Les Misérables

Les Misérables (pronounced: /le miːzeʁabl(ə); translated variously from French as The Miserable Ones, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, The Victims) (1862) is a novel by French author Victor Hugo, and considered to be among the best-known novels of the 19th century. It follows the lives and interactions of several French characters over a twenty-year period in the early 19th century, starting in the year of Napoleon's final defeat. The novel principally focuses on the struggles of the main character, ex-convict Jean Valjean, as he seeks to redeem himself from his past mistakes. It also provides social commentary by examining the impact of Valjean's actions: and it examines the nature of good, evil, and the law, in a sweeping story that expounds upon the history of France, architecture of Paris, politics, moral philosophy, antimonarchism, justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic and familial love. Les Misérables is known to many through its numerous stage and screen adaptations, of which the most famous is the stage musical of the same name, sometimes abbreviated "Les Mis" or "Les Miz" (pronounced /leɪ ˈmɪz/). The story may be considered historical fiction because it contains factual, historic events, including the Paris Uprising of 1832 (often mistaken for the much earlier French Revolution).

Plot

Les Misérables contains many plots, but the thread that binds them together is the story of the ex-convict, Jean Valjean (known by his prison number, 24601), who becomes a force for good in the world, but cannot escape his dark past. The novel is divided into five parts, each part divided into books, and subdivided into chapters. Each chapter is relatively short - usually no longer than a few pages. Nevertheless, the book as a whole is quite lengthy by usual standards, well exceeding twelve hundred pages in unabridged editions. Within the borders of the novel's story, Hugo fills many pages with his thoughts on religion, politics, and society, including his three lengthy digressions, one being a discussion on enclosed religious orders, another being on argot, and most famously, his epic retelling of the Battle of Waterloo.

The story starts in 1815, in Toulon. The peasant Jean Valjean has just been released from imprisonment in the bagne of Toulon after nineteen years: five for stealing bread for his starving sister and her family, and fourteen more for numerous escape attempts. Upon being released, he is required to carry a yellow passport that marks him as a convict, despite having already paid his debt to society by serving his time in jail. Rejected by innkeepers, who do not want to take in a convict, Valjean sleeps on the street. This makes him even more angry and bitter. However, the benevolent Bishop Myriel, the Bishop of Digne, takes him in and gives him shelter. In the middle of the night, he steals the bishop’s silverware and runs. He is caught, but the bishop rescues him by claiming that the silverware was a gift and at that point gives him his two silver candlesticks as well, chastising him to the police for leaving in such a rush that he forgot these most valuable pieces. The bishop then tells him of the promise, (one Jean has no recollection of making), to use the silver to make an honest man of himself. As Valjean broods over these words, he inadvertently steals a child's money when the boy's coin rolls under his shoe; he chases the child away (Petit Gervais). Soon after, he finds the coin under his shoe, realizes his mistake, and decides to follow the bishop's advice. He searches the city for the child whose money he accidentally stole. At the same time, his theft is reported to the authorities, who now look for him as a repeat offender. If Valjean is caught, he will be forced to spend the rest of his life in prison, so he hides from the police.

Six years later, Valjean, having assumed the pseudonym Monsieur Madeleine to avoid capture, has become a wealthy factory owner and is appointed mayor of his adopted town of Montreuil-sur-Mer. Sometime later, Valjean meets the dying Fantine, who was fired from her job at his factory and had been forced to resort to prostitution to pay for her daughter's board and expenses. Her young daughter, Cosette, lives with the Thénardiers, a corrupt innkeeper and his selfish, cruel wife. Fantine is unaware of the constant abuse to her daughter and continues to try to pay their growing, extortionate demands for her upkeep. Separated from Cosette, Fantine is slowly dying from an unnamed disease, (probably tuberculosis). Valjean, seeing in Fantine similarities to his former life of hardship and pain, promises her that he will take care of Cosette, despite the imminent threat of arrest. The town's police inspector, Javert, had already suspected that Madeleine was in fact Jean Valjean, whom he had seen in jail while a guard in Toulon. This suspicion is momentarily dispelled when another man is mistakenly accused of being Valjean after being arrested and having noticeable similarities to the real Valjean. To save the man, Valjean reveals himself at the trial and is sent to jail. During his incarceration, Valjean fakes his death and escapes. He arrives at Montfermeil and pays off the Thénardiers to obtain Cosette, and flees with her to Paris. Once in Paris, they find shelter in a convent.

