Shakespeare’s Influence on Alexandre Dumas

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In many stories over the years reoccurring themes such as forbidden love, poisoning, and a transformation in the main character have been used. The story of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas has some famous influences and similarities such as Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth by William Shakespeare. The themes of forbidden love, poisoning, and transformation in the main character are timeless portrayals in current novels and dramas. The themes are as significant as they were in yesteryear as well as the present.

In the story, Valentine de Villetfort and Maximilien Morrel have a forbidden love. Alike in Shakespeare’s famous play Romeo and Juliet where they have a forbidden love. Having a forbidden love is effective in The Count of Monte Cristo because it holds the reader’s attention. It also makes it so the book isn’t just about revenge. Forbidden love converts well to novel because it makes the book more relatable and intriguing.

Madame de Villefort had tried to poison Valentine de Villefort so the Count gave Valentine a pill to make it seem like she died but was really just asleep. In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet takes a potion to also make it seem like she died. Although the endings are different in both stories, in one the characters Valentine and Maximilien end up married and the other the characters Romeo and Juliet end up dead. The poisoning is effective in The Count of Monte Cristo because it helps keep the story moving along and interesting to the reader. The use of poison translates well in a novel and play because it creates drama.

At the beginning of the story, Edmond Dantes dehumanized himself when he became the Count. In Macbeth by Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth also dehumanized herself because of remorse and pity, so she could become more like a man. It is effective because Edmond could not have become the Count and done the things he did if he was still the same person he was in Marseilles. The transformation from Edmond Dantes the sailor to The Count the millionaire is also an important part in the story, it is the reason he gets his revenge and does not get Mercedes back. It works well in a novel because all books need some form of transformation in the main character.

In conclusion, the story of the Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas has similarities in themes from both Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth.

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