The Count of Monte Cristo Questions
Thomas Brewer
Question 1
I personally agree with Dantés’ philosophy that one should need to work hard to gain happiness. Overall, if one just lounges around and never puts forward the work that is required to succeed, the happiness that they feel in the moment shall not last very long. If one works hard, they may not feel much happiness in the current moment, but they will eventually be able to be happy and for much longer than the person that is just lounging around. In life, doing nothing may seem like it is the only thing that you can do in order to be happy, but with enough time and effort into working, anyone can feel happy with the resources that they have accumulated from working.
Question 2
For following orders that may get him arrested, Dantés is honorable, but at the same time, and for the same reason, Dantés is not very smart for giving someone letters that very well may get him arrested. While orders from a superior should be followed, orders from a superior that may negatively affect the rest of your life should be left alone if possible. It was possible for the orders that were given to be ignored, but they were not and because of that, Dantés risked arrest. Dantés’ life when it comes to his relationships between his family, coworkers, friends, and parents, may very well may be ruined because he may be arrested and if he is, he will have a record that will follow him for the rest of his life.
Question 3
The relationship between Faria and Dantés is more teacher/student. Faria is what a teacher should be, taking Dantés under his wing and helping him get through his life in the prison dungeon and later telling him about treasure that would end up being his. Faria also taught Dantés throughout the years that they spent together what to do in order prevail once he gets out of prison. Dantés is able to become a successful man because of everything that was taught to him by Faria. If it were not for him, there is no telling where Dantés would have be in his adult life, other than still in prison or dead. Their relationship is not very believable for what it is currently, because of the fact that they are both in a prison that is specifically meant for the unstable and dangerous, but given the circumstances, it would be hard for them to not have the trust that they currently have. Faria has helped Dantés later in his imprisonment, and because of that, they have gained an understanding and acceptance of each other through the knowledge that Faria shared with Dantés.
Question 4
Morrel is very deserving of his change in fortune: he is not only a very good father and businessman, but a great friend to Dantés and an associate as well. Even after Dantés arrest, Morrel supported him and did not stop until Dantés was released from his imprisonment. He risked everyone’s opinion of him and his own standing, in an attempt to get his friend out of the sentence that he knew was false. With everything that Morrel has done, it would not be right for him to stay in the same situation that he was in; of near bankruptcy, even struggling to survive, if things continued down the path that they were.
Question 5
Two men named Franz and Albert go to a hotel, but the hotel owner warns them about a bandit problem, however, they do not worry about that. The hotel owner then tells the two a story about a bandit named Luigi Vampa in order to make them more wary about bandits. Luigi one day encounters a woman named Teresa and decides to walk alongside her on the beach, but later, a bandit leader named Cucumetto ran into them while he was running away from the police, so they gave him a place to hide until Cucumetto is in the clear.
Question 6
A:
When Dantes’ becomes The Count of Monte Cristo, he believes that he should be able to avenge himself, for everything and by everyone that he felt he had been wronged by. The Count is fueled by rage from everything that had been done to him and must let out that rage, as he explained by saying “‘No, no,” continued the count, “had I to avenge myself, it is not thus I would take revenge.’” (385). Everyone that he had ever known had betrayed him in some way and he needs to get revenge on every single person who wronged him and will stop at nothing to get his revenge.
B:
The Count observes that people will follow the sacred rule of ‘he should love his neighbor,’ until something occurs that makes them go against it, such as lust or greed. The human race was a masterpiece of nature as was stated and was the perfect “creation”, but even humans have their faults and despite their better judgment, shall follow those faults. The Count believes that people are still good for say, but does not believe that they are still completely perfect because of what happened to him. If what was done to him had not occurred, he likely would still believe that people were almost perfect.
Question 7
As Albert de Morcerf’s character stands currently, I dislike him very much, he is very disrespectful and is doing everything he should not be doing, not only in a country that you do not live in, but in general. Other than being disrespectful and arrogant, he is also careless, as shown when “there were in all six thousand paistres, but of these six thousand Albert had already expended three thousand,” (418), and he was around eight hundred piastres under the required amount for getting into the ball. As it currently stands, Albert de Morcerf is not a very enjoyable character, but there is a possibility that he could change and develop later on in the book.
