he whom you sold and dishonored -- I am he whose betrothed you prostituted -- I am he upon whom you trampled that you might raise yourself to fortune -- I am he whose father you condemned to die of hunger -- I am he whom you also condemned to starvation, and who yet forgives you, because he hopes to be forgiven -- I am Edmond Dantes!"
I if I were Edmond, I would like to have Albert as my son (He's a real gentleman). Thank God he "inherit" Mercedes's personality. And talking about Mercedes... Somebody tell me why Edmond didn't end up with her? Why? Why? Why Haidee? Why not Mercedes? I want Mercedes! I want Mercedes!
Umm... sorry if I sound hysterical :D
@Dini, sounds deja vu to you :-p
Moving on to the Three Musketeers? hehehe
@Meghan, thanks for your "remainder" :D
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SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
So...let's get this straight.
Fernand Mondego who becomes the Count de Morcerf wants to steal Mercedes from Edmond and ultimately marries her. Edmond's revenge comes through exposing his secret: he betrayed Ali Pacha and sold his wife & daughter into slavery. Morcef's reputation is ruined and he commits suicide. I guess the irony there is that Fernand coveted Mercedes, but in the end she is so ashamed of him that she leaves him.
Baron Danglars is envious of Edmond's career and is obsessed with being wealthy. Edmond is avenged by scheming to leave him alive, but broke. This was appropriate because what he loved (money) ultimately ruined him. (Although Deborah wanted him to suffer more!)
Gérard de Villefort is the prosecutor who sends Edmond to jail. He is politically ambitious. In the end, he goes insane after Edmond exposes him in court for trying to kill his infant son. I guess the irony there is that he is ultimately ruined by the law, which is where his power had come from, the power to judge.
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What is the significance of "Wait and Hope"?
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SPOILERS
Gotta post this before I forget!
I think it's ironic that Danglars is the mastermind behind the crime against Dantes but he seems to be the one who suffers the least -- yeah, I know he lost everything but his life was spared by Dantes unlike the others. I guess that like Deborah, I want Danglars to suffer more? Heh.
About wait and hope... I don't know, maybe Dantes felt that he got out of jail after years of waiting and hoping. And he also waited a long time to get his revenge... but I think advising the young lovers to "wait and hope" has a little to do with his disappointment that Mercedes didn't wait for him. Maybe he thinks that if only she had waited they could still have a happy ending together?
Alison:I guess I was a little more concrete with my view of the punishments. Making Danglers starve because Dangler made Dantes' father starve seems classic "eye for an eye." I like your perspective about making him live broke, though. After all, it was his determination to keeep some of his money that brought about most of his suffering in the end. I liked that Dantes' ultimately chose to "forgive" Danglers. That makes him much more like the Christian God that he thinks he is acting for throughout most of the book.
de Villefort is punished when he attempts to bring his wife to "justice." I don't think he really attempted to kill his infant son. I interpreted it as he thought it was stillborn, but then it breathed after ?Benuccio? untangled the cord from his neck. In court, it was revealed that he had a relationship out of wedlock, and it sounded like he had buried his child alive. Interesting that his second son was killed by his mother's hand.
I hadn't come up with any ideas about why Fernand's punishment fit--yours is a great idea, Alison (as are your other ideas, of course!)
"Wait and hope" seemed to be a summation of Christian faith to me.
As for Haydee, I, too, was surprised when it was first mentioned that theirs was a father/daughter relationship. He certainly treated her in many ways like a love interest. Not at all like a slave. I think he only kept the relationship platonic because he was still carrying a torch for Mercedes. Once it was clear that he had lost her, he was finally free to recognise his true feelings for Haydee.
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