Ten years later, as Valjean and Cosette are leaving the convent, students, led by Enjolras, are preparing an anti-Orléanist revolution on the eve of the Paris uprising on June 5–6, 1832, following the death of General Lamarque, the only French leader who had sympathy towards the working class. They are also joined by the poor, including the Thenardiers' eldest son Gavroche, who is a street urchin. One of the students, Marius Pontmercy, who has become alienated from his family because of his liberal views, falls in love with Cosette, who has grown to be very beautiful. The Thénardiers, who have also moved to Paris, now live in poverty due to the loss of their inn, living under the surname “Jondrette.” They also live in the same apartment building as Marius, whom they live next door to. Their eldest daughter Éponine visits Marius at his apartment to beg for money. She tries to prove to him that she is literate by reading aloud from a book and writing on a sheet of paper “The cognes are here.” Marius pities her and gives her some money.

After Éponine leaves, Marius is observing the “Jondrettes” in their apartment. They soon have a philanthropist and his daughter visit them. They are actually Valjean and Cosette. Marius immediately recognizes Cosette when he sees her. After they leave, Marius asks Éponine to retrieve her address for him. Éponine, who is in love with Marius herself, reluctantly agrees to do so. The Thénardiers also recognize Valjean and Cosette, and vow their revenge. M. Thénardier rounds up his gang Patron-Minette.

Overhearing this, Marius goes to Javert to report the crime. When he goes back home and waits for Javert and the police to arrive, he hears Valjean return with rent money for them. M. Thénardier, with Patron–Minette, ambushes him and reveals his true identity. Marius recognizes that M. Thénardier is the man who saved his father at Waterloo, and is caught in a dilemma. He tries to figure out how to save Valjean and not betray M. Thénardier. He suddenly eyes the scrap of paper with the sentence “The cognes are here” that Éponine wrote. He throws it in the Thénardiers’ apartment through a crack in the wall. M. Thénardier reads it and thinks Éponine threw it inside. He, Mme. Thénardier and Patron-Minette try to escape, only to be stopped by Javert. He arrests all the Thénardiers and the Patron-Minette (except Montparnasse who escapes). Mme. Thénardier later dies in prison.

After Éponine’s release from jail, she finds Marius and sadly tells him that she found Cosette’s address. She takes him there and he watches the house for a few days. He and Cosette then finally meet and declare their love for one another.

One night, during one of Marius’ visits with Cosette, M. Thénardier, Patron-Minette and Brujon attempt to raid Valjean’s house after their escape from prison. However, Éponine, who was sitting by the gates of the house, threatens to scream and awaken the whole neighborhood if the thieves do not leave. Hearing this, they reluctantly retire. Meanwhile, Cosette informs Marius that she and Valjean will be leaving for England in a week’s time, which greatly troubles the pair.

The next day, Valjean is sitting in the Champ de Mars. Unexpectedly, a note lands in his lap, which says “remove.” He goes back to his house and reconfirms with Cosette about moving to England. Marius tries to get permission from his grandfather M. Gillenormand to marry Cosette, but he refuses, telling him to make her his mistress instead. Insulted, Marius leaves.

The following day, the students revolt and erect barricades in the narrow streets of Paris. Marius goes back to Valjean and Cosette’s house that evening, but finds the house no longer occupied. He then hears a voice telling him that his friends are waiting for him at the barricade. Distraught over Cosette gone, he heeds the voice and goes.

