Luke Vosti

Period 4
Socratic Seminar

2. Which characters best exemplify the idea of true love?

The characters that best showed true love in the book was the mother-son relationship
between Mercedes and Albert. Before I leave you Mercedes, tell me what you want. I
only want one thing: my sons happiness (Dumas 495). After Mercedes has lost and
suffered so much, she still only wants happiness for her son. No longer does she want
happiness for herself, but is only thinking of Albert. The relationship between a mother
and her son cannot be broken, and especially this one. Mercedes would give anything
up to be with her son, and would not give her son up for anything.
3. Was the Count justified in his acts of revenge? Why or why not?
The Count was justified for his acts of revenge. He was wronged in the prime of his life
and everything was taken from him. The men who did this grew prosperous and gained
great titles, so it is just that they be taken down the same way he was. Im the man you
betrayed and dishonored, the man whose fiancee you prostituted, the man on whom yo
trod on the way to fortune, the man whose father yo cause to die of hunger, the man you
condemned to die of hunger (Dumas 522). The justification for his actions are that they
took everything from him, and when he was able he took revenge and took their lives
from them, in one way or another.
4. Who is the cruelest character in the novel? Support your answer and explain.
The Count is by far the cruelest character in the novel. The definition of cruel is willfully
causing pain or suffering to others, or feeling no concern about it. The count
willingly manipulates and destroys the lives of his enemies. Whether his
actions were justified or not, he was cruel to people in his acts of vengeance.
The Count had carefully been watching Caderousses death agony and he
saw that the end was now drawing near. He leaned over the dying man and
whispered in his ear, I am ------ And his lips uttered a name so softly that he
himself seemed to be afraid to hear it (Dumas 343). Even after he had
received his sought out vengeance he needed the creepy satisfaction of
Caderousse knowing that it was him and it is what he wanted. The book
makes it sound like he enjoyed watching him die which is definitely cruel.
5. What is, in your opinion, the most prominent theme of the novel?
Explain.

Money is the most prominent theme in the novel. Without money most parts of the novel
would not have been able to take place without money. For example, Then after my

captivity, solitude and misery, came freedom and a fortune so extraordinarily immense
that I would have had to be blind not to see that God had sent it to me as part of some
great design (Dumas 495). Because the Count was given his great fortune he believed
that his new purpose was to take revenge on his enemies. Without this fortune he would
not have been able to have all of his aliases and not be able to reach and infiltrate the
lives of those he wished to destroy. Another reason is that even after the characters
found love and married they still sought out money and would often put money over
anything else and could cause some of the conflicts in the book such as Caderousses
death who only wanted more money.

7. What does Edmond Dantes learn at the end of CMC?

He learns that he was not equal to God. He did not have the right to manipulate peoples
lives and could not control everything that he experienced. This is shown in his letter to
Maximilian, ... believed himself for an instant to be equal to God, but who realized in all
humility that supreme power and wisdom are in the hands of God alone (Dumas 530).
This quote shows that he understands that God has all the power and wisdom, and he
was not an equal, but was always under the control of God.
8. Does the Count succeed in taking his revenge? Is he happy at the end of the
novel?
The count does end up gaining his revenge on his enemies. In the novel it says, Your
life will be spared. Your two accomplices werent so lucky: one of them is insane and the
other is dead (Dumas 522). He got his revenge and even though he spared Danglars,
he had the option to do whatever he wanted and held all the power. The novel ended
very happy along with Haydee and Edmond and Valentine and Maximilian being
together. One word from you Haydee, has enlightened me more than twenty years of
my slow wisdom (Dumas 529). The word enlightened in this tells everything. He is
happy to be with Haydee and thats all that matters.
10. Who are the happiest characters at the end of this novel? Why are they happy?
The happiest characters at the end of this novel have to be the two couples, Dantes and
Haydee, and Maximilien and Valentine. They are happy because they have each other
and that is all that matters to them. You're all I have left in the world; through you I
attach myself to life again through you I can be happy (Dumas 529). Haydee is the
reason that Dantes can be happy. Valentine took the counts hand and, in a surge of
irresistible joy, pressed it to her lips (Dumas 528). After the Cont reunited Valentine and
Maximilien she was happy and overjoyed. They became truly happy with the loves of
their lives.

12. What does that statement mean in the context of the story and in real life and
how does it reverberate throughout the novel?
Dantes, in a letter to Maximilian says, there is neither happiness nor misery in the world;
there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more (Dumas 531). In
context of the story he was feeling the misery of the loss of Valentine and no longer
wanted to live, but his misery was only a comparison from how he has felt earlier in life.
Hence, there is only the comparison of one state with another. In real life it could be
saying that there cannot be happiness without misery. You dont know how great one is
unless you have felt the other. The feelings are based off of comparison to each other.
This shows in the novel through Dantes and Maximilien. Dantes reaches true despair
and wants to kill himself in the dungeon, without that feeling and experience he would
not know the capacity of the joy he felt when he was with Haydee. Maximilien in the
same scenario felt complete despair after losing Valentine and wanted to kill himself, and
like Dantes he could not know true happiness without his prior misery.
14. If you could have dinner with one of the characters, who would it be and why?
Personally, I think it would be amazing to have dinner with Valentine. Her and Maximilien
have an enormous fortune so I would be eating the best food. Also, at one point in the
book Maximilien described her as a goddess, so it would be very enjoyable to have
dinner with someone of her beauty. Rich and gorgeous are the main factors in this
decision. And maybe when were having dinner Ill find out she has a great personality
along with her looks and money.