On July 24, 1802, Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, more commonly known by his pen name Alaxander Dumas, was born in Villes-Cotter, France to a family with an interesting lineage. His grandfather, Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, was a French nobleman and his grandmother, Marie Cessete Dumas, was a Haitian slave. (Alexander Dumas Biography) The pair married despite racial customs of the time and had a son named Thomas-Alexandre. Thomas-Alexandre went on to join Napoleons army, his father disapproved and therefore he had to take his mother’s surname Dumas. Despite this, Thomas- Alexandre escalated quickly through the ranks becoming a top general and marrying Marie Louise Labouret shortly thereafter had his own son, Alaxander Dumas. However, four years after their son’s birth, Thomas-Alexandre passed away, leaving his family destitute due to the fact he fell out of grace with Napoleon in light of a disagreement shortly before his passing. Dumas’s mother did what she could to provide him with an education but often relied on the charity of others. Time soon proved that Dumas was not the brightest student, though he had impeccable handwriting, and so he dropped out and took up a job notary. He then took up a position as secretary for the Duke of Orléans who later became King Louis-Philippe. Inspired by theater and William Shakespeare, Dumas wrote a few plays during this time which gained him recognition by the French people before the Revolution of 1830 brought his work to a halt. Taking up support for Marquis de Lafayette, Dumas was exiled by the King. During his time in exile Dumas continued to write more books such as the Count of Monte Cristo. (The Folio Society)
Drawing inspiration from historical events of France from 1815-1836, Ale...
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...es he effectively demonstrates the evolution of the character of Dantes through the use of name changes as he transitions from one state to the next. With this motif, the reader is easily able to follow the slow degradation of Dantes as the goal of revenge begins to transform him into something no one expected such a noble man to become.
Another cleaver tactic Dumas employs to ensure he achieved a lasting impression on his audience was incorporate historical aspects that where considered “hot topics” at the time. As the literary critic Erik Spanberg said, “Dumas sheds a withering light on political machinations and intrigue during the time of Napoleon’s Hundred Days” (Spanberg). Drawing aspects and inspirations from his own life with anecdotes scattered throughout the story also added an interesting element that allowed him to further his goal and prove his point.
The house of Dante’s childhood was a place of freedom and discovery. With a vast garden, there was continual change, with a comfortable and pleasant environment. The next house his family lived in was built based on his fathers dreams, modern and superficial. It was filled with furniture and material that was hostile and restricting, especially for a child.
	Edmond Dantes imprisonment made a huge impact on his life. He spent 14 years in the dark and quiet Chateau d’If. During those 14 years he met a priest, Abbe Faria, which they met each other through a secret tunnel in which they both have created while in prison. An amazing transformation takes place in Edmond Dantes as he learns about his enemies and a large hidden treasure that contains a large sum of money. Abbe Faria is a very smart man, while in prison he taught Dantes many useful knowledge including the whereabouts of a large treasure located on the Isle of Monte Cristo.
Georges Lefebvre, Napoleon From 18 Brumaire to Tilsit, 1799-1807, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1969). Martyn Lyons, Napoleon Bonaparte and the Legacy of the French Revolution, (London: The MacMillan Press, 1994), pp. 26.
...virtuous image, Dante is able to display his newfound self-mastery in moving beyond the company of pagan poets, and seeking confirmation of his autonomy as a Christian poet.
Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769, to a well-off Corsican family . Legend says that, in a rush to enter the world and fulfill his destiny, Napoleon was delivered abruptly in the Bonaparte household on a threadbare rug that depicted heroic scenes from The Iliad. This story has been dismissed, explaining that the Bonapartes were not wealthy enough to have luxuries such as rugs in their home, and even so, any rugs would have been put away during a hot summer in Corsica . Nonetheless, the legend illustrates that, from birth, Napoleon possessed the drive and ener...
Dante is changed in his ideas of faith and salvation through hardships, and lessons from the guides in the different stages of the afterlife. Dante understands the way of redemption and that he must have faith in the lord if he wants to end up in the paradise of heaven. The experience he went through helped him change for the better and be placed back on the true path, the path of
Understanding the poem goes beyond the fiery depth of hell and into the real world of Dante and the surroundings that influenced his writing and creativity. The involvement of Dante allegro in ancient political factions, in his own city state, led to his exile and consequently his demise. His mortality will forever felt from his work as readers will constantly warn of the rot in the political and church corruption.
Rudd, Jay. Critical Companion to Dante: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York. 2008. Print.