While Marius fights at the barricade, a soldier makes it in and aims at Marius. However, a man steps between them and puts his hand and body in front of the musket. The soldier fires, fatally shooting the man. The man then calls Marius by his name. Marius, and the reader, discover that it is actually Éponine, dressed in men's clothes. As she lies on his knees, she suddenly confesses that it was she who told Marius to go to the barricade, in hoping that the two would die together. The author also states to the reader that it was also Éponine who anonymously threw the note to Valjean. She also decides to give him a letter written by Cosette, which Éponine also confesses to obtaining from her a day earlier. After Éponine dies, Marius writes a farewell letter to Cosette. It is given to Valjean by Gavroche. Valjean, learning that Cosette's lover is fighting, is at first relieved, but then goes to the barricade himself to join the other students, not certain if he wants to protect Marius, or kill him.

During the ensuing battle, Valjean saves Javert from being killed by the students when they discover his identity. He volunteers to execute Javert, takes him out of sight, and then shoots into the air while letting him go. Valjean carries off the injured Marius, but all others, including Enjolras and Gavroche, are killed. Valjean escapes through the sewers, carrying Marius's body on his shoulders. At the exit, he runs into Javert, whom he persuades to give him time to return Marius to his family. Javert grants this request, and then realizes that he is caught between his manichean belief in the law and the mercy Valjean has shown him. He feels he can no longer give Valjean up to the authorities. Unable to cope with this dilemma, Javert throws himself into the Seine. Marius and Cosette are soon married. Valjean confesses to Marius that he is an ex-convict. Marius is horrified by the news. Convinced that Valjean is of poor moral character, he steers Cosette away from him. Valjean loses the will to live and takes to his bed. Then, M. Thenardier approaches Marius in order to blackmail him with what he knows of Valjean, but in doing so, he inadvertently reveals to Marius all of the good deeds Valjean has performed, including saving Marius' life on the barricades. But Marius has learned of Valjean's good deeds too late; he and Cosette rush to Valjean's house but the great man is dying. Valjean reveals his past to the pair and in his final moments, he realizes happiness with his adopted daughter and son-in-law by his side. He expresses his love to them, and then dies.

