Alexandre Dumas’ novel, The Count of Monte Cristo, is perhaps, next to the Three Musketeers, his best and most popular writing. In his typical style, the novel, set in the historical framework of post-revolutionary France in the years 1815 to 1835, is full of adventure, romance and intrigue, making it perfect for a modern movie adaptation. Unfortunately, the book is very complex, with so many characters and intertwining relationships that are impossible to portray in a movie. Therefore, the movie conflates and eliminates characters and simplifies the relationships. In an effort to appeal to a modern audience, the movie ends happily with the hero winning the woman he loves.
Edmond Dantes, a 19-year-old sailor, is promoted to captain by the ship’s owner, who is also the father of Mercedes, his fiancée. This promotion draws the anger and hatred of the ship’s first mate, Danglar, who feels he is the one who should take the dead captain’s place. Dantes’ closest friend, Fernand Mondego, also loves Mercedes but fails to win her heart away from Dantes.
Danglar and Mondego, however, plot against Dantes, using the fact that Dantes had met with the exiled Napolean while the ship had been anchored off the island of Elba. They inform the chief magistrate, Villefort, who condemns Dantes to life in prison in the Chateu d’If, and tells his fiancée that he has been executed. Upon hearing of Dantes’ death, Mercedes agrees to marry Mondego and Danglar schemes to take over the ship and the company from Mercede’s father.
While in prison, Dantes plots his revenge. An old priest teaches him while they dig a tunnel to escape. Before dying in prison, the priest gives Dantes’ a map of a hidden treasure on the island of Monte Cristo. Dantes escapes by exchanging places with the dead priest, is thrown into the sea, and then swims back to the mainland. With the help of a pirate, Jacopo, Dantes finds the treasure and returns to France as the Count of Monte Cristo to exact his revenge on Danglar, Mondego, and Villefort.
While carrying out his plans, Mercedes recognizes Dantes and tries to talk him out of his revenge. He refuses, and after destroying Danglar and Villefort, he faces Mondego. In the struggle, Mercedes is injured and Mondego is killed. In the end, Dantes repents of his revenge and promises to use his fortune to help others and do good. Mercedes, her son Albert, who is actually Dantes’ child, and Jacopo, live happily ever after.
The message the movie gives is that revenge, while not the best option, is justified as long as you don’t go to extremes. In the 1975 movie version, starring Richard Chamberlain, Dantes’ revenge causes the death of his son and the loss of his true love, as Mercedes leaves him in the end because he has been transformed into a different man by his hate. The message of this movie is that revenge will destroy you and those you love. This is much closer to Alexandre Duma’s intentions in the original novel, where the relationships are so intertwined, that as he seeks revenge on his enemies, Dantes’ inadvertently harms his friends and those he loves. Revenge is never sweet and ends up hurting everyone involved. That is why God says, “It is mine to avenge, I will repay.”
Showing posts with label Anger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anger. Show all posts
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Life Lessons 12
The twelfth life lesson is Forgiveness. Forgiveness is more beneficial for the forgiver than for the forgiven. Learn to give up your rights in order to receive what is far more valuable. Forgiveness is to be restored to a place of grace.
Forgiveness is not condoning the hurtful behavior. By forgiving you do not justify the wrong act. But when you refuse to forgive you are only punishing yourself, not the wrongdoer. Forgiveness is not letting people walk all over us. It is realizing that they are bigger than their mistakes.
Getting even may make us feel good for the moment, but it ultimately makes us feel guilty. We want the other person to know our pain, but revenge only makes our pain worse. Refusal to forgive keeps us stuck and makes us a victim. We lose our power when we hold back forgiveness.
Become aware of your anger and let it out constructively. Allow yourself to feel the pain, sorrow, loss, and other negative feelings. Then, let those feelings go. Often what others say or do to hurt you is not about you but about themselves. People think they are doing the right thing; they usually don’t set out to do wrong. No one plans on making a mistake or doing something that will make themselves miserable. Learn to give people the benefit of the doubt and you will find it easier to forgive them. Realize that you often make similar mistakes, and you will find your heart becoming more agreeable to forgiveness.
Revenge is in God's hands not ours. Give the situation to God and trust Him to right any wrongs. Don’t take the management of the universe on your shoulders. Ask God for the grace to forgive. See forgiveness as a Spiritual Maintenance Plan to keep our hearts open and receptive to God’s grace.
