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| Alex Dumas' demonstrates Romanticism through character intellect, revenge, and adventure in the Count of Monte Cristo |
One thing that fascinates me about the Romantic Period is to see how much it is shaped by the time periods preceding it, and how much it melds together with the Enlightenment Period. It is as if there was a melding together of the two time periods that resulted in a transition that resulted in minor but at the same time noteworthy changes. One example of this is that intellect is a focus in both time periods. However, within the Enlightenment period there seems to be an emphasis on philosophy and human interactions as a group, while the intellect focus within the Romantic period seems to be a more individualistic intellect and ability to experience the sublime and divine.
Within The Count of Monte Cristo, Dumas crafts a story that truly takes the reader into 19th century France where they experience the emotion and and individual insight that Edmond Dantes experiences. Having been injustly imprisoned, Dantes meets a learned priest who educates him and helps him unravel the mystery of why he had been imprisoned. With the fortune to discover hidden treasure and his newly acquired education, Dantes plans and carries out a plan to get revenge on those who were to blame for his unlawful imprisonment.
This story demonstrates ideals of the Romantic period because of the seeming glamour placed on knowledge and deductive reasoning. Dantes does not simply get immediate revenge through violence, but rather crafts a complex plan to reveal the truth about his enemies. This novel by Alex Dumas which carries themes such as revenge, learning and intellect, adventure, and romance is a complete representation of romantic.
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This is a fantastic story that evoked strong emotion in me as well. I feel like we can all relate to Dantes in a small degree when we have been double-crossed by a close friend. The intricacies of the plan displays a romantic theme that he is not simply seeking revenge on his enemies, but to defame and defraud them to the lowest point possible. A normal, somewhat more rational plan for revenge would simply mean assassinating them. But a man playing with his enemies like a child playing with food creates a story that is much more compelling.
ReplyDeleteI think a compliment to Dumas' writing is how depraved the titular "Count" can get, as he moves from a prisoner with no power whatsoever to a monster in the night with all of the authority in the world. In either case he is less than human, but then again perhaps in order to perform such terrible vengeance, something that isn't human is needed.
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