Characters

Major

• Jean Valjean (a.k.a. Monsieur Madeleine, a.k.a. Ultime Fauchelevent, a.k.a. Monsieur Leblanc, a.k.a. Urbain Fabre, a.k.a. 24601) — Convicted for stealing a loaf of bread, he is paroled from prison nineteen years later. Rejected by society for being a former convict, Bishop Myriel turns his life around. He assumes a new identity to pursue an honest life, becoming a factory owner and a mayor. He adopts and raises Fantine's daughter, Cosette, and dies at an old age.
• Javert (a.k.a. Monsieur DeMasi) — An obsessive police inspector who continuously hunts, tracks down, and loses Valjean. He goes undercover behind the barricade, but is discovered and unmasked. Valjean has the chance to kill Javert, but lets him go. Later Javert allows Valjean to escape. For the first time, Javert is in a situation in which to act lawfully is immoral. His inner conflict leads him to commit suicide by jumping into the River Seine.
• Bishop Myriel, the bishop of Digne — A kindly old priest who is promoted to bishop by a chance encounter with Napoleon. He convinces Valjean to change his ways after Valjean steals some silver from him.
• Fantine — A Parisian grisette abandoned while pregnant by her lover Félix Tholomyès. Fantine leaves her daughter Cosette in the care of the Thénardiers, innkeepers in a village called Montfermeil. Unfortunately, Mme. Thénardier spoils her own daughters and abuses Cosette. Fantine finds work at Monsieur Madeleine's factory, but is fired by a woman supervisor who discovers that she is an unwed mother. To meet repeated demands for money from the Thénardiers, she sells her hair, then her front teeth, and finally turns to prostitution. Valjean learns of her plight when Javert arrests her for attacking a man who called her insulting names and hurled snow at her back. She dies of tuberculosis before Valjean is able to reunite her with Cosette.
• Cosette (a.k.a. Euphrasie) — The daughter of Fantine. For the first few years of her life, she is beaten and forced to be a drudge by the Thénardiers. After her mother dies, Valjean ransoms her from the Thénardiers and she becomes his adopted daughter. She falls in love with Marius Pontmercy, and marries him at the end of the novel.
• Marius Pontmercy — A second-generation aristocrat (not recognized as such because it was Napoleon who made Marius' father a noble) who fell out with his royalist grandfather after discovering his father was an officer under Napoleon. He studies law, joins the revolutionary ABC students and later falls in love with Cosette.
• M. & Mme. Thénardier — A corrupt innkeeper and his wife. They have five children: two daughters (Éponine and Azelma) and three sons (Gavroche and two unnamed younger sons). They take in Cosette in her first years, mistreating and abusing her. They end up losing the inn and moving to Paris, living as the Jondrettes. Thénardier is later the head of a criminal gang called the Patron-Minette. The family also live next door to Marius, who recognizes Thénardier as the man who "tended to" his father at Waterloo.
• Éponine — The Thénardiers' elder daughter. As a child, she is pampered and spoiled by her parents, but ends up a street urchin when she reaches adolescence. She participates in her father's crimes and begging schemes to obtain money. She is also in love with Marius. At Marius' request, she finds Cosette's address for him and leads him to her. After disguising herself as a boy, she tricks Marius into going to the barricades, hoping that they will die together. However, she reaches out her hand to stop a soldier's bullet heading for Marius: she is mortally wounded as the bullet goes through her hand and back. As she is dying, her final request is that once she has passed, Marius will kiss her on the forehead. He does.
• Gavroche — The unloved eldest son of the Thénardiers. He lives on his own and is a street urchin. He takes part in the barricades and dies collecting bullets from dead National Guardsmen.
• Enjolras — The leader of the revolutionary students. He dies during the fighting at the barricade.

