Examples Of Greed In The Count Of Monte Cristo

The Inhumanity of Greed
Greed has influenced human behavior for thousands of years. It is perfectly natural to covet objects or to pine for a promotion. Almost everyone wishes they were wealthier or owned a nicer house. Society has learned to accept these forms of greed because they are a common thread throughout civilization. But, on occasion, greed can transform and twist people into inhumane monsters. In The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas depicts this transformation taking place in the character of Danglars. The story begins with young, highly-ambitious Danglars as a ship’s accountant. He complains to the ship’s owner about Dantes, the first-mate, in an attempt to advance himself. Danglars also writes a letter that accuses Dantes of being a

Bonapartist, which sends Dantes to prison. Years later, after Dantes transforms into the Count of Monte Cristo, Danglars is in a loveless marriage and is arranging a marriage for his begrudging daughter. At the end of the novel, while being held prisoner under the orders of the Count of Monte Cristo, Danglars clings desperately to his money. Finally, he relinquishes his fortune in order to live. Dumas creates different stages of Danglars’ character to show the progression of greed. In The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas uses the character of Danglars to show that being overcome by greed leads to alienation from society, which ultimately results in a loss of humanity.
Dumas establishes that people are often blinded by their own greed. In particular, Danglars is desperate to climb the ranks of his career, social status, and wealth and doing so becomes his sole focus in life.

For example, Dumas introduces Danglars as a man whose only objective is being promoted. Danglars is described as “a man of twenty-five or twenty-six with a rather melancholy face, obsequious to his superiors and arrogant to his subordinates. He was as much disliked by the crew as Edmond Dantes was liked by them” (Dumas 3). Clearly, Danglars is so caught up in his quest for power that he relishes it and lords over people beneath him. This is depicted by Dumas when he says that Danglars was “arrogant to his subordinates.” Arrogance implies that Danglars considers himself superior and is proud of his position. When the passage says “obsequious to his superiors,” it exhibits how Danglars is always striving to improve his position by flattering those higher-ranked than himself. However, when Dumas writes that he was “disliked by the crew,” it exemplifies that Danglars is blinded by greed. He is so obsessed with obtaining more power that he disregards anything, including the feelings of others, that is not directly related to his greed. An additional example is after Danglars tries to make the shipowner dislike Dantes and Dumas writes, “Let us leave Danglars, possessed by the demon of hatred and

