Carlota N. Villaroman, BSAT3-2 Reaction Paper on “The Count of Monte Cristo” Every paper works I do is my serious account and an important part of me. Sorry Sir but I really had a hard time cropping the details. I’m afraid that if I cut the details short, my reaction paper will lose its identity. BRIEF SUMMARY Edmund Dantes with Fernand Mondego landed together in an island where Napoleon had been sent. Dantès and Mondago managed to get help from Napoleon when their ship’s captain got ill and in return, Napoleon asked a favor from Dantès; that is to deliver a letter to someone. Going back to the Main Land, Dantès became the ship’s captain and returned to his fiancé, Mercedes. Dantes was hopelessly devoted to her but he felt he was not in a position to marry her until he's able to afford a ring. Mercedes was blissfully unaware of Mondego’s desire for her. Jealousy reared and Mondego used his wealth and political connections. Out of his mind, he betrayed his best friend to the authorities. Dantes was falsely accused of treason. The Magistrate originally planned to free Dantes but after hearing the enemy’s name to whom Dantès was supposed to give the letter to, he changed his mind and sent him off to Chateau D’if where he was imprisoned for 13 years. The years he spent in jail turned him cynical and bitter, and he plotted revenge against those who betrayed him. With the help of another prisoner who tunneled out of his cell into Edmund’s and educated him, he escaped the island by pretending to be dead. He swam to shore of Monte de Cristo, sought the treasure, showed up in Marseilles, Rome and Paris, and transformed himself into a wealthy Count of Monte Cristo as part of his plan to revenge. He became the creepiest of villains because he made himself part of normal society, rather than being a raging psychopath. The Count fancied himself the "hammer of God". It is near the end that he realized what he’s actions when Mercedes told him, "Like Satan, you thought yourself equal with God." The Count made reference to his "former life," and having been "reborn.” The Count couldn’t forgive; however, when he killed Mondego in a duel, Mondego's son, Albert frankly forgave the Count. The Count saw the error of his ways and attempted to make amends; to finally use his vast wealth for good instead of evil. COMPARISON OF SIMILARITY TO RIZAL’S TWO NOVELS The basis of my comparison would be between the 2002 film (not the 19th century French novel) and the twin novels, which are both powerful and rich in symbolism. Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) and El Filibusterismo (The Filibuster) should be treated as one in order to better relate it to “The Count of Monte Cristo” which revolved around between what the rich and the poor can do when it comes to influence and power and the revenge of Edmund Dantes. I got the chance to sift through the pages of Rizal’s novels which can be associated with the movie. Examples were the following: In Noli, Ibarra was helped by a friend named Elias, a strong and silent peasant youth. He was the one, who in learning of Ibarra’s arrest burned all the papers that might incriminate his friend and set Ibarra’s house on fire. He went to prison and helped Ibarra escape. Before that, he was also the one who saved Ibarra’s life when the cornerstone of his pet project schoolhouse collapsed. This scene is likely in the film where in an old inmate named, Abbe Faria, helped Dantes out of Chateau d’If. What’s different between Dantes and Ibarra was that Ibarra was able to bid goodbye to Maria Clara before his lost. In the tearful last scene between the two lovers, Ibarra forgave Maria Clara for giving up his letters to Spanish authorities. Dantes wasn’t able to say anything to Mercedes before he was brought to Chateau d’If. All he was able to tell as he was struggling with the guards arresting him was: “I demand an explanation! I demand an explanation! ” Another similarity is when the soldiers thought, Ibarra died, when they fired the swimming Elias. Many also thought that Dantes was gone when he left in silence. Like Elias, Abbe Faria also died, but their continuity existed, when Elias met Basilio, and when Faria succeeded in helping Dantes find the key treasure. The wise Pilosopo Tasio and the wise Abbe Farias, who helped the heroes, for me, are also alike. They taught a lot to our novel heroes. Faria’s intelligence is what helped Dantes make his transformation. He became his teacher, who educated him to read, write, to fight in a duel, to be strong and brave and many more things like Economics (I remembered from the film). “If you wish to discover the guilty person, first find out to whom the crime might be useful.’ To whom might your disappearance be useful?” This quote makes it apparent to Dantes that it wasn’t just a big accident that he went to jail. In Noli, Maria Clara remained loyal to Ibarra. Out of the memory of the man she truly loves, she entered the Santa Clara nunnery. While Mercedes, though married with Mondego, still suffered for her undying love to Dantes whom he thought will never come back. The Noli Me Tangere is a liberal, realistic, and fearless view of Philippine conditions during the last decades of Spanish rule. It paints an ugly, yet clear picture of the "social cancer" that deteriorates the society. It illustrates the rotten system of governance, the illicit ways of the church and the unfavorable trade of the privilege class. Padre Damaso was typical of domineering friar during the days of Rizal, who was arrogant, immoral, and anti-Filipino. When Ibarra’s father defended a helpless boy from brutality of an illiterate Spanish tax collector, he was accidentally killed. More than that, he was accused of being a heretic. Ibarra was also excommunicated by Padre Damaso. It shows that those who were in the way of the plans of the powerful friars, whether innocent or not, were justified in their own hands. The treacherous friars and privilege class controlled the people and used their elite status by hook or by crook. The weak class lost hope resulting to unfortunate deaths (as the case Pilisopo Tasyo) and sometimes insanity (as the case of Sisa). This is also evident with the people who framed up and betrayed Dantes. Dantes is a morally upstanding young man who is so innocent and free of sin that he couldn’t even fathom the dark deeds that surrounded him. After establishing Edmund's innocence, de Villefort was about to release him but when learned of his own father's implication in the Bonapartiste plot, he changed his mind