Edmond Dantés: Guilty Or Harmful Defense?

Vengeful Defense
Members of the jury, may I have your ears? Thank you for listening to and respecting my arguments. As you know, I am the defense attorney representing Edmond Dantés, who has been charged with murder. Before you deliver the final verdict, let me remind you why Edmond Dantés is irreproachable in this court and why the prosecution is accusing unjustly.
To begin, the prosecution focuses on the fact that Edmond Dantés escaped from jail, supplied poisons, and somehow caused the deaths of a few people. The prosecution, in this case, is wrong. Monsieur Dantés did escape from the Chateau d’If, the prison he was in for fourteen years. Yet, he was wrongly imprisoned by those he later got vengeance on. For Monsieur Dantés, being thrown
in jail, then escaping after more than a decade, changed him into a more rugged person. Creating four, new, different personalities certainly justifies the fact that Monsieur Dantés pleads insanity. In light of this, Monsieur Dantés saved many lives and a business during his revenge plots. I call them revenge plots because, again, my client wasn’t in his right mind while acting. The jury will soon come to a conclusion about Edmond Dantés, and it will be that he is innocent.
Unfortunately, Monsieur Dantés was unlawfully imprisoned by his rivals: General Fernand Mondego, Count of Morcerf; Baron Danglars; Monsieur Caderousse; and Monsieur Gérard de Villefort.
They created a plot to throw him in jail and off his high horse of good luck. Dantés was about to get married to his true love, Mercédės, and become captain of the Pharaon, the Morrel ship he worked on. When Baron Danglars begins to whip up his plot to throw my client in jail, he thinks to himself, “By God! That letter gives me an idea, an excellent idea! Ah, Dantés, my friend, you’re not yet entered in the Pharaon’s log as number one!” (Dumas 17). He was beginning to think of how to get rid of Monsieur Dantés. Sadly, the first thing that came to mind was to use the letter from Napoleon that Dantés was to deliver. Supposedly, Dantés was a Bonapartist. Members of the jury, although this has nothing to do with my arguments, we know that Monsieur Dantés is not a Bonapartist. The goal was to turn the letter against Dantés, his career, and his future. Monsieur Dantés doesn't know why he was thrown in jail. Later, Dantés calls out to Mercédės and his guests, saying, “Don't worry; the mistake will soon be cleared up, probably even before I reach the prison” (Dumas 20). As you can see, Monsieur Dantés believes himself to be innocent. Even though the prosecution will tell the jury that my client escaped out of prison, he did so to save himself and his good name. When Monsieur Morrel answers the door
to the soldiers, he questions them to if there has been a mistake. While Monsieur Dantés was being arrested, you can tell that no one in the room understood why poor, innocent Dantés would be arrested. He deserves to be free because he was jailed illegally.
During his trial, Monsieur Dantés pleaded insanity for his four personalities and coincidental murders.
When he revealed his true persona to General Fernand Mondego, “The general stared at the terrible apparition in silence. Then, leaning against the wall, he slowly slid along it to the door and backed out of the room, uttering only this piercing terror-stricken cry: ‘Edmond Dantés!’” (Dumas 394). Fernand’s emotions show that he never knew that Dantés was really the Count of Monte Cristo. This may show that even Monsieur Dantés didn't know that he was acting as the Count of Monte Cristo. At one point, when Dantés speaks to Mercédės, she says to him, “the fact that you're still alive and that I've seen you again proves there's a God above us” (Dumas 378). Therefore, Mercédės believes that Dantés was never the Count of Monte Cristo, but was always Dantés. This must prove to the jury that even those closest to him believe that he never changed. However, he had changed in prison, when no one was there to understand. This means that only he could recognize what changes he was going through, and, unfortunately, he did not. Monsieur Dantés may have caused some deaths during his revenge plots. Before I explain, I will remind the jury that he was insane, and he never killed someone with his own two hands. General Fernand Mondego, Count of Morcerf, committed suicide. We assume he did this because Haydée told us that Fernand was tasked with protecting the Pasha of Yanina, her father,
from the Turks. However, Fernand sold him out. When Fernand Mondego learned that his secret was known across Europe and his name muddied, he decided he had nothing else to live for. Monsieur Caderousse also was killed due to Dantés’ actions. Caderousse attempted to rob Dantés’ house. Benedetto waited outside. Dantés soon caught Caderousse, and Caderousse ran outside. Benedetto killed Caderousse once he left Dantés’ home, most likely trying to take whatever Caderousse stole. Although these men may have gotten caught up in Monsieur Dantés’ revenge plots, I remind the jury that Dantés saved many more lives than he took.
My client, Monsieur Dantés, saved many lives and a business. He saved Valentine de Villefort, Maximilian Morrel, Albert Mondego, Monsieur Pierre Morrel, and the Morrel business. Monsieur Dantés saved them because they are all people and companies that he appreciated. My client saved Valentine by supplying poison. Now, valuable members of the jury, the prosecution will tell you that this is a bad thing. Although poison can be dangerous, supplying the de Villefort family with poison saved Valentine's life. Her grandfather, Nortier de Villefort, gave her this poison in hopes that it would cause an immunity, and it did. She lived on and saved Maximilian's life. He would have committed suicide, but Monsieur Dantés stopped him by giving Maximilian his Valentine back. Thus, they could elope and be happy together once more. Dantés saved Albert Mondego twice. Once, when he was a baby, while he was with his mother. The other time was when Albert was captured by Luigi Vampa. He prevailed because Dantés bailed him out with his acquired riches. Monsieur Dantés also stopped Monsieur M. Pierre Morrel, owner of the Morrel business, from committing suicide. My client did this by funding the Morrel company. Without Monsieur Dantés, so many more lives would've been taken. Thanks to him, they have lived on in peace and health.
As you leave the courtroom and come to a decision about Monsieur Dantés’ case, we ask for you to be reasonable. We are sorry that some people may have died during Monsieur Dantés’ plots, but this is not his fault. He had gone insane after fourteen years of being wrongly imprisoned. We are grateful that, in his years after, he saved many lives and a whole business. We know that this does not make up for the lives he took. We hope that the jury agrees with us when we say that Edmond Dantés was wrongly imprisoned, was unhealthy, yet helped many people. His plots were justified, and he has become a better person. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Edmond Dantés is an innocent man.