“The Count Of Monte Cristo” by Alexandre Dumas

One line that I thought was pure ingenuity from the author was when he wrote one-liners in this novel that seemed to foreshadow the oncoming events and add onto the theme of the story. One of these lines were, “Hatred is blind, anger is foolhardy, and he who pours out vengeance risks having to drink a bitter draft.” This line was very powerful in the sense that it foreshadows the series of events that occurs within the book. Edmond Dantes, the main character of the book, was stripped of his innocence by 3 conspirators, which he had called friends, and was sent off to Chateau d’If, an infamous jail in which the worst criminals go. He miraculously escaped, became wealthy, and sought vengeance against these 3 men who had taken his youth and innocence and turned it into something horrible… the Count of Monte Cristo, the sly, vindictive, mysteriously wealthy character which everyone is humbled by because of his simple fashion and mystique.

He speaks with his ex-fiance’s son’s friend, Franz, who warns Dantes ahead of time that everything that goes around comes around. This line means that if one seeks to have his revenge, he shall get the disadvantages of what he does. Dantes is still “blinded by hatred,” and says that only the poor and inept may pay for their discrepancies, but the rich and clever are the ones that will always reap the benefits. He learns later on in the book that his theory was not veritable in any sense, for he had a great deal of remorse and regret for what he had done and wanted to punish himself. But Haydee, his loyal servant, had loved him greatly, no matter what he had done, and gave him a reason to live, a reason to seek penance from God through living and repent throughout his life. He found out that what his former friend had told him would be what he needed to hear in the end.

Another line is, ” ‘ And now, ‘ said the man on the yacht, “farewell to kindness, humanity and gratitude. Farewell to all sentiments that gladden the heart. I have substituted myself for Providence in rewarding the good; may the God of vengeance now yield me His place to punish the wicked!'” This is where Edmond Dantes proclaims to the sky that he is to finally start his road to vengeance against his conspirators. But, as I had stated before, he realizes that he may not take the place of God or Providence and seal the fate of his aggressors. He must leave those tasks to God and God alone, for no human soul may bear the pressures of punishment and reward without feeling guilty. His heart was heavy in the end, and he had submitted himself to the works of the devil instead of God.

It is not in his hands to justify what is right, what is wrong, and how one can make the equilibrium of good and evil balanced, again. Good and evil are inexplicably intertwined that one could not exist without the other. It is like night and day, or darkness and light. This invokes one of my beliefs: Wherever there is light, there is something to cast a shadow. We cannot avoid or pursue one or the other; they merely co-exist in each other’s world, unfailingly and unwillingly. In this world, there are two sides to everything that exists because that is just the way everything was built. It just IS.