The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas.
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- Deee
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Re: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas.
Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye.
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- humanracer
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I find all the adapations of COMC interesting. Dumas did his own adaptation in the form of a four part play. It is different from the book in that the stories of how the Count got revenge on Mondego and Villefort are told separately. Characters such as Vampa are also omitted. There was another famous play written in the 1850s by Charles Fechter. James O'neil starred in the play and became a megastar. This play ends with Mercedes and the Count reuniting and Mercedes revealing that Albert is Dantes son!nerubian wrote:I have just finished reading this for the second time, the first being nearly 10 years ago.
Some thoughts.
Did anyone else find the transition from Edmond to the Count rather abrupt and jarring?.
The novel was written by more than one person. Dumas originally intended the story to start at the "Rome" section. It was Dumas collaborator Auguste Maquet who suggested that he tell of how Dantes came to be betrayed. COMC is really a story of three parts - Marseille, Rome and Paris.
Is there some deeper meaning or allegory attached to Caderousse?
Not really. He is just a petty criminal who never seems to grasp the chances given to him in life, unlike Dantes who feels he was given another chance by God. I suppose you could compare him to the athiest innkeeper Thenardier from Les Miserables.
Why did the Count delay exposing his plan with Valentine to Max for so long?,
This was explained in the Count's letter to Max. He wanted to show Max that to understand true happiness you have to experience great pain. To want to live, you have to know what it is like to wish to die. You could argue about the Count's morals here.
Why did he let Danglars go with 50,000 francs?
Mercy and pity I suspect. At this point the Count felt his revenge had gone far enough. He also didn't care about money at this point. It was superficial to him.
Poor Mercedes!, she truly came out one of if not the worst of all the characters.
Yes. It seems Dantes (and possibly Dumas) judgement of her changed throughout the book. In one scene the Count tell her she has been too hard on herself and implies that he will help her financially yet in another scene Dantes call her "faithless".
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Going back to the book, I felt like we were never quite sure how Dantes felt about his revenge mission. He seemed to suffer great regret after the death of Eduoard but later became more firm in his belief that he was doing the right thing. The novel is long enough but I would have liked to have seen Dantes show more regret. I suppose you could look at Jean Valjean in Les Miserables as the opposite of Dantes.
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