Le Destin de Dantés An ongoing argument between critics and readers alike is whether Dantés’ imprisonment and revenge is fated or whether he fashions his own fate. In Alexandre’s captivating novel The Count of Monte Cristo, a juvenile French sailor spends (countless) years in prison due to the callous acts of jealous enemies who seem like his closest friends. Eventually, The Count manages a daring escape and begins plotting revenge on his enemies which changes him from the naive man he once was to a conniving spirit. Though fate certainly seems like a factor in these “coincidences,” The Count fabricates his own fate through trickery, deceit, and wit. Edmond Dantés returns a newly rich man and can easily gain the trust of his enemies because they do not recognize his new, metamorphisized character, thus he can pursue them without their knowledge of who he is. As his first alter ego, The Count becomes Abbe Busoni and he manipulates Caderousse for the information needed for connecting the dots after being in prison for so long. He states that “God may seem to forget sometimes; when his justice is inactive, but he always remembers sooner or later” (Dumas 110), whilst he begins plotting his revenge. Through gaining allies and information from his old …show more content…
He openly tells his peers that he is above them and that “‘I wish to be Providence myself, for I feel that the most beautiful, noblest, most sublime thing in the world, is to recompense and punish’” (213). Dantés chooses who he wants to smite and how he will proceed. Danglers is seemingly shown a certain amount of compassion since he is left alive, but his whole life is taken away when his fortune is taken. Monte Cristo puts himself in the place of God and his will decides the fates of his enemies as though he has complete power over all