Le Comte de Monte Cristo

1. Le Comte de Monte Cristo The Count of Monte Cristo

2. The 2002 film The Count of Monte Cristo is based on the Alexandre Dumas story. Edmond Dantès is a sailor who is falsely accused of treason by his best friend FernandMondego, who is jealous and wants Dantès fiancée Mercedes for himself. Dantès is imprisoned on the island fortress of Chateau d’If for 14 years, where he plots revenge against those who betrayed him. With the help of another prisoner, he escapes the island and transforms himself into the wealthy Count of Monte Cristo as part of his plan to example revenge.

3. L’ Auteur- Alexandre Dumas, père(1802-1870) “It is by his courage, please observe, by his courage along, that a gentleman can make his way nowdays.” The Three Musketeers French author of The Three Musketeers, the Count Of Monte Cristo, The Man in the Iron Make, The Black Tulip, Queen Margo and numerous other works. Most of his novels were action/adventure stories, many using historical background. Born in France, his father was a military general for Napoleon, and his grandfather was a Marquis who fell in love with and married a slave in Haiti. After his father had a disagreement with Napoleon and was imprisoned, he returned home with no pension, and after he died, the family had money problems.

4. When he was 20, Dumas set off for Paris and became a writer, first plays, then novels, like “The Count of Monte Cristo,” written serialized in a newspaper in 1844, and hugely successful. Dumas had a son (Alexandre Dumas, fils) with one lover, got married then had an illegitimate daughter with another woman. He traveled in Europe and North Africa and continued to write essays, short stories, and novels. Even though Dumas made money with his stories, he spent a lot on his lifestyle. With the success of Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeershe looked for a place of refuge to concentrate on his writing. He bought land and build the Chateau de Monte Cristo (nicknamed Chateau d’If) in Port Marly, Yvelines, France, now a museum. There he worked when not lavishly entertaining guests, but it was not long before he had to sell it when his debts grew too much. In 1851 he fled to Brussels, Belgium to avoid creditors. Alexandre Dumas, père died on December 5th, 1870 at his son’s villa near Dieppe, France. He was buried in the cemetery of Villers-Cotterets, but as of the year 2002 he now rests in the Panthéonin Paris, among other such notable French writers as Emile Zola, Victor Hugo, Jean Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire.

5. Can you match the French titles of Dumas’ works with the English? • La Reine Margot a. The Black Tulip • Les TroisMousquetaires b. The Count of • La Tulipe Noire Monte Cristo • Le Comte de Monte Cristo c. Queen Margot • L’homme au Masque de Fer d. The Three Musketeers e. The Man in the Iron Mask

6. From The Count of Monte Cristo “ Tell the angel who will watch over your future destiny, Morrel, to pray sometimes for a man, who like Satan thought himself for an instant equal to God, but who now acknowledges with Christian humility that God alone possesses supreme power and infinite wisdom…There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must have felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of living.” “ Live, then, and be happy, beloved children of my heart, and never forget that until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is summed up in these two words, -- “Wait and hope.” Chp 117