Edmond's Downfall in The Count of Monte Cristo Essay

In The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas, Edmond Dants has great success, but he soon falls from grace. Edmonds downfall was caused by Danglars and Fernands jealousy and the poor political system. At the age of nineteen, Edmond was the captain of The Pharaon and had a beautiful fiance named Mercedes. Naturally, many young men during that time would be envious of Edmond. Edmonds downfall was caused by many events, and, in the end, they made him have a great fall.

Danglars is a middle aged man and hadnt even achieved the success that Edmond has. Danglars felt that the job of being captain should have been given to him. Danglars complained of Edmonds new promotion saying, The captain was hardly dead before he [Edmond] had taken command without asking anyone, and made us lose a day and a half on the island of Elba. Danglars is clearly upset that Edmond got to be captain so suddenly. This is one of the causes that made Edmond undone. He vows to take revenge on Edmond because of his jealousy.

Fernand is another factor in Edmonds downfall. Fernand is in love with Mercedes but of course, she doesnt feel the same. She says to him, I love you like a brother, but never demand anything more from me than this fraternal love, because my heart belongs to another. Fernand was crushed because Mercedes is engaged to be married to Edmond. Fernand wants what Edmond has, so he gets a little help from Danglars, and they wrote a letter to Villefort, the Chief Magistrate, saying that Edmond was carrying a letter for an agent of Napoleon Bonaparte; this is the seconds step to Edmonds breakdown.

Another factor in Edmonds destruction was a man named Villefort. He was the type of person that thought he was on top of the world. He was very ambitious, its even said that he would, sacrifice everything, even his father to attain his ambition. He received the letter from Danglars and Fernand, and he immediately ran to King Louis XVIII to tell him of the schemes in the letter. For his own selfish needs, Villefort kept Edmond in prison. Edmond could have gone on to do big things, but because of these mens selfishness, his dreams were cut short. Edmond is undone not only by the jealousy of Fernand and Danglars, and the pride of Villefort, but hes undone by the political system. His rights were ignored because Villefort only used him to promote his political goals. In the end, Dants was broken down and defeated from the lies that were being put against him. Edmond came to his calamity because of jealousy, pride and selfishness.