Essay collection on unspecified topics

English Literature

Danglars is the villain in The Count of Monte Cristo as he is the one frames the kind Dantes. Danglars desires wealth and power and he will do anything to get those things, which involves sacrificing others -- including his family. While we often read about characters in literature who will do just about anything to gain personal fortune, they aren't always as ruthless as Danglars, a man who even tries to sell his daughter for money. Danglars passion is money and power and there is really nothing that is worthy in his character. He has no moral obligations -- except to himself. He is a character who doesn't seem to learn anything in the twenty years that the novel spans. The only thing that separates Danglars from his money is when he is faced with death. He decides he would rather stay alive and pays to do so. It is when Danglars has lost everything that he finally asks Dantes for forgiveness. This shows that Danglars is a truly despicable man, despite the fact that Dantes does excuse his actions. Dumas was making a statement with Danglars, which was that man can take things for himself, like Danglars does, but there is a higher power over him that can take it all away.

Danglars is a truly unsympathetic character, the complete opposite of Dantes, which Dumas does on purpose to show the very distinct sides of good and bad. At one point in the novel, Dantes says that there isn't happiness or misery in the world, but only the comparison of one state with another -- and the problem for Danglars is that he is always comparing his state to others who have more than him and thus he wants more too. It seems like the more wealth and power Danglars attains, the greedier he becomes. It is like his appetite can never be satisfied.

Dumas makes a very important point about people in the character of Danglars: the bad-at-heart oftentimes only focus on what they don't have. Danglars is an unprincipled capitalist and perhaps Dumas was also making him representative of what they world would soon care most about.

Albert de Morcerf is the son of the Count de Morcerf (Fernand) and the Countess de Morcerf (Mercedes). Upon first meeting, Albert is not the most noble of men. However, we begin to see aspects of Albert that are more worthy as the novel progresses. We learn that Albert is quite devoted to his father Fernand. When the Count of Monte Cristo speaks badly about Fernand, Albert reacts in a very noble way, wanting to fight the Monte Cristo for the harsh words he has spoken. Mercedes reveals the truth of Albert's father to Albert and thus he sees that he was wrong to treat the Count of Monte Cristo the way he did. Albert has the humility that his mother possesses and he also has the devotion to his father, even though his father lacks certain moral characteristics. It is this juxtaposition of father and son, two men who though related become totally different men and it shows that men are not the sum of their parents. Monte Cristo thus makes an exception to his idea that all sons carry with them the guilt of their fathers.