When was count of monte cristo written

It begins from just before the Hundred Days period and spans through to the reign of Louis-Philippe of France. The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book. It focuses on a man who is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes from jail, acquires a fortune and sets about getting revenge on those responsible for his imprisonment.

And yet you spend the next fourteen years in solitary confinement in the dungeon of a notorious island prison. And desire for revenge against those that tore up your life and threw you in that stinking place. In an act of desperation you manage a daring escape. Within weeks you possess a treasure that has few equals on this earth. You are now 33 years old. Alas, your father has died of starvation.

Your childhood sweetheart has married your arch-rival and they have a son. All the plotters who put you in your dungeon now ride high in French society.

And yet you are gloriously rich. What will you do next? No ordinary revenge will do. It has to be exquisitely engineered and served as cold as the grave. It is an extraordinary and rapid change, the Lord has smiled upon you, is it because you are an emissary of God?

What comes next is high adventure and delicious melodrama with lashings of s lifestyle porn. There are posh houses with fabulous decors. Dinners and balls. Fashion and opera. Hashish and a female serial poisoner. It is a mixture of excellent opium, which I fetched myself from Canton in order to have it pure, and the best hashish which grows in the East—that is, between the Tigris and the Euphrates.

These two ingredients are mixed in equal proportions, and formed into pills. Bandits and smugglers. Gun battles and duels. Affairs and romance.

Two cases of infanticide and three suicides. Honour and skulduggery. Fraud and live burial. Political intrigue and corruption. Drug-induced sexual fantasies and displays of classical learning. Lost ships and lesbian escapes. Jail breaks and the risen dead. Stock market manipulations and bank collapses. Mysterious talk of vampires, ghosts and bodies in the garden. This novel is the nineteenth century equivalent of Game of Thrones TV series , but with more focus and a better ending.

The writer of the novels that Game of Thrones is based on, George R. I take this to mean Martin adds material that takes up space, but does not further the plot.

Despite the huge cast of characters, twists and sub-plots, all the elements come together in the end. Have faith, dear reader. None of the plot is a red herring. And this despite the fact that Dumas was paid by the line and the story serialised over many months. It could have so easily been a woolly mess, instead of the long drawn out controlled explosion that it is.

For some readers this will be uncomfortable. The first is the staunchly loyal servant, Ali, who is mute so cannot speak for himself. Though capable, he is close to being a stock character and has a largely passive role. She also has a mostly passive role. She has an interesting back story and tremendous character potential if only Dumas had invested more in this aspect of his story. The end of the novel seems rushed. We had travelled pages with Dumas, we could have managed another 50 to develop the relationship between the Count and Haydee.

It is true there had been some heart breaking interactions between them. But Dumas did not spend enough time on their romantic relationship for their heading off together by sail boat to seem more than an afterthought.

Edmond Dantes begins the story as a naive young sailor with a simple education. He endures great hardship and injustice, before transforming himself and reappearing in the guise of the Count of Monte Cristo. As the Count he is on a mission of vengeance and has frightening superpowers to help him. No country can say it saw my birth.

God alone knows what country will see me die. I adopt all customs, speak all languages.. As with the Hulk, the Count of Monte Cristo is extremely destructive in his rage. A burning desire for revenge gives Dantes the strength to endure captivity, the will to escape, and a life purpose once he is free. But it kills the young Dantes in the process. Lost innocence cannot be reclaimed. And our habits become part of us, good or ill. Over the course of the novel the Count has a victory of sorts, but it has cost him everything worth living for.

He has a late realisation that his revenge has wreaked devastation on many people, some of them innocent. A new beginning is possible for the Count, but only by leaving vengeance to God, and risking the vulnerability of love. The Dumas style of writing uses four colours: black and white, red blood and purple prose. Greenspan - the Case For the Defence.

Henry VIII. Jack the Ripper. Johann Sebastian Bach. Jimi Hendrix. Samuel de Champlain. Muhammad Ali. Nicholas Ferrar. Nolan Ryan. Ray Charles Robinson. Jekyll and Mr. Coriolanus Character Profiles Top 10 Quotes. Cymbeline Character Profiles Top 10 Quotes. Hamlet Character Profiles Top 10 Quotes. Macbeth Character Profiles Top 10 Quotes. Othello Character Profiles Top 10 Quotes.

Youtube Twitter Facebook Pinterest. About Us Novelguide. Our Networks novelguide. Terms of Use Copyright Privacy.