Celebrating The Count of Monte Cristo

Moral Lessons, Highlights, & Commentary on Alexandre Dumas’ Masterpiece

Nate Richardson

RichardsonStudies.com

Special thanks to Mike Jayme for help in editing my notes on this book.

I recommend this book most highly. When it comes to classical literature, this is perhaps my favorite volume. Like all great fiction, this story paints the truths of life at times more easily recognizable than the facts of the day. It is a story of suffering, redemption, and finding meaning in intelligence and grace.

The book does a far better job of teaching a story than is illustrated in the movie.  The movie almost entirely misses this theme.

For those unfamiliar with the basic plot, a man (Edmond) is wrongfully sent to jail for 10 years by his jealous friends. The victim has to learn to live again. He is educated by a friar he meets in jail. He takes on the disguise and name of Monte Cristo, and sets out to make a name for himself, and reconcile his past, and perhaps even experience joy and meaning in his life.

The story is full of wonderfully complex characters, especially the count himself.

 

Now let’s proceed to some fascinating lessons and ideas from the story! I’ll point out some fascinating things from the story, and at the end, I’ll share some key insights from the story overall.

Happiness makes even evil men good. When happy you can’t help but treat those around you well.

To marry any other than the one you love is to live a lie.

To insist a woman marry you who does not love you is a great evil, and you will never be happy with her.

When you marry who you love you will have all the happiness life allows

For some their betrothed is also their mistress, but this was not so for Edmond.

Note: Mercedes waited 18 months after Edmond’s disappearance before marrying Fernan. Contrary to the recent movie claim, her child was not of Edmond. They were chaste. Leave it to Hollywood to mess up important details like this and detract from the noble story the author wished to convey.

You can’t walk away from guilt; it gnaws on your soul constantly. You can’t drown guilt by drinking.

There are great words as there are great men.

Politeness indefinitely separates the well-bred from the vulgar man.

It was not courage, but religious conviction that kept Mercedes from suicide when she lost Dante.

Going mad can be a merciful thing for a prisoner, because where he used to weep, he laughs.

It’s better to be in the company of scoundrels than in solitary confinement. Captivity shared is but half captivity.

The educated priest doesn’t seem to mind being alone in jail compared to being with others. Being uneducated adds to the trial of confinement. The educated man can better entertain himself with deeper thoughts and an active imagination. Through his imagination, the educated man can transcend the four walls of his captivity.

When you prosper, you don’t understand the meaning of prayers you learned as a child. You don’t realize how significant each word is. “Misfortune is needed to bring to light the treasures of the mental intellect,” in the same manner that compression is needed to ignite gunpowder.    

The idea of liberty haunts all prisoners.

There are two kinds of ideas, those from the head and those from the heart.

It is unnatural for people to kill.

When jailed, avoid despair by devoting yourself to escape, education, and self-improvement. When studying history, you can forget the dreadful present.

Learning the mysteries of science is as valuable as mining precious gems.

God has supplied man with the intelligence to overcome natural limitations.

The Spanish would sooner commit an assassination than an act of cowardice.

The middle-aged are old enough to be ambitious, but too young to be corrupt.

The world has many more dangerous two-legged tigers and crocodiles than there are in the animal kingdom.

Those who learn of the villainy of their friends often become corrupt with desires for vengeance.

To learn is not merely to know. You can know principles without knowing their application.

Becoming educated can give you a new lease on life.  Edmond became a different man after learning from the priest in jail.  .

When you take someone in, teach them, and give them your knowledge, they become your child.

The duty of a prisoner is to make something from nothing. Tools, paper, pens, etc.

Life is always dear, no matter how painful.

It is easier to hope when you are young. As one ages, death becomes clearer.

Some grief is so sacred you don’t inquire about it when you see it.

A person’s happiness is known only to themselves; no one can tell if a person is truly happy.

Some fill their heads with knowledge to forget the weight of their hearts, as Mercedes did at the loss of Edmond.

Tell the truth, as a recording angel would tell it to God at the day of judgment.

In business one has no friends, only correspondents.

The count always was an early riser. He ate very little.

Man has devised many means to take life, but only God can give it.

Napoleon had a maxim: never wake me but for bad news.

Note: Napoleon also said 6 hours of sleep for a man, 7 for a woman, 8 for a fool.

Though money can do many things, it can’t make you a gentleman.

Punctuality is the kindness of kings, but it is not the same of travelers. (The traveler often cannot afford to control all aspects of his journey and have the same precision of punctuality as a king.)

The count made friends with everyone.

When the count encountered bandits, he didn’t send them to law.  Rather, he let them go on the simple condition that they would respect him and his friends. People love you when you deal mercifully with them.

The count said, “I never seek to protect a society which does not protect me.” Some societies only pay enough attention when they can injure you in some way.

He said society and neighbors are indebted to him because he doesn’t rely on the government.
The count could be seen as an egotist but was actually a philanthropist.