Question 8
The reunion between The Count and Mercédès was not something one would have expected it to be because of the fact that is caused Mercédès to leave her new family. I had not anticipated that she would realize who the Count was, as well as leaving her now husband after realizing that Edmond was framed by Fernand and was completely innocent. I had expected her to not realize who he was because of how long it had been since he was arrested and to not leave her husband because of the fact that they had a child together and she needed to help raise him with Fernand. The reunion is what it was hoped it would be because of the fact that it gave Edmond something that he deserved after years of torment and is a good way to show that Mercédès, even after all this time, has not changed that much in still wanting to be with Edmond even after all of these years.
Question 9
Because of this chapter and everything that was said about Ali, I believe that he may be the father of Haydée. While it may not be true, it is the most likely possibility. The secrecy may be caused by the fact that something may have happened to her father, or he may have done something to someone that would make Haydée not want to tell anyone about her life. This may make The Count view Haydée or the world differently or cause something to happen to Haydée that would not have happened if someone else were her father.
Question 10
Villefort is able to keep a level head and think through the situation at hand even though The Count finding out about the child could be detrimental to his plans. He did not panic and put a bounty on The Count’s head, but instead wanted to see how things are going to play out and how to get himself out of this situation. I feel as if he will do everything in his power to get out of this mess, but not bring any attention to himself or this situation (as any rational person would do). Villefort wants to keep his position as well as his good name and if The Count were not the protagonist of the book, he likely would.
Question 11
I personally side more with Morrel because of the fact that he had no idea what was going on. He did convince Valentine to run away with him, but he did it because he knew that they would both be happier if they did run away together. For a bit of time, everything was as normal as they could be, but many coincidences happened with deaths and potential poisonings, that his worry was completely justified. While Valentine did everything that she could, she could have done a better job of informing Morrel what was going on and that she was okay.
Question 12
A: After how the exchange started with the Count aiming a gun at Mercédès’ son’s head and Mercédès stopping him, I was not surprised by what happened in the exchange situation. The Count was being as honest as he could with Mercédès and by showing her who he had become now, as he said, “These are not a misfortune. They are a punishment,” (980). Edmond would have never said this before, but now, as the Count, he was characteristically hostile for where he is in life now, which shows that even though he once loved Mercédès, that he will lash out at anyone. Mercédès was acting out of desperation for Edmond to spare her son’s life and tried everything that she could to try to calm him down and to find another way.
B: The original exchange between The Count and Mercédès was less hostile than the first. It was the reunion between two people who loved each other fourteen years ago and because of that, it was nothing but remorse and concern. The second exchange between the two happened when the Count was about to kill Mercédès’s son. It already started out as a disaster and it only got worse as The Count got became more hostile because he felt betrayed; Mercédès did not wait for him to get out of prison, but instead got married to the person that caused him to be arrested and even had a child with that same man. Edmond and Mercédès can’t be reunited because they both feel betrayed.
Question 14
I agree with Edmond in his letter to Maximilien for different reasons. The major reason why I’m on Edmond’s side in this situation is because of the fact that if one hasn’t faced the possibility of losing their life, they tend to not understand how great it is to have it. People never truly appreciate anything until they lose it or are close to losing it at least. The other reason is that if a person comes back from wanting to die, they will want to live a lot more than other people because the thing that would have convinced them to want to live and change their mind with such a major thing would have to be huge.
Question 15
A:
I feel as if the ending of the novel was unexpected, it confused me at first but once I realized what happened, it surprised me. It was a rollercoaster throughout the entire last few chapters and at this point it’s difficult for me to have an opinion for the ending. The final chapter especially made me love and hate the ending multiple times over. The ending started out as rather unique with Morrel attempting to kill himself and Edmond actually helping him by giving him some sort of poison to drink, but then it became somewhat cliché with a happy ending where the main character disappears to possibly never be seen again. There could have been a much better ending that would have fit more with the rest of the novel.
B:
I do feel as if Edmond successfully sought revenge on all his enemies in the novel. Everyone who went out of their way to wrong Edmond in some way eventually got what was coming to them after the Count found them. Fernand even committed suicide because he was dishonored and everyone knew what he did to deserve this. I feel as if everything that was given to the people who wronged Edmond was warranted because they made him spend fourteen years of his life in the prison dungeon that was made for the unstable and dangerous. Edmond, as the Count, successfully got revenge on whom he sought revenge on.
C:
I believe that Dumas is trying to say that if you wrong someone and cause them suffering, that they will want to come after you and will want their revenge for what you did to them. Given enough motivation, someone can do just about anything that they please given they have enough resources to do it. Someone can also just have the right circumstances to run into those resources like Edmond did. Two of the themes are to not be greedy enough to try to harm others in order to get your way and to think about the consequences of your actions before you go about them.
your essay in here…