trying to breathe some evil insinuation against [Dantes] into the shipowner’s ear” (Dumas 7). Danglars is “possessed by the demon of hatred” because he fears that Dantes is going to be promoted to captain over himself. Because Danglars is so focused on obtaining power, he will do anything to prevent others from gaining it, as evidenced when he tries to “breathe some evil insinuation” against Dantes. He is blind to the fact that Dantes is well-qualified, a good man, and liked by the entire crew because he is power-hungry. Another instance is when Danglars begins to plan Dantes’ downfall and says, ‘“I’m afraid Dantes’ good luck is going to hold out. He’ll marry the girl, become captain of the Pharaon and have the laugh on all of us, unless’ --a smile passed over his lips--‘unless I take a hand in things’” (Dumas 16). Danglars cannot be happy for the success of others because he is blinded by greed. Instead of supporting Dantes, he plots to send him to jail. The word choice by Danglars when he says that Dantes will “‘have the laugh on all of us” demonstrates that Danglars fears that he will be inferior to Dantes. In order to protect his power, Danglars works to ruin Dantes’ life. His greediness blinds him to the fact that he should support Dantes’ success in his career and his relationship. Dumas depicts that when people are obsessed with gaining more power, they completely disregard the happiness of others to focus on themselves.
Dumas illustrates that being overcome by greed leads to alienation from society. More specifically, Danglars, due to his overpowering ambition and greed, prioritizes himself above all else and is willing to sacrifice relationships and socialization to advance. For example, to gain political power, Danglars ignores the fact that his wife is cheating on him: “Danglars shrugged his shoulders… ‘Not one of your actions has escaped me for the past sixteen years while you were applauding your own skill and remaining firmly convinced that you were deceiving me. The result of my pretended ignorance is that there hasn’t been one of you lovers, from Monsieur de Villefort down to Monsieur Debray, who hasn’t trembled before me. I allow you to make me hateful, but I will prevent you from making me ridiculous; and above all I forbid you to ruin my fortune’” (Dumas 273). When Danglars states, “I allow you to make you hateful, but… above all I forbid you to ruin my fortune,” his priorities are clear. Instead of being concerned with his cheating wife, his sole concern is his money. In addition, he permits Madame Danglars to keep cheating because the men she cheats with are often powerful. Because of this, they “trembled” before him, implying Danglars takes advantage of the fact they fear him to exert his superiority. Even the way Dumas describes Danglars’ demeanor depicts indifference. Most notably, he writes that Danglars “shrugged his shoulders,” which exudes an obvious apathetic message. Because Danglars is so devoted to obtaining more power, he allows relationships, even with his wife, to crumble. Most people would be outraged or at least upset if their spouse cheated, but Danglars’ plain lack of caring illustrates he no longer cares for anyone but himself. This directly shows how Danglars alienates himself due to his greed. In addition to ignoring his wife’s cheating, Danglars focuses on his money rather than his relationship with his daughter after she runs away: “‘Such sorrows would be unbearable for a man whose daughter was his only fortune,’ said Monte Cristo, ‘but they ought to be quite bearable for a millionaire. No matter what the philosophers say, money is always a great consolation; and you, the king of the world of finance, ought to have greater consolation than anyone else…’ ‘Yes,’ [Danglars] said, ‘if fortune is a consolation I ought to be consoled: I’m rich’” (Dumas 438). Danglars, instead of searching for his daughter or even expressing his emotions, simply agrees with the statement that fortunes are a consolation for tragedy, which demonstrates again that money is his priority. A final example is when Danglars abandons his wife because he is going bankrupt and writes, “When you read this letter you will no longer have a husband… I was asked for a payment of five million francs this morning and I made it, but it was followed almost immediately by another request for the same sum, which I postponed until tomorrow. I am leaving today in order to avoid that tomorrow which would be unbearably disagreeable to me… I leave you, my dear and very prudent wife, without having the slightest scruple about abandoning you… now that you have brought our family to utter ruin, I refuse to serve as the foundation of someone else’s fortune” (Dumas 454). Danglars exhibits his priorities when he says “I am leaving today in order to avoid that tomorrow which would be unbearably disagreeable to me.” He does not even say goodbye to his wife in person because he is completely focused on escaping with his remaining money. In addition, Danglars has no qualms about leaving, evident when he says, “I leave you… without having the slightest scruple about abandoning you.” He explicitly states he has no remorse, meaning he alienates himself from his wife for money. Because of his greed, Danglars leaves his wife to avoid bankruptcy, depicting alienation due to greed. Because he is blinded by greed, Danglars alienates himself from his family and severs relationships to obtain wealth and power.
Dumas asserts that greed ultimately distorts morals and results in a numbness to what is truly important in life. More precisely, Danglars considers money and power more important than absolutely anything, even his own life. For example, Danglars asks to be killed if his wealth is taken: “Danglars felt his heart contract convulsively. ‘That’s all I have in the world,’ he said, ‘and it’s the remainder of an immense fortune. If you take it away from me, take my life away from me also’” (Dumas 519). Danglars is so greedy that he cannot imagine life without his money; his fortune is his entire world. Part of humanity is valuing human life, which Danglars clearly has no regard for. This is evident when he says, “‘If you take [my fortune] away from me, take my life away from me also.’” He has no value on life without money. His reaction to the idea of losing his fortune also contrasts with his reactions to losing his daughter and leaving his wife. He “felt his heart contract convulsively,” which shows shock and horror. This differs sharply from his nonchalant attitudes about losing his family. These distorted values (money over family and life) due to greed, show Danglars’ loss of humanity. An additional example is when Danglars has been in the bandits’ cave for days. After four days “he was no longer a man, but a living corpse… On the fifth day he called for Vampa and said to him, ‘Take the last of my money and let me live here, in this cave. I’m not asking for freedom; I’m only asking to live’” (Dumas 521). The corpse imagery used by Dumas clearly demonstrates to the reader that Danglars has lost his humanity. When he writes that Danglars was “no longer a man, but a living corpse,” it shows the transformation from a man into a zombie. Danglars’ values have been sucked out of him by his experiences. An additional example is when the Count of Monte Cristo spared Danglars and “abandoned him on the road. Danglars remained there till morning, not knowing where he was. When daylight dawned, he saw that he was near a brook. Being thirsty, he dragged himself over to it. As he bent down to drink, he noticed that his hair had turned white” (Dumas 522). This is the final image that Dumas gives the reader of Danglars. The fact that “his hair had turned white” is perhaps the most telling of his loss of humanity.
Alexandre Dumas asserts through the character of Dantes that being blinded by greed causes isolation from society, which ultimately leads to loss of humanity. Dantes begins as a man who is highly ambitious, but his need to rise in the ranks of his career quickly becomes his sole focus in life. This tunnel vision causes him to alienate himself from society, even from his family. Ultimately, his isolation leads to desensitization and a loss of humanity. Dumas uses this message to warn readers of the potential consequences for greed. It is extremely relevant even in today’s society because people are often consumed with obtaining money or material goods.