# The Count of Monte Cristo has got to be the best revenge story ever **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2005, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-count-of-monte-cristo-has-got-to-be-the-best-revenge-story-ever/308724 "2005-06-17T16:56:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![parthenokinesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/cc9497/32.png) [@parthenokinesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parthenokinesis)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-count-of-monte-cristo-has-got-to-be-the-best-revenge-story-ever/308724/21 "2005-06-17T21:34:49Z")
I’m not even sure I would label \*\*Hamlet \*\* Shakespeare’s best literary work on the theme of revenge. **Othello** , **Merchant of Venice** , and my aforementioned **Titus Adronicus** , explore that particular theme with more vigor, and more insight. \*\*Hamlet \*\* may be his greatest literary work, and one of the world’s best, but not on the merits of this theme. Of course, YMMV. Jack ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-count-of-monte-cristo-has-got-to-be-the-best-revenge-story-ever/308724/22 "2005-06-17T22:12:03Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > grumble, grumble, making me search imdb for this awful movie. > > I think [this](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245844/) one is the one I’ve seen. > > And [this](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072824/) is the one you’re talking about. Care to spoil it? Is it worth it? Same opinion here – I grew up reading the Count of Monte Cristo, but was rather sadly disappointed in the movie. ☹ It pretty much bowdlerized the book. And I think I _might_ have seen the earlier one. Will have to rent it again to see if it is. ---
**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-count-of-monte-cristo-has-got-to-be-the-best-revenge-story-ever/308724/23 "2005-06-21T12:52:56Z")
Eh, I don’t know. If I hadn’t seen the movie first (I’ve seen both versions, and I like the newer one better), I don’t know that I could have kept track of all the intricate plots in the book. Sure the movie was a very simplified version of the stories, but it had all the main characters, and it made my subsequant reading of the book a lot easier. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-count-of-monte-cristo-has-got-to-be-the-best-revenge-story-ever/308724/24 "2005-06-21T13:01:27Z")
Well, obviously you’ve got to read some Sabatini. Someone already recommended **Scaramouche** (“He was born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad”), and you might try **Captain Blood**. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-count-of-monte-cristo-has-got-to-be-the-best-revenge-story-ever/308724/25 "2005-06-21T13:54:08Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Monte Cristo is the story of a man who knows exactly what he wants and accomplishes it. Along the way he is reminded of love & compassion and uses them exactingly to save the ones he loves. I didn’t quite get that out of the book. He might have gotten reminded of love and all, but he sure wasn’t smart enough to take it. When the woman told him she only wanted him, he should have just taken her, his kid and run like the wind. Instead, he wastes his time trying to ruin everyone else’s life, and in the end ruins his as well. Though it might not have made as good of a book had he done that. I did like the new movie, though it’s not the same, to me the theme is at least the same. Well except for the ending, why can’t we have the same ending? Not everything in life is all hunky dory. I saw [this version](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167565/) which I thought was very good. It was a French mini series and quite long but still good. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-count-of-monte-cristo-has-got-to-be-the-best-revenge-story-ever/308724/26 "2005-06-21T14:33:28Z")
Speaking as someone who saw the Jim Caviezel movie before the book, I loved it. Sure, it wasn’t the book, “The Count of Monte Cristo,” but it was damned good on its own merits. ---
**Author:** ![Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cornelius_Tuggerson)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-count-of-monte-cristo-has-got-to-be-the-best-revenge-story-ever/308724/27 "2005-06-21T16:12:47Z")
> [@Rocketeer](#): > > … and you might try **Captain Blood**. Yes, indeed, everyone should read that one. Its basically a series of revenge stories one after another, and plain old fun to read, definitely something to consider before the sequel to Pirates of the Carribean comes out. ---
**Author:** ![Banger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Banger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banger)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-count-of-monte-cristo-has-got-to-be-the-best-revenge-story-ever/308724/28 "2005-06-21T16:27:03Z")
Dumas also has a [new](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4609819.stm) book out 😉 ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-count-of-monte-cristo-has-got-to-be-the-best-revenge-story-ever/308724/29 "2005-06-22T20:36:21Z")
