The Relevance of Edmond Dantes' Life to Jose Rizal

NOTE: I've posted this blog so as to help students have an idea on how to compare the above mentioned names and by no means allow you to copy-paste all what has stated down here. It is best you construct your own idea or opinion about the subject matter. Wishing you all the best!

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A.  How will you depict the life story of Edmond Dantes and Dr. Jose Rizal if you believe in conspiracy and as a victim of duplicity and a Machiavellian Plot?

Answer: 

I can depict the life story of the two subjects Edmond Dantes and Dr. Jose Rizal by basing and looking at the experiences they have gone though. It is true that Edmond Dantes and Dr. Jose Rizal is in a similar situation much like a victim of duplicity and a Machiavellian Plot because they were victims of injustice and a betrayal that they don’t deserve. They believed that in doing good, they will reap a better outcome but it was the other way around. Instead, they were betrayed and plotted that drawn both of them to so much confusion and at first disbelief. Both were charged of a crime they didn’t really commit much to the disappointment that some of their trusted friends and comrades were the ones doing the selfish motive: to pull them down and eventually fall into their traps.

In the case of Edmond Dantes, he brought with him without knowing it, a compromising letter addressed to Nortier de Villefort, the Bonapartist father of Gerard de Villefort. Realizing what happened and mostly convinced of the innocence of Dantes, the king's judge sent Dantes to the Château d'If, as a state prisoner. Just like Jose Rizal who believed to be sent as a volunteer physician in Cuba but was held and detained for a while in Montjuich Castle realizing Gov. Gen Blanco was behind all of the conspiracy.

B. Compare and contrast the historical background of Dr. Jose Rizal and Edmond Dantes in:

 1. Politics

During the time of Rizal, the Spanish government was so corrupt that it took advantage the helpless Filipinos or Indios in terms of power and freedom. All they were concerned of was to generate more money not by their own hands but with the help of our fellow Filipinos who were maltreated and abused if they don’t follow their orders. Several unjustifiable laws have been promulgated just for their own benefit and not for the sake of the Filipino people which is unfair. That’s why Dr. Jose Rizal thought that there’s a need for national consciousness before it’s too late. His trial is a proof of Spanish injustice and misrule. His case was prejudged, he was considered guilty before the actual trial. It accepted all charges and testimonies against him and ignored all arguments and proofs in his favor.

In Edmond Dantes’ time of setting, politics had played a crucial role in the lives of the people living in Europe as Bonapartism was mentioned in the story. This is about the adaptation of principles of the French Revolution to suit Napoleon's imperial form of rule. If you are against it, then you are a subject of treason.

2. Education

Dr. Jose Rizal was indeed a genius in his time. He was exemplary in all aspects, be it into the field of arts or in sciences. Education for him was indispensable to the progress of man. To grasp higher knowledge, he took courage to go abroad and pursue his studies in the field of medicine. While in Europe, the French revolution and the movements of thought influenced Rizal’s thoughts. It made him a learned man having read many books including Alexandre Dumas’ book The Count of Monte Cristo which served as one of his basis to write his own novel concerning the Spanish misrule of his country Philippines. 

Edmond Dantes, on the other hand, didn’t get that privilege to get an education like Rizal did. He didn’t know much about politics or so until such time when he was imprisoned. He happened to meet a fellow prisoner in the name of Abbe Faria, a priest. By that, Faria came to give the illiterate Dantès an extensive education in mathematics, literature, philosophy, economics, hand and sword combat and military strategy for eight years. He also helped Dantès discover why he himself was imprisoned.

3. Religion

When Jose Rizal was young, his mother taught him to be a religious person as he was baptized a Roman Catholic. The bible was one of the books that supplemented his faith in God. But there was a time he saw religion didn’t make sense when some friars didn’t act the way they should be. His retraction also has been a controversy over the years whether he retracted his religious errors or not.

Dantes believed there is God whose goodness will make the life fair and with justice until he spends six years in solitary confinement, first seeking and then blaming God for his suffering. Edmond Dantes lost faith in God and everything he ever stood for. He was just waiting to die.

4. Financial status

Jose Rizal belonged to a middle-class family. His parents were both from a prominent ancestry. Their lands and Rizal’s high-quality education are proofs that they’re someone who could afford especially when Jose decided to go abroad and they have to send him his allowance.  

Edmond Dantes the hero is a sailor from a poor background. He could not read nor write which means he had no business befriending wealth and royal Fernando Mondego but the good thing about him was that he was a good person who won favour everywhere he goes.

5. Love.

Our foremost national hero, Rizal had also experienced falling in love into the charm of women he meets but one thing remarkable about him is that he didn’t forget his duty, and that is to help first his fellowmen from the abusive clutches of the Spaniards. Although he has that urge, he never forgets to send his love by sending letters to his family and friends letting them know he’s alright.

In Edmond’s case, he was not lucky in love because right after he was imprisoned, his girlfriend Mercedes married Mondego and by that virtue, it just shows that Mercedes easily gave up her vows with Edmond.

6. Society

Rizal was at the time when the society only favors to those who are in power. Ordinary people suffered a lot from the cruelty and the injustices of the Spanish government. There was no equality of treatment but rather a society wherein it was ruled by tyranny and is ran by money.

Edmond Dantes was in a society where ignorance doesn’t have a place to set in. A society in which wealth, title and prestige only matters and is regarded by many.  

C. Moral lesson

The lesson that I learned from the movie is that life is not always fair. We have to accept the fact that there are really circumstances in life which opts to be unacceptable and thus unfair because if we just have to learn how to deal with it, we might find a better solution how to get through it. Like a wheel, it has ups and downs so might as well make yourself strong when sometimes you’re feeling down.

Another is vengeance is not ours, it’s God’s. Although Dantes was right in taking revenge against his enemies, but then this doesn’t make him fully satisfied. God knows everything, be it right or wrong and it is his will what will happen. No bad deed will go unpunished as one had said so we should let God do the justice because after all, we will go to him when our time comes. In his eyes, he sees the truth, he distinguishes the real and the lie and he balances the good and the bad.

And lastly, whatever comes from selfish motives, one will suffer at the end.

D. Justification

I just want to justify that The Count of Monte Cristo is somehow related to Rizal’s life in such a way that it talks about betrayal, injustice, jealousy, conspiracy, and revenge. Though not to the point that Rizal wanted to show revenge like Edmond did but in a way that he wants the Spanish government to realize their mistakes in ruling their colonized country.

In the movie, Edmond was charged in committing treason while Rizal was charged for three crimes: treason, sedition and illegal association. Both of them were not given a chance to further defend themselves in the court because they were condemned already before the trial began and plotted evidences were shown to make the accusations against them strong.

Indeed, The Count of Monte Cristo is a great movie. This is the movie that showed us that not all the time we have to remain silent but also have to fight when needed.