Empathy for Mr. Picaud

Empathy for Mr. Picaud

Revenge would always hold two graves... these words from the Chinese philosopher Confuscius sound very noble, yet it’s neither held a reliving feeling nor upon the real taste of an ultimate satisfaction. With the interence of human morality, it causes the victor to unnnecessary to feel guilt, massochistic, emptiness, self-pity and a ruptured confidence. These heartbroken emotions eventually take a long time to recover. Why isn’t there an existing joy that should exist when accomplishing a remedied feat.

The true account of the lost 18th century modest French cobbler: François Picaud. His Lifestory was recalled by the famous French author of the The Three Musketeers: Alexandre Dumas. He had clearly hijacked François Picaud’s crisis as incentive to use his creative literacy for his famous fictional novel: The Count of Monte Cristo.

Dumas had taken creative liberties in fabricating a wild adventurous structure by collaborating with his time period where struggling and divided loyalties were occuring during the Bonaparte’s campaigns.

Hollywood has retolled this Dumas’s famous narration on film many times within the last century, it romaticizes lost loves and weaponizies revenge without the cost of any foreseen consequences of the main character’s actions. The storyline depicts where‘ an end justifies the means ‘, as well ‘ to those who receives their just desserts ’. These conclusive endings which are being constantly sell many pieces of literacy for the primal reason of augmented levels of readership. This public justified narration had always been a regular sell-out, where there’s always someone who comes with the great idea to solve an inevitable dilemma. Otherwise, how could the minds of the suddenly damaged and the helplessly broken be reassured to receive any real justice?

The real life Monte-Cristo’s storyline had been Mr. Picaud: His account was not as glamorous Dumas’ literary depiction. His false incarceration was conjured by three of his rivals who wanted to acquire his well-earned gains by any means, necessary. This trouble threesome had purposely turned this mans life upside-down to only satisfy each of their own private means.

Mr. Picaud was simply a humble shoemaker making a living in Nîmes; it’s a small town located in the southeastern partof France, who was also fortunate enough to be engaged the beautiful woman named Marguerite Vigueroux. Like all ambitious young men, Picaud had been looking forward to beginingg his new life by raising a family and one day pass down his honourable trade to children. Either somehow fate or someone else had different plans for him.

Ah, Yes, the rise the of the those ancient wicked human deeds of envy, greed and jealously were rearing their ugly heads. Like the angered Hydra of Greek mythology, the giant multi-headed reptile gets immediately threathened when its discovers any invading rivals who were willing to challenge his monopolization of his surrounding dominance.

When if begins to feel up upstaged, it intends to vanquish them in order to defined its’ supremacy over the land. This is how that these three fiends had decided to proceed in the same manner towards Picaud’s good fortune. They had conspired together with one another to eliminate a potential nemesis. They would each make a separate attempt to destroy an innocent victim’s identity and livelihood for their each of their own causes.

Well, this terrible threesome had simply conjured a plan to convey to the French authorities to falsely betray Mr. Picaud as secretly being a British spy under the Napoleonic regime. They had somehow convinced the nearest constabularies of his whereabouts so he can be quickly apprehended.

Like Dumas’Dantes, upon the Tuesday evening of Mr.Picaud’s approaching nuptials; the authorities had rushed in to disrupt this glorious event and he had been wrongfully arrested of the charges of being a traitor. This unexpected spectacle was being shockingly witnessed by his fiancée and his widowed father. Also viewing from the sidelines, were his three rivals who were saddistically gleeful of the tumultuous scene of his false apprehension. This meant

Since Mr.Picaud was being taken into immediate custody, everything that had worked so hard had all been stripped away from him. For his rivals, this meant that an impediment had been forcefully removed and whatever was left behind had become wide open for an unobstructed undertaking. Mr. Picaud’s cries & pleas of innocence had fallen on deaf ears.Any verbal support for Mr. Picaud’s release had been deliberately disregareded upon the terms of so-called defined evidence.

Family & friends were simply feeling dimayed and helpless. With very little monetary representation for the victim witout any given trials; the verdict was immediately deliberated without any defense. The following years after his release from the Italian prison: Fontestrelle; the French authorities had later realized that he had been wrongfully apprehendend for crimes which were never committed. Mr. Picaud had always declared his innocence and clearly denied all of these charges from the very beginning.

