still monte cristoposting but one thing i find so compelling is how all 3 of the main antagonists suck in such a normal, banal way. you can totally believe men like this could exist, because they DO exist. their personality flaws are very common and very grounded, and it was by luck that they got the chance to do as much damage as they did.
danglars is a greedy capitalist who values money more than people, and sees everything he wants as his birthright. not only does he jump on the chance to get dantes out of the way, he also treats his wife and daughter like props in order to line his pockets, and steals from the charity he runs. anything for a few extra bucks.
fernand feels entitled to mercedes' affection (and implicitly her body) and gets rid of dantes so he can have what's "rightfully his", taking advantage of mercedes' grief and loneliness after the fact to trap her in a marriage he knows she doesn't want. when they have a son, it gradually becomes clear he only sees that son as an extension of himself - the second albert stops being the perfect, dutiful son, the second he says "no, what you did is wrong and i won't stand for it", he calls him a coward and a disappointment. he sells a woman and her child into slavery and it literally never occurs to him to be ashamed because to him, they weren't real people, at least not people worth mourning. fernand is fundamentally a moral coward; he'll backstab anyone to get what he wants, but folds immediately when faced with the consequences of his actions.
villefort probably displays the most redeeming qualities; we see he loves his children, and unlike the other two, he's eventually able to see what a bastard he is. but he chooses to do something he knows is wrong for the sake of advancing his career, and rather than own up to it, he doubles down for over twenty years, becoming a harsh and calculating judge where he once promised to value mercy and compassion. one of the most fascinating lines in the novel is when villefort admits to another character that he's so merciless to the criminals in his courtroom because seeing other criminals - criminals he thinks of as being "worse" than he is - assures him that, at the very least, he's not the worst humanity has to offer. and while he does love his kids, he fails as a father when he refuses to see how abusive his wife is to his daughter, and his inactive role in his children's upbringing lets his wife wreak havoc on several people's lives. so much could've been avoided if villefort had bothered to notice anything going on with valentine.
the count of monte cristo is high melodrama. it runs on coincidence and disguises and impossibly complex schemes, but the three main antagonists are all very real in the sort of evil they represent.
