Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors
used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
The Sea
When Dantès escapes from prison, he plunges into the ocean,
experiencing a second baptism and a renewed dedication of his soul
to God. He has suffered a metaphorical death while in prison: the death
of his innocent, loving self. Dantès emerges as a bitter and hateful
man, bent on carrying out revenge on his enemies. He is washed in
the waters that lead him to freedom, and his rebirth as a man transformed
is complete. The sea continues to figure prominently in the novel
even after this symbolic baptism. Considering himself a citizen
of no land, Dantès spends much of his time on the ocean, traveling
the world in his yacht. The sea seems to beckon constantly to Dantès,
a skilled sailor, offering him perpetual escape and solitude.
The Red Silk Purse
First used by Monsieur Morrel in his attempt to save the
life of Dantès’s father, Dantès later uses the red silk purse when
he is saving Morrel’s life. The red purse becomes the physical symbol
of the connection between good deed and reward. Morrel recognizes
the purse and deduces the connection between the good deed performed on
his behalf and the good deed he once performed himself. Morrel concludes
that Dantès must be his savior, surmising that he is working from
beyond the grave. Morrel’s daughter, Julie, then emphasizes the
symbolic power of the purse by keeping it constantly on display
as a relic of her father’s miraculous salvation.
The Elixir
Dantès’s potent potion seems to have the power both to
kill and to bring to life, a power that Dantès comes to believe
in too strongly. His overestimation of the elixir’s power reflects
his overestimation of his own power, his delusion that he is almost
godlike, and his assertion that he has the right and capacity to
act as the agent of Providence. It is significant that, when faced
with Edward’s corpse, Dantès thinks first to use his elixir to bring
the boy to life. Of course, the elixir is not powerful enough to
bring the dead to life, just as Dantès himself is not capable of
accomplishing divine feats. The power to grant life—like the power
to carry out ultimate retribution and justice—lies solely in God’s
province. It is when Dantès acknowledges the limits of his elixir
that he realizes his own limitations as a human being.
