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Essay / Justification of Dantes' revenge in The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Justice is a universal idea that has existed since the beginning of human civilization. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, justice is “the maintenance or administration of what is just, especially through the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the awarding of deserved rewards or punishments.” Because it is and has always been important to people and in society, many literary works have been written on this subject. Published in France in 1844, the historical fiction novel The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas tells the story of how Edmond Dantès, a kind young man, is imprisoned on false accusations of treason and betrayed by people he knows or rubs shoulders, like Fernand, Danglars, Caderousse and Villefort, and avenges these injustices after his escape from prison. Edmond uses several aliases, such as the Count of Monte Cristo, Lord Wilmore, Abbot Busoni and Sinbad the Sailor, to create a mysterious new identity after his escape from prison and to gain the trust of the people he wishes to take revenge on. . He then exploits their flaws against them by giving them the tools to destroy themselves. Although it may seem that the Count's philosophy of justice is that people should mercilessly persecute those who have wronged them, his true philosophy of justice is that it should only be applied to the extent necessary, in both good and bad ways, to ensure fairness and equality. because he firmly believes in the importance of loyalty and friendship and in the idea that God is the only one who can give people the power and justification to act as they do. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay It is true that the Count's philosophy can be considered ruthless and unforgiving when it comes to punishing others for revenge; however, this is false because in reality, his actions are justified by the injustices these people have already committed in his life. This is demonstrated when the Count watches Caderousse die before revealing his true identity to Caderousse just as he is about to die (Dumas 343-344). It may seem that the Count is simply seeking to punish Caderousse out of simple dislike or hatred. This implies that the Count's philosophy is simply to mercilessly punish anyone who opposes him, but as the famous saying goes, "appearances can be deceiving", so we will analyze the Count's actions in more depth. This forces us to look further to see what Caderousse did to the Count. When Danglars and Fernand wrote the false letter of denunciation which led to Edmond's incarceration, Caderousse authorized it by not objecting to the act of writing the letter. He left Edmond to suffer and languish in prison for fourteen years, without doing anything. Here, the Count takes revenge by doing the same. Many years later, the roles are now reversed and the Count watches as Caderousse suffers to the point of death in bleeding and pain. Caderousse feels what Edmond felt: pain, isolation and suffering. The Count does not directly injure Caderousse; instead, he allows Caderousse's greed to lead him to attempt to rob the Count's house before failing and being killed by his accomplice. The Count lets Caderousse's fatal flaws destroy themselves. He uses the old philosophy of Hammurabi: “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” (Dumas 139). He believes that if one makes someone else suffer in a certain way, then for justice to be fully served, then that person must also suffer in the same way. It's aimportant aspect of his philosophy on justice because it dictates how much and what he can do to those who have wronged him; thus, the Count's philosophy of justice is not to mercilessly punish enemies as one might believe, but rather to logically and consciously make them suffer for what they have done. The Count believes that justice should be carried out in the name of God in order to reward people for the good deeds they have performed and to punish criminals for their bad deeds. His philosophy is that he must act as Providence, in place of God, to ensure that people are rewarded with what they deserve for their good deeds or suffer as punishment for the crimes they have committed. This ideology manifests itself when Albert and Mercédès, Fernand's son and wife, realize how malicious Fernand is and leave Paris with very few resources and money. Although he hated Fernand because of his role in the false accusations, he does not believe that innocent people should suffer. He sees Albert and Mercédès, so he pities them and hopes that “God will help him” (Dumas 461) will give them back what they should have had by right but which they lost, despite their innocence, because of Fernand's criminal behavior which injured him. them. Fernand is punished, rightly so, because he contributed to Edmond's imprisonment, but Albert and Mercédès should not be because they are loyal and ignorant of everything that has happened. This shows the Count's generosity, but more importantly, it is a great example of his philosophy of justice. He believes he must act like Providence to give people what they deserve, and that is exactly what he does by giving back to Albert and Mercédès. It is necessary for him to do this to ensure that his actions are justified and that he is not cruel or unreasonable. Justice is not necessarily revenge for the Count; it can be both helpful and harmful to people. Another critical aspect of the Count's philosophy on justice is the idea that justice should only be applied to a certain extent; if too much harm is done, then one is no longer justified in one's actions. When he causes Villefort to lose his entire family, he realizes that God is no longer “for… and with [him]”. The Count realizes that his project of careful, controlled justice has spiraled out of control because of Villefort's own actions. This ruined his plan as it led to two viewers of the plan being harmed by the plan. With this realization, the Count attempts to save the life of Villefort's son, who needlessly suffered a death by poisoning due to the discord caused by the Count's plan. Failing to save this life, the Count, normally a stoic man, becomes emotional because he has failed to achieve what he truly desired: to avenge the grievances of his life and only those grievances. He violated his own philosophy of justice; he went too far in his attempt at revenge. His inability to save this innocent life leads him to be much more thoughtful and careful in his actions as well as more generous towards others. He tries to repair this terrible incident by saving the life of his former employer's son by saving his fiancée and reuniting them after a long period of sadness and assumed death (Dumas 527). The Count rewards people who helped him or tried to help him when he was in prison; his former employer, Monsieur Morrel, wrote countless petitions and letters requesting his release. The Count seeks justice by rewarding those who helped him. He has already helped the Morrel family by repaying their loans and giving them a ship, but he still saves the life of one of the family members. One might think that the Count creates..