The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas thus far has been an exciting read. Edmond Dantès has escaped the prison after being held there for 14 years. While Dantès re-enters society under the disguise of the wealthy Count of Monte Cristo, he is able to interact with those he had known before his imprisonment. While the reader understands who the Count wishes to get revenge on, it is also important to note that the character’s political association is used to indicate their personality and their stance with the Count.
The Count of Monte Cristo is a novel that has deep historical roots and is set in unstable France where Napoleon Bonaparte is struggling to regain power after the French monarchy was restored. Those who support the monarchy are currently in power while the Bonapartists are seen as a threat, with a mere connection to one leading you to social exile and even arrest. Any act that could be perceived to be against the King was deemed to be of the upmost threat that required severe punishment. Dantès himself was arrested and meant to be imprisoned for life for delivering a letter that (unbeknownst to him) held a Bonapartist agenda.
Throughout the course of the novel the characters political opinions (whether they are affiliated with the Bonapartists or the monarchy) will inherently label them as good or bad. Characters such as benevolent shipping company owner Monsieur Morrel and Monsieur Noirtier are portrayed as Bonapartists meant to be sympathized with. Dumas paints Morrel as a father figure to Dantès. A fair, generous man whose trustworthiness and honesty leads to his struggle. Meanwhile, Noirtier is depicted as a brilliant politician who was horrendously murdered by his monarch-worshipping son Monsieur Villefort to advance his own career. Both of these men are never put in a bad light by Dumas and consequently, never shunned by Dantès. In fact, Dantès uses his wealth a position as Count of Monte Cristo to help these men and their families while he himself begins to advocate the ideas of the Bonapartists such as the rights of the individual. In contrast, the villainous characters who Dantès plots his revenge against that Dumas writes as unsympathetic, are closely tied to oppressive monarchy or capitalist ventures. Characters such as Villefort and Morcerf work for the monarchy either as legal officials or through the military. Both are known to be responsible for multiple deaths and schemes within the corrupt aristocratic society and are not to be trusted. In fact, they are the ones who are responsible for Dantès’ unjust arrest.
By portraying these characters as such, The Count of Monte Cristo can be read as a piece of political satire. Dumas is critiquing the monarchy and attempting to expose the corruption that lies within it. Dumas is championing for the Bonapartists by posing those characters that share those ideals as heroes and people with admirable morals. With this book being published in 1844, the monarchy in France was still present and oppressive to many of its citizens. With Dumas’ father being one of the generals Napoleon greatly admired in French Revolution, the author has close ties with Bonapartist movements. Dumas cleverly injects his political stance into his writing and through his character portrayal is able to move the reader to not only to be sympathetic with characters such as Edmond Dantès or Monsieur Morrel, but also to the Bonapartist movement itself.
Freedom of the Jess 