When I was a child, one of my favorite books was the Count of Monte Cristo. In it, the protagonist Edmond is betrayed by his friend, and to a lesser degree, his lover Mercedes. Edmund is imprisoned for years before he escapes and finds a treasure that empowers him to exact revenge. When he discovers certain mitigating circumstances regarding Mercedes, he falls in love with her again. I always wanted Edmond to have Mercedes imprisoned or ruined for her betrayal. Anyway, its been years since I thought about this. I went to the movie adaptation last weekend and suddenly remembered my opinion of Mercedes, which struck me as a particularly vindictive attitude. This is ironic, not only because I have a different attitude now, but because the book's central theme is about revenge, a point I apparently missed fifteen years ago. Still, part of me wanted to yell "Kill the whore!" in the theater. Old habits die hard.