The count used opium and hashish to sleep. He was cold to the touch. He ate little.

Monte Cristo had purchased many slaves but he did not require them to remain with him.  The slave could go whenever they wished, and for that reason chose to stay with him.

A fantastic tale is related of the count going by Sinbad the Sailor, treating a guest to a marvelous meal, a hallucination, and great riches with dainties from many lands. You could say the Count was eccentric, or that he used these things to build his mysterious reputation.

The count saved his old friend who was at the point of utter ruin from many business ventures going awry.

Many French saw it better to be dead than to be bankrupt and thus lose their honor. (Note: The point was not to encourage suicide, but to stress how important they deemed it to be honest in your dealings.)

He who is about to commit an assassination hears low cries in his ears. 

God often preserves the wicked to make them instruments of his vengeance.

For all evils there are two remedies: time and silence.

The living can do more harm in one day than the dead can do in 6000 years.

The count never cautioned his servants a second time.

Riches can allow a person to know anything he wishes (he buys information).

Now we say “know thyself” and fail to know others.

If you desire others to think well of you, first think well of yourself.

The count says that it is a narrow view to become so enamored with your own accomplishments that you fail to see God orchestrating events in your life (Ch. 48 Ideology).

We make things complex, but as they become refined, they become simpler. Perfection is in simplicity.

God gives people missions to fill, not just official posts to perform. Thus, unexpected people can fulfill great things.

Monte Cristo chastised Vilfour, “You see only the strings of the machine and have lost sight of the sublime workman who makes them act.”

The count was of no country and sought protection from no one.  Time and distance are his only adversaries.

The Count felt that the most sublime things are to recompense and punish, to act for God.

God puts balm in the wounds of the affectionate.

To be content is a rare thing.

Be as bound to your promises as a knight of old to his lady.

Drugs begin with paradise and end with hell.

Man knows how to destroy but that is only half the battle.  Man will never be perfect until he learns to create.

Doctors are usually bad chemists, and their remedies often contribute to the patient’s death.

The law summarized is do not disturb society.

Most poisons may serve as remedies in the appropriate amount.

The count made frequent allusions to the Bible.

In France, it is not enough to desire marriage. French marriage has many social qualifications as well. Candidates for marriage must demonstrate their qualities, heritage, nationality, origins, legitimacy, and goodness.

Parents are the authors of their children’s existence.

Bad moral influences are infinitely more to be dreaded than any physical suffering.

Some slave owners cause their slaves to become very highly educated.

The count dressed his slave in pearls worth a million.

Do not exaggerate evil. When you try to avoid one fault, you will fall into another. Have a straight course of conduct.

You cannot always control your circumstances. Man produces and God disposes.

Girls tell each other secrets without being particularly intimate.

Things that seem like virtues can be vices.

You can hardly call someone you’ve only known for 10 days a friend. Friend is a lofty title.

Sometimes you meet someone and know instantly that you will get along as though you knew them before you were born.

There are mysterious impulses people get to warn them to dodge a bullet etc., and particularly when people are praying for you.

When a girl is 19, she should waste no time in forming a suitable marriage (as in focus on that goal).

The count always smiled when with others.

Every man has a growing passion in his heart, like every fruit has its worm.

When we must leave a home we loved, we leave a part of our souls with it.

Nothing passed the count’s notice.

Gratifying pretty women is one of the most sacred obligations in the world.

Women should not visit a home where there aren’t other women.

The count loved everyone as a Christian to helped them and only hated a few people.

Everyone who knew the count was his friend.

There were many more handsome than the count, but his appearance was the most significant.

There’s an Arabian tradition that those who eat together are friends. When under cover as the count, invited to homes of his enemies, he would not eat there.

Many a man has gone away after finding a woman he loves, only to find her gone when he returns to marry her.

At the point of death, miracles seem reasonable.

Grief can deprive a person of all fear.

Lovers should seek their marriage above all things if they are to find happiness.  Marry young so you can secure happiness while it is within reach.

Calmness can be more terrible than anger.

Do not sacrifice to the demon of speculation.

The young forget the past, the old are obliged to remember it.

To not believe in God is to be unhappy.

Orientals do not eat or drink in the house of their enemies.

Edmond lamented, “What a fool I was to not tear my heart out on the day I resolved to avenge myself.”

“There are virtues which become crimes by exaggeration.”

Aside from his plans of revenge the thing that meant most to Monte Cristo was his good name that he had established in society.

The world is a drawing room from which we must depart politely with all our accounts settled.

Edmond curved/stalled/decreased his revenge upon the beckoning of Mercedes, who was like a ghost appearing to him.

Mercedes asked Edmond why he remembered (wrongdoings done to him) when God forgot.

When Edmond was willing to lay down his life in a duel to appease Mercedes, he wrote in his will that his revenge would not be taken, but that God would take it.

