The Count of Monte Cristo
A Novel by Alexander Dumas
“...All human wisdom is contained in these two words: Wait and Hope.”
A Novel by Alexander Dumas
“...All human wisdom is contained in these two words: Wait and Hope.”
A man may walk into the halls of Chateau d'If, but out of her chains a man never returns. A sailor by trade, a captain by gain, fortune has spoken differently to the virtuous. In the shadow of trust his betrothed is seized by his friends, his rank stripped by the ones he loves, and his weary father cast aside to the harshness of his son's betrayal. In the darkness of Chateau d'If he finds the enchantments of vengeance and a lord willing to teach him its ways. Here are the chronicles of Edmond Dantes, the Count of Monte Cristo.
Traveling through the toils that assail the human soul, the reader is confused and dazzled by the complexities of ancient society. The book begins at the collapse of the Napoleonic Empire, Napoleon banished to the island of Elba, and a betrayal of a man in the wrong place at the wrong time. But the central story doesn't begin until the entrance of a mysterious figure into the Parisian aristocracy; A man with God-like powers, one who holds the caprices of life and death, and guides the providence of heaven. The Count of Monte Cristo is warmly received and the story begins: find and punish those who plundered his heart.
The daunting question is, “who can contain the cup of retribution?” Some books have stood against generations of criticism because valour has been championed, but this book has stood because vengeance is eternal. The reader is not merely shown how a shard of fervor can ravage a man, but how vehemence, wholly in the grasp of the anguished, can break the soul of society. Can a man seek revenge without ravaging himself? That is the story you must read to the end to find out.
But don't believe you will finish it quickly. The unabridged edition, which I recommend, is not for the feint of mind. Weighting at over five pounds, the book is over twelve-hundred pages and mounts a vocabulary that will require an excellent dictionary. Don't let that deter you, there is an exception and with patience comes a reward. In a brilliant fashion the presumptuous consequences of a long book – forgetting characters, unable to recollect specific events, complex story lines, and simply the terrifying look of a book larger than any encyclopedia – is played to an advantage. Have you ever been left to yourself when, suddenly, you remember something of sentimental value? Whether it is sad or comforting there is a special feeling of excitement in remembering. Like so, Alexander Dumas guides his reader through a lost memory. Always looking to the past, the reader will be intrigued at how much of the book is forgotten only to be remembered in the splitting pages to come. No one is left with a book – perhaps it wasn't written to be so - they are left with an experience of a long forgotten memory.
I was left with a small dirt-grinned piece of glass reflecting the tarnishes of life and shimmering with a sparkle of happiness. The French aristocracy and their liveliness, the intimate feelings of barons and baronesses, and the transformation of the entire story. One seeks vengeance and one finds the answer. There is a price for every choice we make, but the difficulty is finding out that you never knew the final cost. There isn't anything to disregard about this story, it is a masterpiece.
However, before I leave this book on my shelf, there is one more thing I would like to say. There is something special I was told. Too often people prostrate themselves on a lonely island watching their hopes dip below the horizon. You may become one of those people when you try to finish this book, you may be one of those people already; not knowing if good will come, if good will ever come. To those people there is a word of encouragement... Wait and Hope.
