The Count of Monte Cristo Essay

Stephen Simmons
AP English/Mr. George
7/15/09
Is Edmond’s vengeance justified? Consider this question within the contexts of just retribution. Based on what he had taken from him, is what he does just?
An eye for an eye?
Revenge is not something that you take based on free will or undirected anger, but it is an act of avenging yourself by punishing those who punished you. The act of taking revenge is not something that just ignites itself in your head or is a random thought or action; it can be something that builds up over time before the avengeing takes action. Edmond Dantes in the Count of Monte Cristo, planned his revenge while he was imprisoned for fourteen years. His vengeance was not an immediate reaction to what had been done to him, but a well thought out plan to take matters into his own hands and to punish those who tortured and sent him to prison. As he implements his plan we are left to question whether his actions to those who imprisoned him were justified. Does he as a person have the authority to seek revenge and justice and does it in the end give him what he seeks.
The Count of Monte Cristo tells the tale of a man who was sent to prison on false pretense, mistakably talked into revenge while imprisoned and sought out to avenge himself for the years that were taken away from him. He ultimately saw these final actions as the only way to seek justice and to bring closure to the fourteen years he spent in prison. During his time in prison, Dantes made this decision to disobey and play the role of God or of an all-great, all-powerful being. “During these hours of meditation, which had passed like so many seconds, he had formed a terrible resolution and taken a fearful oath.”(Dumas 97). What he did was beyond God and beyond himself. He knew, after reflecting on the circumstances that lead him to prison that he was not going to stop until he settled the score and pursued his, “terrible resolution.” Dantes’ revenge was not something that could potentially be seen as just, even by some of the wisest people. One of which being Hammarubi, who said, “[An] eye for [an] eye, [a] tooth for [a] tooth,” which states that if something was taken from you, that it is your obligation to take something of equal value back. Dantes might have been attempting to follow this code of law, however, the repercussions of Dantes’ actions stretched far beyond the limits of the code because he took more than what was taken from him. It did not start out to be that way but innocent people were ultimately victims of his plan.
Dantes was not justified for doing what he had done considering the continuous effects of his actions. In today’s world taking the law into your own hands and determining for yourself what can and can’t be done is unacceptable. That is why we have a system of law and a government, and although many people do not follow this system of law or government, if needed, we can refer to it in order to restore justice., Dantes’ decision to avenge himself and take matters into his own hands is against the teachings of the Bible and the codes of our modern society. He adopted the role of Abbe Busoni and The Count of Monte Cristo to be above the law and to take fate into his own hands.
As Dantes’ act of revenge stepped out on stage in the beginning of the novel he was very sure that what he was doing was the right thing to do, even though others did not believe so. As he slowly grew closer and closer to those that he internally despised he became more and more eager to finish with a bang. Initially, Dantes’ main goal was to punish the wrongdoers in a way that others would not be affected by his actions. Unfortunately, many more were harmed in his act of revenge than even he had expected. Villefort’s wife and son had died and many other horrible things had happened due to Dante’s actions. Throughout the novel, I as the reader, was almost certain that Dantes’ was completely conscious of what he was doing and would not feel remorse. However, I was wrong. After analyzing the repercussions of his actions it seemed as if Dantes felt that his vengeance was not justified because he contemplated if what he had done was worth doing. “And as though fearing that the walls of the accursed house would fall and crush him, he rushed into the street, doubting for the first time whether he had the right to do what he had done.” (568 ). Dantes did what he had done and felt no remorse or regret for what he had done in the beginning. However, in the end, after visualizing with his own eyes that Villerfort went mad and many people had died, it seemed as if he felt no satisfaction or pleasure in what he had done. Ultimately, he did not feel that what he had done was in his power to carry out. He did not have the right to seek the revenge that he did.
To summarize, Dantes had all this time in prison and after to plan and brood over the circumstances of his life. This lead him to see that the only way he could come to terms with what happened to him and justify what had happened was if he took the matter into his own hands and punished those who had sent him to prison. We see that at the beginning of the novel he feels he has the authority and right to carry out his actions. Later in the novel we see that Dantes sees the ripples of his decisions and begins to feel remorse. He begins to question if what he had done was just. We sympathize with Dantes because we know what was done to him and in a way we want him to take revenge because we feel that this is the only fair. The violence, however, and the innocent people who are affected by his actions get in the way of our sympathy and we are forced to question whether that kind of violence for any reason is just. In Dantes’ terms and context, his actions were unjust because they went against the moral, ethical and religious laws of his society and ours. He chose the path of vengeance when he should have chosen the path of forgiveness.