Minor

• Mademoiselle Baptistine — Bishop Myriel's sister. She loves and venerates her brother.
• Madame Magloire — Domestic servant for the Bishop and his sister. She grumbles at the life of poverty the Bishop insists upon, and is fearful that he leaves the door open to strangers.
• Petit Gervais — A small boy who drops a coin. There are two perspectives on Jean Valjean's encounter with him. According to one, Valjean, still a man of criminal mind, places his foot on the coin and refuses to return it to the boy, despite Gervais' protests. When the boy flees the scene and Valjean comes to his senses, remembering what the bishop had done for him, he is horribly ashamed of what he has done and searches for the boy in vain. Another interpretation of this scene is that Jean Valjean was not aware that he was stepping on the coin, and snarls at Petit Gervais, thinking he is just annoying him, but realizes later that the coin was under his foot and feels horrible. Either way, he was uncaring of the boy's pleas.
• Fauchelevent — Valjean saves Fauchelevent’s life when Valjean lifts a carriage underneath which he is caught. Fauchelevent later will return the favor by providing sanctuary for Valjean and Cosette at a convent, and by providing his name for Valjean's use.
• Bamatabois — An idler who harasses Fantine and puts snow down her back. He is also one of the jurors at Champmathieu’s trial.
• Champmathieu — A vagabond who is mistakenly accused of being Valjean.
• Brevet — An ex-convict from Toulon who knew Valjean there. In 1823, he is serving time in the prison in Arras for an unknown crime. He is the first to claim that Champmathieu is really Valjean. Used to wear knitted, checkered suspenders.
• Chenildieu — A lifer from Toulon. He and Valjean were chain mates for five years. He once tried to remove the lifer's brand TFP (travaux forcés à perpetuité, forced labor for life) by putting his shoulder on a chafing dish full of embers. He is described as a small, wiry but energetic man.
• Cochepaille — Another lifer from Toulon. He used to be a shepherd from the Pyrenees who became a smuggler. He is described as stupid and has a tattoo on his arm, March 1, 1815.
• Sister Simplice — A nun who cares for Fantine on her sickbed. She also lies to Javert to protect Valjean.
• Toussaint — Valjean and Cosette's servant in Paris.
• Monsieur Gillenormand — Marius' grandfather. A Monarchist, he disagrees sharply with Marius on political issues, and they have several arguments. He attempts to keep Marius from being influenced by his father, an officer in Napoleon's army. While in perpetual conflict over ideas, he does illustrate his love for his grandson.
• Mademoiselle Gillenormand — M. Gillenormand's surviving daughter, she lives with her father. Her half-sister (M. Gillenormand's daughter from another marriage), who died, was Marius' mother.
• Colonel Georges Pontmercy — Marius' father, and an officer in Napoleon's army. Wounded at Waterloo, Pontmercy erroneously believes M. Thénardier saved his life. He tells Marius of this great debt.
• Mabeuf — An elderly churchwarden. He was friends with Colonel Pontmercy, and then befriends Marius after Colonel Pontmercy's death. He helps Marius realize the true identity and intentions of his father. He has a great love for plants and books, but ends up having to sell his books due to descending into poverty. Feeling that all hope is lost, he joins the students in the insurrection. He is shot and killed at the top of the barricades when raising their flag.
• Magnon — Former servant of M. Gillenormand and friend of the Thénardiers. She had been receiving child support payments from M. Gillenormand for her two illegitimate sons, who she claimed were fathered by him. When her sons died in an epidemic, she had them replaced with the Thénardiers' two youngest sons so that she could protect her income. The Thénardiers get a portion of the payments. She is soon arrested due to being allegedly involved in the Gorbeau Robbery.
• Two little brothers — The two unnamed youngest sons of the Thénardiers. The Thénariders send their sons to Magnon to replace her own two sons who died of illness. When Magnon is arrested, a cobbler gives the boys a note written by Magnon with an address to go to. Unfortunately, it is torn away from them due to a strong wind. Unable to find it, they end up living on the streets. They soon run into their brother Gavroche, who gives them temporary care and support. The two boys and Gavroche are unaware they are related.
• Azelma — The younger daughter of the Thénardiers. Like her sister Éponine, she is spoiled as a child, and suffers the same ragged fate when she is older. She also takes part in her father's crimes, and continues to stay with him after the rest of her family perishes. She is the only known Thénardier child who does not die. She goes to America with her father at the end of the novel.
• Patron-Minette — A quartet of bandits who assist in the Thénardiers' ambush of Valjean at Gorbeau House and the attempted robbery at the Rue Plumet. The gang consists of Montparnasse, Claquesous, Babet, and Gueulemer.
• Brujon — A robber and criminal. He participates in crimes with M. Thénardier and the Patron-Minette gang (such as the Gorbeau Robbery and the attempted robbery at the Rue Plumet). The author describes Brujon as being "a sprightly young fellow, very cunning and very adroit, with a flurried and plaintive appearance."
• Friends of the ABC — A group of revolutionary students. They fight and die in the insurrection of the Paris uprising on June 5 and 6th, 1832. Led by Enjolras, its other principal members are Courfeyrac, Combeferre, Jean Prouvaire, Feuilly, Bahorel, Lesgles (nicknaimed Bossuet, sometimes also written Laigle), Joly, and Grantaire.
• Grantaire — Alcoholic, womanizing, revolutionary student, who, unlike the other revolutionaries, does not strongly believe in the cause of the ABC Society, but is a member because he hero-worships Enjolras. Their relationship is most commonly compared to Orestes and Pylades, referenced in the book. Grantaire is executed in the wine shop with Enjolras.

