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.
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