Beveridge Eric Beveridge Mr. Butler AP Lit 21 January 2014 A Case Study of Jean Valjean and Edmond Dantes Victor Hugo’sLes Misérablesand Alexandre Dumas’The Count of Monte Cristoboth tell a story of redemption through the life of a French ex-convict. While many similarities can be observed in the plots of these “sister stories,” the lives of Jean Valjean and Edmond Dantes take radically different roads in their redemptive narratives through their response towards grace and their understanding of Providence in their lives. Both novels essentially begin with a false imprisonment of the main character. Jean Valjean is unjustly condemned for merely stealing a piece of bread and eventually spends nineteen years in jail. Edmond Dantes is condemned to fourteen years in jail in the Chateau d’If as a result of three men’s jealousy, greed, and self-interest. The suffering that Valjean and Dantes experience at the beginning of their narratives creates the groundwork for the two different ways in which each man lives the rest of his life. Jean Valjean is freed from prison and is shown kindness from Monsieur Myriel when every other door was slammed in his face. He ungratefully resorts back to theft (which was the initial cause for his imprisonment in the first place) and steals from Myriel. He is caught and is brought back to the bishop to carry out justice. The bishop does not only pardon him, but gives him more silver, leaving with him the following words: “Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil but to good. It is your soul that I am buying for you; I am taking it away from black thoughts and from the spirit of perdition, and I am giving it to God.” (Les MisérablesBook
Beveridge One, Chapter XII, pg. 90) This act of grace, this gift that Valjean was beyond undeserving of was the basis for which he would then show grace to others. Valjean chose to respond to God’s grace by spending the rest of his life giving grace. While in the Chateau d’If, Edmond Dantes meets a man named Abbe Faria. The two prisoners spend ten years together, planning escape and sharing stories and knowledge. After a decade of investing in each other, Abbe Faria tells him of a great treasure that he is the heir of, but has not been able to use due to his imprisonment. He bequeaths this treasure to Edmond before his death so he can live a long and happy life once he is free. After Dantes escapes prison, he eventually claims his treasure on the Island of Monte Cristo. While initially he uses this fortune to save Morrel, his old employer who fought for Edmond’s freedom, he uses it to fund his oath for vengeance on the men who are responsible for his fourteen years in jail: Danglars, Fernand, and Villefort.
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