Mercedes spared Edmond’s life by telling her son the family secret about Fernand’s betrayal so he could see that Edmond was justified in exposing him.

When a man learned that the count was Edmund and that it was he who had forgiven him several times, he confessed the existence of God.

Note: We should try to live in such a way that people will be constrained to acknowledge the existence of God, by our acting in righteous ways, which only God can cause us to do. If you ever happen upon one of these good acts, and are asked how you did it, you are constrained to reply that it was by God alone.

When Mercedes learned of the crimes of her husband, she said that when she entered her house, the grave opened.

Grief and love are the only two things that destroy the appetite.

Monte Cristo learned to believe that he might be happy with Haydée.  After having loved Mercedes, he marveled at the prospect of being able to love again, something which he had not considered.

Note: This is part of being born again in God, the ability to move forward in life after suffering a massive loss.

In every country, public insults resulted in deadly duels.

A dead father is better than a dishonored one. Blood washes out shame.

When you see God’s justice, you must let it be.

The count, on many occasions, saw himself as administering the justice of God.

God punishes indifferent men by showing them dreadful scenes.

Diplomacy is instinctive, not acquired.

Who you are seen with matters.

The ugliest women are often the ones who wear the most jewelry.  A beautiful woman doesn’t need money to be more beautiful.

Many seek out those whose words are few and weighty.

When you know who your enemy is, they are well on their way to being conquered.

Midnight is the hour murderers choose to kill.

Do not kill yourself, you may yet live to help others. There is always a reason to hope. Monte Cristo served as a guardian angel to preserve the lives of many (despite encountering epic personal loss and betrayal).

Mercedes had dreams about the. escape of Edmond in the very manner it took place.  (Thus we see that the noble people of this world can have dreams showing them hidden truths.)

Poverty and the need to build one’s name make a person more strongly compelled to live than luxury, as we see with Albert toward the end.

There are some situations we understand by instinct that reason cannot explain.

Note: Logic and reason are not the only methods of finding and knowing truth, unless you want to label certain feelings and trusting their validity as reasonable.

People seek forgiveness in death when their crimes are grave.

Celestial beings overcome fate and go where they intend to go.

Deceased loved ones do not reside in the Earth, but in our hearts.

“It is the way of weak minds to see everything through black clouds.” Melancholy exists in common minds, but destroys superior ones. Superior minds must not tolerate it long. The past becomes indistinct as we advance.

Noble men feel a need to contribute to their country.

Piety, innocence, and love are the three traits of happy angels.

Renegades are an evil omen to those who surround them.

Doubt, if unchanged into conviction, becomes remorse.

It was said that the count descended from a different world. The count responded that he descended from a world called grief.

Depending on the care given to it, “Death is either a friend who rocks us as gently as a nurse or an enemy who violently drags the soul from the body.” Once we discover the secret of death, it will become as sweet as love.

Some people have not been unhappy enough to merit happiness.

Before delivering him, Monte Cristo made Dumblar repay the hospital from which he had stolen.

Monte Cristo learned that it was not his place to be as God, delivering God’s vengeance.
He saw that his efforts to bring justice to the guilty also brought suffering to the innocent. He worked desperately to remediate that debt by bringing others happiness. He took in several neglected youths as his own children, saved their lives, and gave them love and happiness.  The count gave all his fortune to the young couple he saved.

The freely offered love of Haydée helped Edmond to live again. Love can help us to forget the hard things from our past which we must forget.

“He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness.”

You must know what it is to die in order to live.

“All human wisdom is summed up in these words, “wait and hope.””

Silent tears are no less painful. A sad smile can convey more sorrow than weeping.

Afterthoughts:

The story has many parallels with Joseph sold into Egypt. The long-time slave becomes an instrument in the hands of God.

This story is a sweet message to those who have been wronged in life, who have wronged others, and who suffer. Justice will come, but so will mercy. Healing can happen. The ability to love again can happen after loss.  The cold may again become warm. There are new beginnings, just as hopeful as the first!

May the reader reflect, consider his own story, and make a proper work and end of it.

May the reader understand his intentions. What desperate revenge he seeks on the cruel wicked world that took from him his youthful hope, love and joy, and find in life a higher purpose. May he find a way to live again, a way to forgive, a way to atone by doing good, and make his peace with God. May the hatred of self be quenched in the love of God. May the hatred of the world be quenched in the love of God. May the love of brother be fueled by the love of God. May the innocent be cared for by the redeemed, lest they go on abandoned, and all, even the redeemed, be lost.

The story of Monte Cristo is the story of us all. May we not label suffering as useless, but as a prequel to higher and highest joy, if we will receive it. May education unlock our abilities to make the world a better place, and to better calculate the affairs of men in hopes of helping in ways which are right. May we consider the great writers who write our story, and bring honor and good names before the bar of God by the deeds of our lives. May we look upon the heart, not the outward appearance, and prize experience above dainty.