Prison/Death

Dumas often writes of Edmond Dantès’s time in prison as if it were a death. What do you think is the significance of this choice of language?

Well, what springs to mind is that Edmond Dantes dies in prison and the Count of Monte Cristo is "born" upon his escape. But I'll have to think about it more.

I feel that the spirit of Edmond Dantes died to a certain extent in the prison, but he was still willing to stay in the prison until his friend/mentor died. That to me was very much the same old spirit of Edmond. I think what died was his ability to forgive others. It took years for him to finally see that he was hurting some of those that he swore he loved.

I agree that he "died" in prison in a way. And after he becomes TCOMC, people always comment about his pale look of death and even compare him to a vampire.

I have heard a lot of talks on the power of forgiveness lately in Church. It can be so hard when so much has happened to one. He suffered a lot.