The Count of Monte Cristo, Iran, and Divine Rule
I will happily announce and with great pride too that I have just finished reading the Count of Monte Cristo. I will say two initial things that hopefully do not surprise anyone about this incredible novel. One, it is the longest book I have ever read at around 1200 pages. However, it is so captivating and intriguing that when I reached the end of it in a weird way it did not feel long enough. What I would have given for another 1000 pages to spend more time with Edmond, Maximilian, Valentine, and all the other vividly described characters. Second, it is without a doubt the best book I have ever read. From the very moment Edmond entered the Chateau D’if I could not be stopped or slowed down in my reading. I was eagerly awaiting with excitement to see how our protagonist would obtain his revenge. It was not just that he was wrongfully imprisoned, his entire life was stolen and in fact Edmond was replaced with the Count, he was never the same. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot lines, the intrigue, and all the other tales in which Dumas vividly describes such as the life of Luigi Vampa and the brilliant descriptions of Carnival in Rome. It was truly a phenomenal book which I would highly recommend and without a doubt has earned itself a place in the list of the masterpieces of literature. I do not want to spoil anything for readers who have not yet had the pleasure to devour this novel. Therefore, I will not say much more about the plot, or the individual characters arcs, or give away the ending. I truly believe this is something everyone should experience first hand, because no one can out do Dumas. However, while reading this immense novel, my political fascination was awakened. Edmond as well as many other characters were truly victims of the time in which they lived. I guess as are we all to some extent. However, Dumas really wants us to understand the political chaos of the time in which the characters lived and how this played an outside role in impacting people’s lives more so than in the past.
I think it is fair to say, and the reader can disagree with me, that without the French Revolution, the tragedy of Edomnd Dante’s does not occur. Allow me to explain.The novel begins in the time when Napoleon was exiled on the Island of Elba. Edmond is framed for a crime he did not commit, however, the basis of the crime is political. Is politics not the cause of most of our troubles and is not the French Revolution still the cause of most of our problems even today? Anyways I digress. He is accused of being a Bonapartist and a man with radical political opinions. Though you do not take an interest in politics, politics will take an interest in you, so the saying goes. Dantes’ is truly a victim of his times. Throughout the timeline of the book a great deal of upheaval occurs in France’s politics. The book begins with the King restored to the throne after Napoleon’s exile. Napoleon then returns as emperor, is exiled again and replaced by the King. Finally, a constitutional style monarchy takes hold in France which is the political state in which the book ends. This is an enormous amount of political unrest that occurs in the lives of the characters as well as the people of France who for a thousand years had been ruled by an absolute monarchy. Without the chaos that ensued from the French revolution there would have been no way for a man like Napoleon to become emperor by restoring order to a traumatized country. Thus, there would have been no Napoleon and no way to have Dantes falsely imprisoned as a man with radical political opinions. My central thesis does not have to do with much of the plot of the novel but rather that politics is a gateway to instability and chaos within a society.
How does this instability begin one might be asking himself as he reads this essay? It begins with monarchs losing their sense of divine rule. I would like to draw the reader's attention to one of Dumas' many great quotes. However, this quote does not have to do with love or revenge, instead it has to do with politics and gets to the center of the crisis France faced and that we in our modern world face today. It is without a doubt one of the best summaries of how we as a people have allowed politics to consume us with grifters and charlatans. Those politicians who come around promising the world only to crash and burn. Dumas states:
“But kings today, confined within the limits of probability, no longer possess the audacity of willpower. They are afraid of the ears that listen to their orders and the eyes that watch whatever they do. They no longer have any sense of the superiority of their divine being: they are men who wear crowns, nothing more. At one time they would have believed themselves (or, at least, have claimed to be) the sons of Jupiter, and their manners would somehow have reflected those of their father, the god; what happens beyond the clouds is not so easily controlled, but nowadays kings are well within reach.”
The point that Dumas is making here cuts to the very heart of the crisis that he experienced in his life during France’s political upheaval and one in which all modern states face, except for maybe Iran. The leaders of today and the Kings in Dumas’ time did not any longer view themselves to have any transcendent or divine qualities. Whether Kings of the past were truly divine with a unique spiritual connection to God I will leave each reader to make their own conclusions. However, that point is irrelevant because many believed they were and the people believed it as well. The actions and decisions of the Kings would reflect the fact that they were divine and would resemble that of a divine being. In turn their decisions would be more well thought out, reflect a longer time horizon and would not be mired and dirtied by political calculations. No doubt the decisions of this divine king would be much more beneficial to himself and the people over which he rules than a leader only concerned with his image and politics. When a divine king rules there is no political instability because there is no politics. Unfortunately, as Dumas puts it even in his time the days of Kings being connected to the divine were long gone. They were men that wore crowns and just as concerned with political intrigues as a politician of today.
I despise the Machiavellian or Nietzschean argument that power is what makes someone great. It is the opposite, in fact, it should be that greatness should make someone powerful. Our leaders should be people who display great acts of transcendence. People who show themselves to be able to break human bonds. Great leaders are not solely concerned with materialism but have a greater connection to a divine spirit than the average person. I have a great deal of respect for how the Iranian regime is structured. Iran has a leader with a connection to the divine that allows him to break through the human condition and see things in a greater light. I believe the Iranian regime has more staying power than people give it credit for. It is a country run by an enlightened leader, whose word is final, and who views his position as close to the divine and his decisions reflect his divine character. The greatness and responsibility of the leader who believes in his transcendent power is a person whose decision making will be much more carefully thought out, who will seek long term solutions, not give into short term thinking which controls countries dominated by political intrigue, and his actions will reflect those of the God he is attempting to emulate as the representation on earth. If Iran does collapse it will not be because of their theocracy. Rather it will be because the liberals or reformers took away the divine power of the leader and gave in to the Western idealization of mass democracy and politics. The stability created by the divine leader will be shaken irreparably and the whole system will collapse. I hope I did not go off on too much of a tangent but the problem faced by Iran today is the same one faced by the Kings of the West, perfectly described by Dumas.
This was not so much an essay about the Count of Monte Cristo, as I noted in the beginning, it was more about the decay of government that has occurred over hundreds of years. No charlatan politician who comes along, whether it be Lenin, or Stalin, or Trump, or Zohran Mamdani will fix the problem that is at the core of the decline of the west. All these previously mentioned leaders have to offer are material solutions to spiritual problems. Our leaders no longer have a sense of greatness, transcendence, or connection to the divine that they used to have. By abandoning divine rule leaders have become consumed with politics, always worried about threats to their rule and taking actions to protect themselves rather than improve the lives of their people.
