Psychoanalysis of The Count of Monte Christo

The novel, The Count of Monte Christo, provides much insight into the psychological makeup of not only the characters within the novel, but also of its author Alexandre Dumas. Indeed, in light of how The Count of Monte Christo addresses the interplay between justice, revenge, jealousy, greed, power and transformation, it reflects many of events in Dumas’ life and that of his father, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, who was the biracial progeny of a French aristocrat and a Haitian slave of African descent. Thomas-Alexandre’s career in the French military appeared bright until he became ensnared in plot against Napoleon, under whom he served in Egypt. Being identified as a saboteur resulted in Thomas-Alexandre being imprisoned for twenty months after which he ended up in Villers-Cotterets, a village near Paris where he was partially paralyzed, partially deaf, and penniless. His plight left a significant impact on Alexandre, who was only four when Thomas-Alexandre died. Alexandre believed that his father had been treated unjustly, and as a result, Alexandre and his mother were socially and financially disadvantaged.

At age fifteen, he found work as a clerk for a public notary. He also befriended a nobleman by the name of Adolphe de Leuven who introduced Alexandre to the Parisian theatre which immediately captivated the teen. He became determined to become a famous Parisian playwright. To that end, he honed his skills at playing pool and won enough money to move to Paris. The move to such a cosmopolitan world capital made Dumas realize how little formal education he had, and he began to remedy this by reading as much as he could and taking classes in chemistry, biology, and physics at a local hospital. In the midst of these activi...

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... create a riveting tale of justice, revenge, transformation and redemption. As a consequence, The Count of Monte Cristo will continue to be a masterpiece of European literature.

Works Cited

Benton, Richard Buss, Robin. Introduction to The Count of Monte Cristo. New York: Penguin Classics. 1996. Print.

Dumas, Alexandre. The Count of Monte Cristo. New York: Penguin Classics. 1996. Print.

Kashuba, Irma. “Alexander Dumas, Pere”. Critical Survey of Long Fiction (Fourth Edition). Salem Press. 2010. Print.

King, Patricia Ann. “Review”. Masterplots, Revised, Volume 2, Bou—Cri. Edited by Frank McGill. 1949. Web. http://www.unz.org/Pub/MagillFrank-1949v02-01136. Accessed April 8, 2014.

Phillips, Mike. “Black Europeans: A British Library Online Gallery”. Web. www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/blackeuro/pdf/dumas.pdf. Accessed April 8, 2014.