and imprisoned Dantes in the Chateau d'If. This scene relates to education as source of man’s liberation. He wasn’t able to know the content of the letter which was then a plan of rebellion by Bonaparte. Also, the portrayal of de Villefort as a dastardly political animal willing to hurt anybody to protect his own career is accurate and compelling. Another one who betrayed him, Danglars, abandoned his wife and attempts to sell his own daughter, Eugénie, into a loveless and miserable marriage for three million francs. Danglars’ lust for money continued to drive all his actions in the two decades that the novel spans. Another, Caderousse, consistently resorted to dishonorable means in order to acquire what he wanted, thieving and even murdering in order to better his own position. Both Simoun and Dantes used another identity/changed their whole persone to take revenge. Both acted out the needs of a person which are aggression, defendant, autonomy and harmony. The character of Juan Crisostomo Ibarra was introduced in Noli, an intelligent and promising young man who has high hopes of changing the course of the country. And much of his plans were executed
through emergence of Simoun in the sequel, El Fili. Simoun is a powerful figure not only because he is a rich jeweler, but also he is a good friend and adviser of the governor general.. Dantes originally portrays 4 personas in the novel (The Count of Monte Cristo, Lord Wilmore, Abbé Busoni and Sinbad, the Sailor) but since this paper would be based on the movie, there would be only 2 personas which are Dante and the Count. He was reborn as a powerful Count after finding the treasures in the deep ocean. The changes Dantes went through made his different stages as a sailor and later as a mastermind of vengeance. He acted as the hand of god, protecting Valentine from her wicked mother's attempts to poison her, saving Morrel from certain financial failure, and allowing for Morrel's son to marry Valentine. Dantes rewarded those who were loyal to him and he punished those who caused his turmoil. Both Simoun and Dantes seemingly had the means to achieve their goal-money, connections, pain, and imagination. They both worked closed with their traitors to execute their magnificent obsession and plans. For Simoun, he secretly cherished a terrible revenge to rescue Maria Clara and ferment a revolution against the hated Spanish masters. For Dantes, the revenge is more personal. Simoun’s comeback rooted from a deep sense of nationalism while the revenge Dantes felt was fueled from betrayal by his close friend. Simoun died amidst the escape. In his long and painful confession of his identity, Padre Florentino consoled him that God will forgive him. Though, Dantes wasn’t killed physically, the torment he experienced is more than death too. The revengeful Dantes died as he let God’s will provide the fate of those who wronged him. In the last part of the movie, I heard this part: God said, "Vengeance is mine." Dantes’ parting statement to Maximilian can be seen as an acknowledgment that God is the only one who can act as Providence and decide people’s fates. Dantes said, “All human wisdom is contained in these two words,-wait and hope.” He noted that he had also harmed even the innocent. Finally, he accepted that the best vengeance should be left in God’s hands-all in Hist time and His ways.He forgave all those who did him wrong. He became a wiser man after all that happened. What’s somewhat different in the ending between the two is that Maria Clara died. She and Ibarra didn’t leave happily but Edmund was able to rescue Mercedes and Albert. Noli is a romantic novel; it is a work of heart while Fili is a political novel; it is a work of the head. The movie cannot be associated alone in Noli or Fili because it requires the two novels. But Fili has less humor, less idealism, less romance, and is more revolutionary which is unlikely with the greater part of the film. Meanwhile, the novels and film both depicted realistic colors of the actual condition of the time they were written. Like Rizal’s novels, The Count of Monte Cristo is also drawn from real historic events. Politics, played a significant role in the novel, particularly in branding characters good or bad. All of the sympathetic characters are somehow connected to the democratic ideals of the Bonapartist party, from Morrel and Noirtier to Dantès, who emerged as a champion for individual rights. In his wooing of Valentine, Maximilian fought for social equality. The unsympathetic characters, by contrast, are associated with the oppressive, aristocratic royalists, such as Morcerf and Villefort. Dumas and Rizal did not assign the characters randomly, but used them as windows into the souls of characters. They are instrumental in awakening the spirit of nationalism and forgiveness of the readers and viewers. I watched the 10th film adaptation of Dumas’ novel the second time at home and downloaded an e-book of it consisting 117 chapters with over 1400 pages. If possible, I would have want to concentrate on the novel itself, because reviewing the many novelsturned-films I have read, reading and then watching them does not give the same experience. It’s different when you read a novel and when you watch it in film. Some of the checks and balances that exist in books were normally eliminated in films. The plot and timing seems very forced at times; for me, it is really inevitable when converting a book so long into a 100-minute movie. Obviously a 100minute film cannot entirely do justice to all the themes and plots presented in Dumas' lengthy novel. The notion of revenge in the original work by Dumas had far greater spiritual implications than most of the film adaptations. They apparently change the ending to make it a Hollywood ending (not that the original novel doesn't have a satisfying ending on its own merits). But I guess, this movie is at its finest: well-acted and directed, with plenty of fun and excitement, and a bit of a "take-home" message too. In so far as Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo are concerned, I had a wide concentration of the two vital Rizal books in our Filipino subject within two years’ time in high school. Having also studied World History in USHS made me ponder that much of Rizal’s novels is in line, not only to what went on in the Philippines, but also in the world. It’s a privilege for me to explore the classics. I hope, I could read the other excellent novel of Dumas, which is The Three Musketeers (when I’m capable to buy it, hehe.)