Forgiveness is not condoning the hurtful behavior. By forgiving you do not justify the wrong act. But when you refuse to forgive you are only punishing yourself, not the wrongdoer. Forgiveness is not letting people walk all over us. It is realizing that they are bigger than their mistakes.
Getting even may make us feel good for the moment, but it ultimately makes us feel guilty. We want the other person to know our pain, but revenge only makes our pain worse. Refusal to forgive keeps us stuck and makes us a victim. We lose our power when we hold back forgiveness.
Become aware of your anger and let it out constructively. Allow yourself to feel the pain, sorrow, loss, and other negative feelings. Then, let those feelings go. Often what others say or do to hurt you is not about you but about themselves. People think they are doing the right thing; they usually don’t set out to do wrong. No one plans on making a mistake or doing something that will make themselves miserable. Learn to give people the benefit of the doubt and you will find it easier to forgive them. Realize that you often make similar mistakes, and you will find your heart becoming more agreeable to forgiveness.
Revenge is in God's hands not ours. Give the situation to God and trust Him to right any wrongs. Don’t take the management of the universe on your shoulders. Ask God for the grace to forgive. See forgiveness as a Spiritual Maintenance Plan to keep our hearts open and receptive to God’s grace.
Life Lessons 8
The eighth life lesson is Anger. We often let old anger build up until it explodes. Anger is helpful if it is processed properly. Anger propels us to action and forces us to clarify boundaries. Anger is a warning system that something is wrong. It is a signal that something is out of sync with our value system.
Anger is only an emotion; we don’t need to be afraid of it. It is a feeling that we must allow ourselves to experience. We need to get in touch with our feelings of anger, not by thinking about them but by feeling them in our bodies. When we allow ourselves to experience anger then we can channel it productively to healthy expressions.
We are not our anger. Anger is not our identity. You must see yourself as separate from your anger. Don’t allow anger to take over your personality.
When anger is internalized instead of expressed properly it slowly destroys us. Internalized anger is manifested as depression and guilt. Anger cannot be suppressed without it affecting us in some negative way. Depression can be dealt with only when the anger is externalized and dealt with.
Anger is merely a manifestation of fear. It is easier for us to express anger than fear, so we often convert fear into anger. When we explode with anger we may make ourselves feel better temporarily, but we usually make the surface problem worse and don’t solve the underlying issues caused by fear.
We must learn healthy ways to externalize our anger or it will destroy us. Anger will come out sooner or later. The more you suppress your anger the more dangerous it is. The key is not in denying anger or suppressing it but in expressing it in constructive ways and then forgetting it.
God is big enough to handle our anger. Often we become angry with God but we don’t know how to express it. However, if we express our anger in reverential ways, God understands. Many of the psalms are expressions of anger and disappointment to God. Use the psalms as a pattern for letting your anger out in proper ways. When we accept our anger and other people’s anger, then we are able to heal each other. Anger is healed only by patient love.
Anger is only an emotion; we don’t need to be afraid of it. It is a feeling that we must allow ourselves to experience. We need to get in touch with our feelings of anger, not by thinking about them but by feeling them in our bodies. When we allow ourselves to experience anger then we can channel it productively to healthy expressions.
We are not our anger. Anger is not our identity. You must see yourself as separate from your anger. Don’t allow anger to take over your personality.
When anger is internalized instead of expressed properly it slowly destroys us. Internalized anger is manifested as depression and guilt. Anger cannot be suppressed without it affecting us in some negative way. Depression can be dealt with only when the anger is externalized and dealt with.
Anger is merely a manifestation of fear. It is easier for us to express anger than fear, so we often convert fear into anger. When we explode with anger we may make ourselves feel better temporarily, but we usually make the surface problem worse and don’t solve the underlying issues caused by fear.
We must learn healthy ways to externalize our anger or it will destroy us. Anger will come out sooner or later. The more you suppress your anger the more dangerous it is. The key is not in denying anger or suppressing it but in expressing it in constructive ways and then forgetting it.
God is big enough to handle our anger. Often we become angry with God but we don’t know how to express it. However, if we express our anger in reverential ways, God understands. Many of the psalms are expressions of anger and disappointment to God. Use the psalms as a pattern for letting your anger out in proper ways. When we accept our anger and other people’s anger, then we are able to heal each other. Anger is healed only by patient love.
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