It is believed by many that it is human nature to deem themselves to be a tantamount to God. Such is the case when one decides to take revenge against those who wrong him. Though vengeance seems like the perfect way to achieve justice, a sense of equity, in actuality it is merely an unsatisfactory hypocritical action. This is the definitive realization of the protagonist, Edmond Dantès in Alexandre Dumas’ “The Count of Monte Cristo”. The protagonist comes to understand that after a lifetime of searching for justice, he really only yearns justice from himself. Akin to many of Alexandre Dumas’ other masterpieces, “The Count of Monte Cristo” is a dramatic tale of mystery and intrigue that paints a dazzling, dueling, exuberant vision of the Napoleonic era in France. In this thrilling adventure, Edmond Dantès is toiling with the endeavor of attaining ultimate revenge, after being punished by his enemies and thrown into a secret dungeon in the Chateau d’If. He reluctantly learns that his long intolerable years in captivity, miraculous escape and carefully wrought revenge are all merely vital parts in his journey of awakening to the notion that there is no such thing as happiness or unhappiness, there is merely the comparison between the two. Ultimately, the irony that Dumas is presenting through this novel suggests that the inability to attain happiness through the hypocrisy that is revenge is because one is really avenging their own self. This becomes evident through his dramatic transformations from a naïve, young sailor, to a cold, cynical mastermind of vengeance, and finally to a remorseful, humble man who is simply content.
In conclusion, we can see that Dante presents the reader with a potentially life-altering chance to participate in his journey through Hell. Not only are we allowed to follow Dante's own soul-searching journey, we ourselves are pressed to examine the state of our own souls in relation to the souls in Inferno. It is not just a story to entertain us; it is a display of human decision and the perpetual impact of those decisions.
For centuries, authors have been writing stories about man's journey of self-discovery. Spanning almost three-thousand years, the Epic of Gilgamesh, Homer's Odyssey, and Dante's Inferno are three stories where a journey of self-discovery is central to the plot. The main characters, Gilgamesh, Telemachus, and Dante, respectively, find themselves making a journey that ultimately changes them for the better. The journeys may not be exactly the same, but they do share a common chain of events. Character deficiencies and external events force these three characters to embark on a journey that may be physical, metaphorical, or both. As their journeys progress, each man is forced to overcome certain obstacles and hardships. At the end of the journey, each man has been changed, both mentally and spiritually. These timeless tales relate a message that readers throughout the ages can understand and relate to.
While getting inspiration for Monte Cristo, he heard a story about a man, which inspired the plot for his novel. Picaud, the man whom inspired the story, gained vengeance in a much more gruesome way than Dantes does. Picaud takes vengeance whereas Dantes is avenged. Justice is achieved because good is stronger than evil, not because of the Count’s power (Stowe 125). Perhaps this is Dumas’s opinion on vengeance. If it is well earned, then it will fall into the man’s hands rightfully (Maurois). Dumas’s inspiration for the novel also came from his personal life. His father was heavily mistreated, and as he watched helplessly for his whole childhood, it became important to him to avenge his father. Although people in his own life may not have wronged him as they did his father, he believes in revenge, and sought revenge through his literature (Maurois). Through the character of Edmond Dantes, Dumas portrayed his own desire to justify his father’s oppressors. In Maurois’s article, he speaks about this, saying, “He must have been sorely tempted to find compensation in fiction for the iniquities of the real world.” Perhaps he was afraid to vocalize his opinion publicly, so he decided on a more subtle route, which was to create a story that everyone could identify with. Writing Monte Cristo must have been closure for Dumas at the expense of his father. He sought vengeance in the form of literature
Movement is a crucial theme of the Divine Comedy. From the outset, we are confronted with the physicality of the lost Dante, wandering in the perilous dark wood. His movement within the strange place is confused and faltering; `Io non so ben ridir com'io v'entrai'. Moreover, it is clear that the physical distress he is experiencing is the visible manifestation of the mental anguish the poet is suffering. The allegory of the image is one of mid-life crisis, but it is physically represented by the man losing his way in a dark wood. Such an observation may seem far too simple and obvious to be worthy of comment. However, I would argue that it is from this primary example of the deep connection between the physical and the mental, that one can begin to categorise and explain the varying types of movement in the work. The first section of this essay will be a close analysis of several important moments of physical activity or the absence of such. The final section will be an overview of the whole and a discussion of the general structure of the Comedy, how movement is governed and the implications of this.
"The Count of Monte Cristo" is a book which contains few characters but many identities. Edmond Dantes if not the main character, than one of the main characters kind of has a reality dysfunctional problem. In the book, Edmond Dantes creates various identities to fulfill his missions(fantasies). One of the few characters that Edmond Dantes transformed into was Sinbad the Sailor.
As this play brought the new consciousness of life and death, its characters behave according to the changing scenario of the play. All the characters i.e. Vitoria became the 'white devil' because she is the mixture of beauty and corruption, similarly other characters (Brachiano, Flamenio, Camillo, Isabella, Zanche, Lodovico, Gasparo, and Monticelso) also presented the dark attributes. Though their actions of corruptions, hypocrisy, revenge, their conspiracies of murdering each other, only for the sake of their own pleasure. According to psychoanalysis all the characters of this play represents the Id. The characters altogether made up of the fiercest and the basest passions which arose terror and pity, revolt and disgust, and the bare deformity of