The Mad Twins

Garret M. Gwozdz
Ms. Vertiz
English I-H./4
28 March 2013
The Mad Twins The Count of Monte Cristo, written by Alexandre dumas in 1845, has fascinated and intrigued readers for centuries, with its numerous gothic elements and motifs. It was written in France during the time after Napoleon was dethroned in 1844. Alexandre Dumas took a tour of Southern France in 1834 and much of the information that he gained on the tour was used to write this novel including the City of Marseille. The novel, with its complex and diverse range of characters and their relations, is littered with gothic references, motifs, and symbols. Three particular motifs that Dumas repeatedly used throughout the plot are the Faust, and doppelgangers to show that Dantés
He and his many doppelgangers are the main source of confusion for most readers. At some point in the plot he is called by the name of: Edmond Dantés, The Count of Monte Cristo, Sinbad the Sailor, Abbé Busoni, and Lord Wilmore. The reader can interpret these many attempts of Edmond changing his identity as a way of hiding his true self because of the shamefulness he feels about his past life of being such a naïve, dim-witted, sailor. R. Brustein writes “Dantés truly doesn’t like who he is and was and so adopts pseudonyms several times.” (Brustein 14). His disguises were beyond doubt a work of genius and only one person, Mercedes, can distinguish between him and his disguises. He hides himself and his actual feelings so well that in one moment he can hate one person and the next he can conspire with him. Renée Winegarten states that, “The Count of Monte Cristo . . . was a master of impenetrable disguise.” (Winegarten 22). Edmond uses his aliases as another way to manipulate people, by entering into their lives as an innocent neighbor, or to be accepted by society and enter the high-class Parisian culture. He lets them trust him and then reveals his true identity and betrays them. His need for his victims to know that it is Edmond Dantés who did all these things to them is a real mark of how mad he really is, and it also shows that beneath a cloak of invincibility is actually just an insane psychopath. The
This quote also shows that Faria has good character and knows right from wrong even though those lines are blurred. Faria even sacrifices himself so that Edmond can escape. Faria tells Edmond “‘Hush! Hush!’ murmured the dying man, ‘that they may not separate us if you save me!’” (Dumas 225). This quote shows that the Abbé knows what freedom costs and is willing to pay it for Edmond. The reader can acknowledge this as a major turning point in the novel as this story changes from a novel of captivity to one of adventure and