Good Example Of The Count Of Monte Christo Book Review

The Count of Monte Christo is a classic adventure tale written by renowned French author, Alexandre Dumas. The novel published in 1944 is one of Durmas’ most popular works. The setting of the story is early 19th Century Europe, particularly Italy, France, and some Mediterranean islands. The novel is touches on several key points that are based on the political events of the time. The novel makes reference to Napoleon Bonaparte, the great French dictator and his political actions influence a significant part of the novel. The Count of Monte Christo follows the adventures of the main character, Edmond Dantes, a young sailor who is condemned to a life of imprisonment for being an alleged Napoleon sympathizer. He, however manages to escape the dungeons where he has been confined and the rest of the tale explores his revenge journey on those who condemned him to prison life. The novel is filled with of thematic concepts that range from justice, hope, mercy, vengeance and forgiveness. However, one of the most prominent themes of the tale is the theme of perseverance in the presence of human adversity. The main character, Edmond Dantes shows great perseverance’s faces many adversities, some of them life threatening throughout the novel, but he perseveres through them all. His actions give credence the adage that states, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger."
Life in the prison is very harsh for Dantes. The prison is in this case is comprised of a set of dungeons located on top of a cliff. From his arrival at the Dungeon, life proves to very hard for Dantes. The prison keepers mercilessly beat him, and enjoy tormenting him for fun. Beatings are not the only form of suffering that Dantes experiences. He is also exposed to much loneliness seeing that he is not allowed to interact with other prisoners. He spends almost the entire time of imprisonment confined to a solitary dungeon and the only human interaction he has is with the guards when they come to take him to his regular beating sessions.
Food is another issue for Dante. He is given very little to eat and the meal that he is given is not sufficient nutrition wise. It is only meant to keep him alive. Dantes perseveres through these adversities with great hope and shows that he is a true man once again proving one of Durmas quotes in the novel, “Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes” (Dumas).
Nevertheless, a man can only take this much. He eventually reaches a breaking point and he even contemplates suicide. He attempts suicide but even death is not on his sides as he cannot bring himself to do it.
At a time when he appears helpless, Dantes encounters a fellow prisoner who has been digging tunnels in the prison in the hope of escaping. They spend the next few years digging and the other prisoner teaching Dantes a lot of things on culture, science and language. However, the prisoner, an old man perishes in one of the digging expeditions and Dantes sees a chance to escape by placing himself into the deadman's burial sack, which is consequently thrown out of the prison. Before his death, the prisoner had informed him of a treasure hidden in the Monte Christo Island. Dantes finds this treasure and becomes a wealthy man creating a new name for himself, “The Count of Monte Christo."
His perseverance is further made evident when he takes a long time (10 years) plotting his revenge. He is spited by the wellbeing if his condemners, but he takes time to plotting how to bring them down.
Dantes actions throughout the novel are a classic exemplification of the statement that “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger." In his lifetime, man faces a lot of adversities that sometimes threaten even his life. However, it is the ability of man to overcome these adversities and come out stronger that defines him. Edmond Dantes faces a lot of life threatening adversities, but he manages o overcome them all and in the end, he comes out as a stronger individual having overcome some of the seemingly impossible hurdles.
This thematic concept “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” from Alexander Durmas’ “The Count of Monte Christo” should be a lesson to all the problems and adversities that one faces in life are part of the learning lesson and in the end, they help one to become stronger. As Durmas states in his book, “There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness” (Durmas). In fact, at the end of the novel, Dantes appears to have realized his perseverant nature when he states, “Until the day when God will deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these two words—'Wait and hope” (Durmas).