The French authorities had sent him to prison to the nearest sanitarium that was just located ourside the eastern French border and into an Italian jurisdiction where TheFenestrelle fortification was closely found. In Dumas’ rendition, Dantes was in his young prime when he was shipped out to be imprisoned at a desolete island named The Château D’If until his escape 14 years, later.

Both men, fictional and real had each encountered a fellow inmate who was from a religious order through a tunnel being dug underneath the prison. Dumas’Abbey Farera was the tunnel digger that meets up with Dantes. Actually, it was Mr. Picaud who did the digging from his cell to meet Father Torri. Both priest were each highly educated and falsely imprisoned under conspiring assumptions.

While both parties were cultivating friendships along the years of capture and working together to escape from their unlawful confinements. Their jail cells have differed along literary depictions, some captives put in square rooms with very little light appearing in and others were referrred as oubliets (French term as The Forgotten Ones).

An ‘ oubliet ‘ (oo-bli-yet) was a large duggout hole that is created as a giant underground stout bottle-shapped opening where the rounded walls were made for climbing difficult to escape, yet often became impossible to overcome. The captive’s only light came from and unreachable ceiling grid and offered very little oxygen. The guards would daily drop any refuse down for the prisoners to grasp.

The relationship among the young recent captive and the experience ageing clergyman had a lot to learn from each another. With the old priest was well educated, flexibly stoïc and quite wise; his only hope and freedom was hispeaceful faith that originated within himself, yet the young captive was filled with utter hatred, drastic misunderstanding and holding atheistic views against his entire his situation. Nothing was ever making sense in his mind. Mr. Picaud had often wondered how much his fiancée really loved him because she had never made an attempt to stand up for him for his release. He had later assumed that she had either given up on him at that moment or was forcibly being guilted and folded to marry another man for security

Between the practices and discussions of morality & forgiveness and the ones of resentment & violation did come to a head for each to comprehend one another’s true feelings of each their current incarcerations.

Then one day in avery twisted manner, the Universe had decided to smile down and shown pity upon both distressful men. The priest had became suddenly physical ill from all of the exhausting digging in the tunnel. As his body began to rapidly fail; his thought had turned to his approaching end. He was dying and wanted to speak his last words with this young apprentice before his final demise. Why sitting up against the rugged wall; the priest wanted to devulge his final secret to his friend.

He hands him an esoteric map to his young companion. This crude drawing was to lead to a hidden treasure that he had initially wanted both could have enjoyed, together. Now, the moment came for the priest’s readiness to leave this mortal coil, while his eyes sadly closed with rest and relief, he was nor more. He now lay among th sages.

Once, the immediate grief had gripped his cell-mate;being rendered he became torn, deserted and alone. The surrounding silence was being rendered absolutely, deafening. After he held a broef and subtle moment of mourning; the survivor would drag his corpse onto the priest‘s former bed of squawlor for the guards to discover his passing.

The reason for his hasty retreat to his cell was mandatory; he had to quickly and cagily secrete the man-made escape hatch from the guards. After an hour of time had passed, the young overcomer could fainlty hear through the hollowed walls that the guards were mummifying the cadaver of his late friend. Knowingly that high-tide was not for another few hours until the guards threw the deceased into sea to be deteriorated, an opportunity for escape ahd finally arrived for the survivor.

After hearing the slaming of the closing cell door, the protégé rushes back through the tunnel to his late friend’s cell and decided to change places with the cold body. He had return to his own cell with the corpse and carefully disguised it on his bed as himself. He barricades the wall hurries to to the other cell and wraps himself in the burial cloth. The guards would have never known the difference.

While the arriving moment of the high-tide, he strongly kept his silence until the guards had carried out the assumed corpse out of the stockade and violently heaved it in the sea. Once, at the bottom of the sea, he was ready to free himself and rise to the sea level. Now, his next task was to find any possible safety away from the jailers.

Within the few film narrated versions, Dante was rescued by wandering Italian smugglers sailing in the Mediterranean who he had later rewarded for their generous hospitality. Yet, Mr. Picaud’s good fortune had only arrived when the prison was forcibly closed up for the lack of financial means, left for maintenance. All inmates were granted sudden release without question. Now free men could begin again with a new slate. Mr. Picaud’s immediate plans was to follow his map eastwards to Milan, Italy. His eager beginning had become a new adventurer for him.