The musketeer novels (Oxford paperback editions): 1. **The Three Musketeers** ISBN# 0-19-282751-0 2. **Twenty Years After** ISBN# 0-19-283074-0 3. **The Vicomte de Bragelonne** ISBN# 0-19-283463-0 4. **Louise de la Valliere** ISBN# 0-19-283465-7 5. **The Man in the Iron Mask** ISBN# 0-19-283842-3 Technically 3, 4, and 5, are all parts of the same book, **The Vicomte de Bragelonne**. But most English-speaking publishers split it up into three (sometimes four) installments. **The Man in the Iron Mask** is the most famous, but it is only the tail end of the novel. Another good one by Dumas is **Queen Margot** ISBN# 0-7868-8082-1. It takes place in the court of King Charles X, a couple of generations before the time of the musketeer novels. It is full of conspiracies and betrayals, plotting and poisoning. A few years ago it was made into a pretty good movie: [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110963/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110963/) ---
**Author:** ![gentle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eb8c5e/32.png) [@gentle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gentle)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-count-of-monte-cristo-has-got-to-be-the-best-revenge-story-ever/308724/30 "2005-06-23T00:18:39Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I’ve also read The Three Musketeers and loved it. Anything else by Dumas I should read? Not Dumas: But try [_The Stars My Destination_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679767800/103-6586284-2031823?v=glance) by Alfred Bester. A ground-breaking, hyperkinetic novel by one of the masters, a seething revenge story very loosely based on _Monte Cristo_ but set in the near future. The revenge is subtler and more desperate, and the denouement, in my opinion, is by far the most poignant. (Amazon sells it along with Bester’s _The Demolished Man_, which happens to be one of the finest crime stories every written, about a man who commits the perfect crime in a society where crime is no longer possible.) ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-count-of-monte-cristo-has-got-to-be-the-best-revenge-story-ever/308724/31 "2005-06-23T02:03:30Z")
It’s not Dumas. It’s not classic. [Master of the Game](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0446355453/qid=1119492986/sr=8-7/ref=pd_bbs_7/102-3802887-9024113?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) was a great pool side, guilty pleasure read for me …when I was 13. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-count-of-monte-cristo-has-got-to-be-the-best-revenge-story-ever/308724/32 "2005-06-23T03:52:08Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#): > > Speaking as someone who saw the Jim Caviezel movie before the book, I loved it. Sure, it wasn’t the book, “The Count of Monte Cristo,” but it was damned good on its own merits. :eek: **Erk** …_falls over dead_ Come on. That movie sucked eggs. I can’t say what I truly feel about that movie in this forum. I can’t. I’ll scorch everybody’s eyes. I mean, \*he \* was such a…and \*she \* was such a…and the \*ending \* was so… OK, I’ll go away now. But it was awful. For everybody else, I’m working on the \*Man in the Iron Mask \* now. Didn’t realize it had Aramis in it! ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-count-of-monte-cristo-has-got-to-be-the-best-revenge-story-ever/308724/33 "2005-06-23T10:33:49Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > :eek: **Erk** …_falls over dead_ > > Come on. That movie sucked eggs. I can’t say what I truly feel about that movie in this forum. I can’t. I’ll scorch everybody’s eyes. I mean, \*he \* was such a…and \*she \* was such a…and the \*ending \* was so… Didja read the book first or see the movie first? My wife and I saw the movie first, and quite enjoyed it as a pretty swashbuckler of a movie. I’m sure that if I saw it again I would be pulling my hair out in frustration, but without knowing of the joy that is the book, the movie was a pleasant diversion. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-count-of-monte-cristo-has-got-to-be-the-best-revenge-story-ever/308724/34 "2005-06-23T13:07:24Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > Didja read the book first or see the movie first? My wife and I saw the movie first, and quite enjoyed it as a pretty swashbuckler of a movie. I’m sure that if I saw it again I would be pulling my hair out in frustration, but without knowing of the joy that is the book, the movie was a pleasant diversion. Read the book first. And then someone \*gave \* us the movie, so we are subject to the indignity of having it on the shelf. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-count-of-monte-cristo-has-got-to-be-the-best-revenge-story-ever/308724.md?page=1)