The Count Of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas(Spoilers Ahead)

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This is by far the best classic I've read. In my mind the pacing was just right and it had enough details and planning to keep it so interesting. The amount of characters was a bit hefty and I had a hard time remembering all of them. Also Danglars got off way to easy for his stuff, even though his reputation is gone and his money, he will never know what it's like to truly starve alone in prison. But other than that I found this so accessable, funny, the mystery. I loved how cinematic it was where we can read most sides to the stories, like a camera following even the betrayers. I found some characters also to be so relatable, especially Albert and the Count. I can't believe I finished this story so fast in the end and I'm gonna miss The Count's sometimes awkward conversations, him being so extra for no reason and all the drama. The Count of Monte Cristo quite literally felt like I had just lived like ten lives at once, following each character, especially Edmond, from start to end on this huge journey. At first I questioned why there were so many branching storylines, but when it all came together, woven like a beautiful web, it made me appreciate the depth and detail in each and every character. Edmond, no doubt, was my favourite character, and I think it was not easy for me to accept him as a blanket representation of goodness. His vengeful decisions, justified as they were, were still quite questionable because of how deeply they impacted everyone's lives. Edmond was a man prepared to sacrifice anything to ensure he got his way, so I can't confuse him with being a pacifist or saint.

That being said, I'm extremely satisfied with how the revenge turned out, and I think Fernand, Villefort and Danglars have learnt a heavy lesson and paid a terrible price for their treachery. Two of them went mad, and another killed himself. The only thing I will mention about the ending is this: Edmond pairing with Haidee was a little odd in my opinion, considering how many times the former has referred to the latter as his daughter. However, I understand that this may make Edmond happy, and as someone who has learnt to forget love, him trying to embrace it again is a good thing and far more satisfying than him retreating with a numb feeling of loneliness. On that point about Haidee, I think I am also left wanting a little more because I expected Mercedes and Edmond to unite. That is perhaps the only sad thing about this ending. When Edmond was imprisoned and showed no sign of returning, Mercedes made the fatal decision of giving up on Edmond, killing her love for him and marrying Fernand to move on with life. So I think when Edmond was trying to give her another chance to make things the same as they were, it was impossible for her to do so. The emotion she felt for Edmond upon seeing him again was not born out of a desire to love him again, but it was the answering of pain and suffering that had resided within her for too long. It was relief for an old friend, and not a lover. But saying all that I wish the two of them were together.

Thing I picked up there with the characters - Caderousse and Danglars were definitely victims of greed and were ruined by their obsessions. Fernand, with all his pride and dignity, committed several dishonorable acts and thus was ruined by them, and Villefort, with all his devotion to justice, was himself an architect of injustice and lost his way as a result. I think it was also interesting how their participation in these vices not only affected themselves, but affected others around them as well. Literally none of them have a family by the end of the book, which is quite profound. I loved the wait and hope quote too, because it speaks volumes about how things could have gone wrong for Edmond in that prison. He could have submitted to despair and doomed himself to a miserable end, but with the help of Abbe Faria he learnt to believe in hope again.

Even though a lot of the prominent characters essentially know the Count's real identity by the end of the book, I think it's fair for me to say that Edmond is little but a name to him at this point.

I associate Edmond with the image I had of him before prison, of the young good-hearted, slightly naive sailor soon to be wed, who has never had any doubt or suspicion about others around him. Of course after being falsely imprisoned, a lot of these qualities change, and I perceive the Count as someone who doesn't trust so easily, has changed his mannerisms to adapt to a changing world, and goes to great lengths to ensure that everyone recognises him as the Count and not Edmond.

Even the ending has told us how he continues to act as the count, and people still call him as such, even though they might know his real identity. Like, that's the biggest giveaway—that everyone around him is still prepared to treat him as the Count, even Mercedes. Mercedes had that love for Edmond Dantes, but with the passing of time and many events, that love doesn't translate to the Count. I think that if Mercedes changed her mind and was ready to marry Edmond, then I would have said that Edmond prevailed in the end. But she doesn't, and the Count deciding to try a life with Haidee also shows that his old life is gone. For me, Mercedes was the one thing that would determine whether Edmond's identity would change since she was a big part of his life and was meant to be with him.