Very few stories can capture the complexity of vengeance, justice, and personal transformation, quite like The Count of Monte Cristo. In this week’s NEHS Museletter post, Paige Trudt explores how Alexandre Dumas’ classic tale goes beyond revenge to reveal a deeper, more universal theme: the journey of growing up. Through Edmond Dantès’ transformation, from an idealistic young man to a hardened prisoner and, finally, a wiser adult, Paige reflects on the ways hardship, anger, and forgiveness can shape who we become.
Redemption and The Count of Monte Cristo: A Tale of Growing Up
The greatest revenge story ever told: this is the legacy of The Count of Monte Cristo. Alexandre Dumas tells the tale of Edmond Dantès, a joyful and kind seafarer. After being framed for a crime he didn’t commit, he is thrown into prison in the Château d’If. That is where his story truly begins, where his bitterness builds, where his rage erupts. No longer gentle and warm, he grows angry and vengeful, plotting the downfall of those who wronged him. Corruption, injustice, revenge–these are the most common themes found in the book; however, a thread follows Dantès throughout his journey, subtle and underlying. I could not help but pick up on that small thread: the theme of growing up.
Dantès begins the story at the age of 19. His smile is bright, his shoulders unburdened, his words soft. Confidence radiates off him, but is often overcome by naivety. He believes the world cannot hurt him, would not want to hurt him, and he walks with all the invincibility of youth: “This young man, one might even say this child, plain, unaffected, eloquent with the heartfelt eloquence that is never found by those who seek it, full of affection for everyone, because he was happy . . . ” (Dumas 66). At the start, Dantès is akin to a child. The world is kind to him, he believes, so he is kind to the world. He wants for little, is satisfied with simplicity, and greets everyone with a warm smile and shining eyes. Dantès does not know the true strife of the world, nor does he know what cruelty really means, for he has never had to face the evil of which man is capable. His perfect, idealistic world comes crashing down on him when he is accused of being a Bonapartist, a follower of Napoleon, a wildly unpopular ideology after his exile. His trouble-free life ends abruptly when he is sentenced to prison indefinitely.
If a young Dantès’ naivety made him a child, then his experiences in prison turn him to a teenager. Throughout his numerous years spent locked away, his gentle demeanor slowly fades and “He doomed these unknown men to every torment that his inflamed imagination could devise, while still considering that the most frightful were too mild, and above all, too brief for them . . . ” (Dumas 133). Resentment and spite fester inside of his heart and the thought of revenge is the only hope he has left. Just as Dantès was trapped in a cell, a teenager is often trapped in their mind. They barely know what the word “struggle” even means when they are suddenly cast into a world full of it. It overwhelms them: the thoughts in their head grow too loud, too much, and they drown in their emotions. Dantès is met with the world’s brutality and his anger rushes over him like the tide, swift and inexorable. He wants to lash out, to make a difference, but he is kept silent and locked away by those who think they know better. But the years keep passing by, and when he breaks free from the chains that bind him, Dantès refuses to stay quiet.
Just like life so often is, The Count of Monte Cristo is complicated. It is vindictive, vengeful, and satisfying in the way gratification can be found in others’ misery. Dantès becomes wealthy and powerful, but above all, he becomes vicious. He exacts his revenge on those who wronged him, but he loses himself in the process. That kind young man has grown cruel, no different from his oppressors. But when Dantès gazes at himself in the mirror, he realizes what he has become. Revenge never satisfied him, never filled the aching hole in his chest, so he chooses forgiveness instead. He is at the final stage in his journey, an adult. Dantès has grown from his strife, the cruel lessons the world impressed upon him, and he comes out on the other side a changed man. He is kind once more, his newfound maturity allowing his emotions to guide him towards helping others, not destroying them.
The Count of Monte Cristo is a story of revenge, yes, but as Dantès found himself, I found that it was a book about growing up. The thread weaves through Dantès’ tale, from child to teenager to adult, from naivety to anger to kindness. He realizes the kind of person that he wants to be: he wants his legacy to be one of forgiveness, not hatred. He has lost that childlike innocence, sanded down the sharp edges spent in a cell, but he still carries aspects of these stages throughout his journey. An adult is an amalgamation of their life; Dantès considers all his experiences and, despite it all, chooses to forgive, chooses to learn, chooses to be good.
Paige Trudt is a Korean American senior at Belleville East High School in Belleville, IL. Having been enamored with both reading and writing at an early age, this passion has only grown over the years. Besides being buried in a book, though, Paige can often be found on the tennis courts playing for the high school team. With college applications coming up, free time has been delegated to drafting essays, though Paige still finds time for video games, hanging out with friends, and—of course—homework. Paige’s hope is to make it through senior year to attend college next fall as an English major.
National English Honor Society
The National English Honor Society (NEHS), founded and sponsored by Sigma Tau Delta, is the only international organization exclusively for secondary students and faculty who, in the field of English, merit special note for past and current accomplishments. Individual secondary schools are invited to petition for a local chapter, through which individuals may be inducted into Society membership. Immediate benefits of affiliation include academic recognition, scholarship and award eligibility, and opportunities for networking with others who share enthusiasm for, and accomplishment in, the language arts.
America’s first honor society was founded in 1776, but high school students didn’t have access to such organizations for another 150 years. Since then, high school honor societies have been developed in leadership, drama, journalism, French, Spanish, mathematics, the sciences, and in various other fields, but not in English. In 2005, National English Honor Society launched and has been growing steadily since, becoming one of the largest academic societies for secondary schools.
As Joyce Carol Oates writes, “This is the time for which we have been waiting.” Or perhaps it was Shakespeare: “Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer . . .” we celebrate English studies through NEHS.
National English Honor Society accepts submissions to our blog, NEHS Museletter, from all membership categories (students, Advisors, and alumni). If you are interested in submitting a blog, please read the Suggested Guidelines on our website. Email any questions and all submissions to: submit@nehsmuseletter.us.
