Paper

Emily

ENG 102

Ryan Davidson

June 13, 2007

Shakespeare and “The Count of Monte Cristo”

Love and jealousy make the world go round. Okay, maybe not exactly but these two feelings play significant roles in the interaction between human beings. Love, perhaps, is the root feeling while jealousy often stems from love or a semblance of it. William Shakespeare’s poem “When, in Disgrace with Fortune and Men’s Eyes” and the movie, based on a book by Alexandre Dumas, “The Count of Monte Cristo” both offer insight into love, jealousy and their relationship with human interactions. Shakespeare’s poem portrays a person who down on his luck both materially and in the eyes of others. The person bemoans his fate and wishes for what others possess, whether it is their hope, their friends or their talents and skills. This person is not happy or content with what he has until he thinks of his love and then he would not trade places with a king. In “The Count of Monte Cristo” jealousy, or envy, is the basis for many of the characters actions towards each other. Yet at the end of the movie the main character, Edmund Dantes, cares only for the woman he loves and his son, whom he did not know he had until the end of the movie. The similarities in the movie and the poem speak volumes about the nature of human interactions because they portray the effects of jealousy and love on the actions of people towards their family, friends and acquaintances.

In the beginning of “The Count of Monte Cristo”, Edmund, the main character, is portrayed as a kind, good person. He has just received a promotion and can now marry the woman he loves. His achievements and material possessions may seem small in comparison to the wealth of his best friend, but he is happy and in love. His best friend, however, sees Edmund’s happiness and despite his wealth feels envious of what Edmund has. This leads the best friend to betray Edmund and have him arrested even though Edmund did nothing wrong. This betrayal resulted from jealousy. In both the movie and the poem one character feels jealous of what another person possesses be it material or otherwise. In the poem the character’s jealousy leads to unhappiness. This stanza from “When, in Disgrace with Fortune and Men’s Eyes” by William Shakespeare illustrates this,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least,
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising.
In the movie, however, jealousy leads to much more negative actions like betrayal and murder. These examples show that jealousy has a way of corrupting any interactions between humans. Jealousy wears down the inhibitions that often keep people from crossing some unseen boundary into betrayal and worse. Without jealousy prodding Edmund’s friend, he had no reason to harm Edmund.

In the poem and the movie jealousy stems or is enhanced by a lack of something. One important case of this is a lack of love. The movie and the poem illustrate how a lack of love between two humans causes them to fill that space with something else such as jealously or general unhappiness. The tone of the poem conveys how, the character “when, in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes,” experiences loneliness and emptiness in the character’s life. Right after this the character goes on to covet what others have to fill the void but it is not until he remembers his love that he would not trade positions with a king.