Once, Mr. Picaud had retrieved his hidden treasure; he had decided to venture westwards and return home to France, yet upon his arrival. everything he knew had changed. During his absence, the life that he once enjoyed had longer existed. His shop had been torn down and rebuilt another business in its’ place. It seemed that someone was anxious to have his name permanently erased from society right after his sudden demise.

The world that he left behind all of those years ago, was atltogether gone. There seem no trace of his recognizable people or surroundings. Also, he had discovered that his widowed father had died of a broken heart recently after his prompt incarceration. It was later rumoured under the assumption was that Mr.Picaud had also perished in the depths of a prison cell.

While travelling along the streets of Nîmes and not revealing his new identity; he was informing himself from others to what ever happen to certain individuals who used to reside in the area.He was told that his fiancée had later married to one of his rivals two years after his unlawful imprisonment. Thery were now living in Paris with their children; as for the other two they proceded with each of their separate lives.

The next compelling step was for Mr.Picaud was to do was to re-invent himself with a new identity and carefully plan out his retaliatory actions towards those who had purposely crossed him for their own gains. Since public word had been very slow to reach rural 18th century communities; no one from his past had ever known the news about the closing of The Fenestrelle prison. Unknowlingly for the culprits, they had completely idea that Mr. Picaud had been on the warpath. Their lives were about to one day change, unexpectedly.

Now, the actions of his daring tasks were ready to begin. With his acquired wealth, he was going to find out why he was framed, who did it, how they proceded and how did they get away without detection for their voluntarily trangessions. Mr.Picaud was determined to have livehood to be returned to him! His goal was to have all of the known perpetrators either brought to justice by the law or have them brought by his manipulation as they go down in flames by their own greed.

The taste of revenge had been a meal that was readily to to be served very cold at the expense of each of their own stupidity. Unlike Dumas’ Dante, he had accumulated many cohorts to assist him in his devious plan, yet for Mr. Picaud had been utterly alone in his venture. This is the reason why that it took much longer for him than it had taken with Dumas’ literary takeover.

Throughout the approaching years, ironically, Mr. Picaud’s active role was being the spy that he was initially convicted for. This time, he was accompanied with his wealth and clout, and simply felt invincible. Amongst his clandestine research, he was able to find out each of their weaknesses and where to hit them hard. Again, he now became underhanded spy that they had him falsely portrayed to be. His role had been progressively in full effect.

The universal force of Karma has always functioned in a manner that it either bounces back or simply returning its’receiver actions. Among the three, the first one was either to be murderd by Mr. Picaud’s hand or by a hired assassin that he paid off. This specific indent of this man’s demise is still under speculation.

The second man had married his intended fiancée and mysteriously had his entire restaurant go up in flames by unknown arsonists. With no insurance towards his losses, he & his wife were financially ruined and sent into dire poverty. As well, as their children were publicly disgraced into utter disrepute. The third one had found himself to be deceivably swindled in a monetary transaction and enigmatically poisoned.

The wide feeling of great satisfaction had come over him to sooth all of his internal hatred into glorification. Mr. Picaud’s sense of relief and dominance had been finally attained! Yes, he had felt very good about himself and his confidence had reached a level of a Monarchal Mastery. Yet, unfortunately his story had never ended, happily. After hearing word how the third man had died; a fourth adversary had gotten wind of his plans and reported him to French authorities when Mr. Picaud had been surprisingly caught and arrested for a second time in his life. This time, he was legally imprisoned for real crimes which he had committed. Otherwise, there’s nothing else ever recorded of his final whereabouts.

To contend with the reading and viewing audiences, most of Dumas’ endings were mostly deemed ‘ Happily Ever After ‘ , yet others have shown Dantes at a great loss, again. He may have became immediately wealthy, but as an avenging angel, his biggest losses were his only Love could no longer be found, his forever his dignity and became the person that he hated the most.

So, the idea of any kind of serious retaliation would feels very good in s short span, but it’s since only a temporary glory to be proud of; it’s always being followed by living with an eternal guilt-ridden conscience. In actuality, we all want to feel some kind of satisfaction when we receive compensation for unforeseen and unwanted losses, but, well it’s nothing is ever the same when its’ not in it’s original state.