How Did Dumas Influence The Count Of Monte Cristo

A literary influence is an element used by an author to developed the plot of their story through the work of another author. Throughout the Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas borrows literary references in his work from Ovid’s Pyramus and Thisbe, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and Edgar Allan Poe’s Cask of Amontillado. By including these scholarly references, Dumas can give the reader a strong understanding over the storyline of the novel. In the Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas alludes to Ovid’s Pyramus and Thisbe when describing the relationship between Valentine de Villefort and Maximilien Morrel. Valentine’s family wants her to marry Franz d’Epinay, and doesn’t wish for her to marry someone like Maximilien who would not provide any
Correlating to the Cask of Amontillado, Dumas uses dramatic irony while the Count of Monte Cristo is situated at the carnival with Albert de Morcerf and Franz D’Epinay. “When Franz came back to his senses, he found Albert drinking a glass of water which his pallor indicated he needed greatly, while the count was already changing into the costume of a court jester.” Similarly, in the Cask of Amontillado Fortunato dresses as a jester while going to the carnival and Montresor takes him to the catacombs and ends up burying him alive. On the other hand, Dumas uses the outfit on the Count of Monte Cristo as an ironic way of saying that the Count is deceiving the other characters in the book through his multiple identities. In the situation in the Cask of Amontillado, the jester outfit symbolizes Fortunato as being a naïve and shortsighted man. Along with the jester outfit, Dumas also shares a common theme with the Cask of Amontillado: revenge and justice. In the short story, a man named Montresor has been insulted by a second man, Fortunato. This results in Montresor feeling the obligation to seek revenge for Fortunato’s actions. In comparison, Edmond Dantes is sent to prison through the actions of Monsieur de Villefort, Fernand Mondego, and Baron Danglars. After Dantes escapes from the Chateau d’If, he seeks revenge for what these men have done to him, in a
For the storyline to correspond to the reader it is helpful for influences from other sources to be present. In conclusion, the literary influences in The Count of Monte Cristo from Pyramus and Thisbe, Macbeth, and the Cask of Amontillado are helpful to develop themes and events to achieve a better understanding of the