Count Of Monte Cristo Literary Analysis

The Count of Monte Cristo is a French novel about a man who was imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit and, following his escape, his revenge towards all who wronged him. The novel was written in 1844, by Alexandre Dumas, and was set in approximately the same time period: revolutionary France. The French Revolution had a time span of approximately twenty six years, beginning with the removal of the monarch and ending with the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. The Count of Monte Cristo was set in the Napoleonic years and makes several reference to the time period, from the reason of Dante’s imprisonment being treason to bring back Napoleon to Villefort’s wish to marry his daughter to a known royalist to secure his standing. The effects of the time period and Dumas’ political sensitivities are the primary drives for the characters and plot. The philosophies of the French Revolution changed quickly, going through various enlightenment philosophers, each with slightly different ideals. The Revolution started with the idea that France’s government should be more like England’s after the Magna Carta, giving more power to the nobles and less

Those who are Bonapartists, such as Nortier and, by virtue of his uncle Morrel, are shown in a much more favorable light than the royalists or opportunists of the piece. In the quote Abbe Faria reveals his Bonapartism. “Because in 1807 I dreamed of the very plan Napoleon tried to realize in 1811; because, like Machiavelli, I desired to alter the political face of Italy, and instead of allowing it to be split up into a quantity of petty principalities, each held by some weak or tyrannical ruler, I sought to form one large, compact, and powerful empire.” pg 54. Comparing oneself to Napoleon favorably is an action of a Bonapartist, a strange position for an Italian who has been in prison for almost as long as the Revolution has