A Separate Peace And The Count Of Monte Cristo

Annie Dorsey

Mrs. Voigt

English 1H- 4

16 October 2014

Honorbound

The Truth Behind Revenge

“While seeking revenge, dig two graves- one for yourself.” – Douglas Horton Betrayal, revenge and regret are common themes in literature because it is an experience shared by many individuals. Specifically these themes are found in the novels A Separate Peace and The Count of Monte Cristo. A Separate Peace, tells the story of Gene and Finny, best friends at The Devon School in the summer of 1942. Through establishing the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session, they become best friends. Another example of this theme is found in The Count of Monte Cristo. Edmond Dantès, a character from The Count of Monte Cristo, is the first mate of the

Pharaon and is about to be promoted to captain. He is engaged to Mercédès, a beautiful young Catalan woman. It seems that Edmond has everything he desires. Both in John Knowles’ A Separate Peace and Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo, the characters endure a time of betrayal, revenge, and regret.
Gene and Edmond experience betrayal and react to it in ways they regret. Although Gene’s betrayal is perceived and Dantès’ is genuine, they both experience similar emotions. When Gene begins to think Finny is trying to take his position as top of the class, a thought begins to grow in Gene’s mind: “Finny had deliberately set out to wreck [his] studies,” as well as be better than him at sports (Knowles 53). Academics are extremely important to Gene, and, by pulling him away from his studies, Gene feels that Finny is trying to get ahead of him and become better than him. He feels personally hurt and he begins to stay away from Finny. Gene “tighten[s] the discipline on [himself]” (Knowles 55). He immerses himself in his studies in order to reach his ultimate goal of being the valedictorian of his class. Finny discourages this because he wants to spend time with him, but Gene believes Finny has ulterior motives: to become better than him. Like Gene, Edmond also believes Fernand to have ulterior motives. When Edmond is put in prison, he spends the first night “nailed to the spot where he stood the night before; he was motionless with his eyes fixed on the ground,” (Dumas 58). While he is in prison, he spends all his time thinking about how he had been arrested. He becomes bitter and he craves revenge almost as much as he craves freedom. When they hold all of this anger and frustration inside, it builds up and eventually erupts.
Once Gene and Edmond realize they feel angry, they take action.

They make a sporadic, rash decision: Gene causes Finny to fall off the tree and Dantès threatens to kill Fernand’s son. Up in a tree, in a blind rage, Gene “took a step toward [Finny], and then [his] knees bent and [he] jounced the limb. Finny, his balance gone, swung his head around to look at [him] for an instant with extreme interest, and then tumbled sideways, broke through the little branches below and hit the bank with a sickening, unnatural thud.” Gene does not really know what happens. He acts so quickly and without thinking of the repercussions of his actions. Edmond also comes close to doing something he would regret. Throughout the fourteen years he is in prison, “[Dantès] renewed the vow of vengeance [he] had taken the first day,” (Dumas 471). Dantès plans to fulfill this promise, but his plans change. He swears this revenge on Fernand because he married Dantès’ fiancée and refused to help Dantès’ father pay for his food, so his father died of hunger. Fernand acts quickly and without thinking of the repercussions and he forever destroys Dantès family. Dantès almost makes the same mistake. After they look back on what they did, Gene and Edmond realize that the action they took to try to get revenge was

wrong.
When Gene and Dantès realize how they have hurt Finny and Fernand, they regret their actions and feel remorseful.

Gene tries to find a way to make amends, “‘I’m sorry,’ [he] said blindly, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’” (Knowles 185). He feels awful about the accident and he tries to make it up to Finny. Gene does all that he can do at this point: he apologizes. He cannot rewrite history or fix Phineas’ leg, so he apologizes does a small act with great courage. In The Count of Monte Cristo, after Mercédès talks to Dantès, he begins to rethink his plan, and decides not to carry through with his plans. “Mercédès said these words with such infinite sadness and in such tones of despair that they wrung a sob from the Count’s throat. The lion was tamed, the avenger was overcome! ‘What do you ask of me?’ he said. ‘Your son’s life? Well then, he shall live!’” (Dumas 472). Dantès lets him live only because his mother, whom he once loved persuaded him to do so. She saves her son’s life by begging for mercy. Mercédès is a great mother who is not afraid to humble herself in front of others for those she cares about, because of this, Edmond lets her son

live.
A Separate Peace by John Knowles and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas have similar themes: revenge and regret. Gene and Edmond both go through times of being hurt, hurting others, and regretting their actions. Although Gene and Edmond hurt differently, they both experience some of the same struggles. When they realize they feel this way, they lash out in anger. Gene hurts Phineas both physically and emotionally. If Edmond had gone through with his plans, he would have caused grief to the entire family. Gene apologizes to Finny, because that is basically all he can do. Mercédès persuades Edmond not to continue his original plans. Regardless if it is justified, seeking revenge will always bring regret.