Ultimate bliss from ultimate despair. People must see how bad things can get to really appreciate how precious their happiness is. The world is filled with ungrateful selfish people. The populace is blind to their true blessings and gold fortunes of famil

Revenge does not return bliss. It is the byproduct of injustice, anger, and poor decision-making. Revenge never returns happiness and Dumas stresses this point. It brings guilt and remorse as it did to Dantes. When he exacts his divine justice upon Villefort, he appears triumphant as the Edmond Dantes unjustly incarcerated. Villefort becomes mad, pointing to his dead wife and son, shouting, "There! Look! Are you fully avenged?" (Dumas 1024). He has lost all his family and now cries for his dead son. Monte Cristo becomes overwhelmed with guilt and remorse. "Monte Cristo paled at this terrible spectacle...[w]ith an inexpressible feeling of anguish, he threw himself on the child's body" (Dumas 1024). He feels responsible for the death of innocent Edouard. The Count is so remorseful and full of pain that he tries to bring the child back to life but with no avail. Monte Cristo now believes God wishes punishment upon him and prepares to kill himself alongside Maximilien. This is important because in the end, after all the planning, vengeance pays out only grief. Similarly, for Hope, who writes Aware of a Sunnier Side from personal experience, revenge does not return bliss. She wants to be happy and, like the Count, believes that revenge will bring her just that. However, Hope finds an alternative to revenge in comic relief. She realizes she is searching for resolve, not revenge. Happiness is found elsewhere.

By becoming locked in the jaws of revenge, one looses sight of the joys of life. Reprisal can quickly become an obsessive vendetta. Dumas shows this by having Dantes think himself equal to God. This obsession does not bring bliss.

y, love, and friends. People continue to live on in the same manner, unable to recognize their own bliss. Dumas illustrates this, arguing to appreciate happiness one must know profound sadness. Dantes suffers fourteen long years and in those years he exiles from his heart man's most precious emotions of love, happiness, and honesty. It is only in the end when he is about to take his own life does he appreciate his blessings. Haydee confesses her love to Dantes. "I love you as one loves a father, a brother, a husband! I love you as one loves life, and loves God, for you are to me the most beautiful, the best and greatest of created beings!" (Dumas 1074). Dantes suffers so much that he is blind to Haydee's love. She will take her own life if Dantes does, for she has nothing to live for without him. In a moment of true happiness, Dantes shuts his past out and confesses his love to her. He now appreciates Haydee's love and sacrifice and sails off into the sunset with her. Similarly, in the end, Maximilien sails off into the sunset with his bliss. A full month before, he was depressed and suicidal. He suffers and knows ultimate despair thus w

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1905
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)