Critical reception

The first two volumes of Les Misérables were published on 3 April 1862, heralded by a massive advertising campaign; the remainder of the novel appeared on 15 May 1862. At the time, Victor Hugo enjoyed a reputation as one of France's foremost poets, and the appearance of the novel was a highly anticipated event. Critical reactions were wide-ranging and often negative; some critics found the subject matter immoral, others complained of its excessive sentimentality, and still others were disquieted by its apparent sympathy with the revolutionaries. The Goncourt brothers expressed their great dissatisfaction, judging the novel artificial and disappointing. Flaubert could find within it "neither truth nor greatness." French critic Charles Baudelaire reviewed the work glowingly in newspapers, but in private castigated it as "tasteless and inept."

Nonetheless, the book was a great commercial success. First translated into foreign languages (including Italian, Greek and Portuguese) the same year it originally appeared, it proved popular not only in France, but across Europe.

It has been a popular book ever since it was published, and was a great favorite among the Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War, who called it "Lee's Miserables" (a reference to their deteriorating conditions under General Robert E. Lee). Its popularity continues to this day, and it is viewed by many as one of the most important novels written.

Adaptations

Film adaptations

• 1907, On the barricade, directed Alice Guy Blaché, early adaptation of a part of the novel
• 1907, Le Chemineau
• 1909, directed by J. Stuart Blackton
• 1909, The Bishop's Candlesticks, directed by Edwin S. Porter
• 1911, directed by Albert Capellani
• 1913, directed again by Albert Capellani
• 1913, The Bishop's Candlesticks, directed Herbert Brenon, adaptation of the second book of the first volume
• 1917, directed by Frank Lloyd
• 1922, director unknown
• 1923, Aa Mujo, directed by Kiyohiko Ushihara and Yoshinobu Ikeda, Japanese film, production cancelled after two of four parts
• 1925, directed by Henri Fescourt
• 1929, The Bishop's Candlesticks, directed by Norman McKinnell, first sound film adaptation
• 1929, Aa mujo, directed by Seika Shiba, Japanese film
• 1931, Jean Valjean, directed by Tomu Uchida, Japanese film
• 1934, directed by Raymond Bernard
• 1935, directed by Richard Boleslawski
• 1937, Gavrosh, directed by Tatyana Lukashevich, Soviet film
• 1938, Kyojinden, directed by Mansaku Itami, Japanese film
• 1943, Los Miserables, directed by Renando A. Rovero, Mexican film
• 1944, El Boassa, directed by Kamal Selim, Egyptian film
• 1948, I Miserabili, directed by Riccardo Freda
• 1949, Les Nouveaux Misérables, directed by Henri Verneuil
• 1950, Re mizeraburu: Kami to Akuma, directed by Daisuke Ito, English title: Gods and demons
• 1950, Ezai Padum Pado, dirceted by K. Ramnoth, Indian film
• 1952, directed by Lewis Milestone
• 1952, I miserabili, re-release of the 1947-film
• 1955, Kundan, directed by Sohrab Modi, Indian Hindi film
• 1958 Les Misérables, directed by Jean-Paul Le Chanois, French film starring Jean Gabin
• 1958, Os Miseráveis, directed by Dionísio Azevedo, Brazilian film
• 1961, Jean Valjean, Korean film by Seung-ha Jo
• 1967, directed by Alan Bridges
• 1967, Os Miseráveis, Brazilian film
• 1967, Sefiler, Turkish film
• 1972, directed by Marcel Bluwal
• 1973, Los Miserables, directed by Antulio Jimnez Pons, Mexican adaptation
• 1977, Cosette, animation
• 1978, UK telefilm, directed by Glenn Jordan and starring Anthony Perkins, Richard Jordan, Sir John Gielgud, Cyril Cusack, and Claude Dauphin (actor)
• 1978, Al Boasa, Egyptian adaptation
• 1979, Jean Valjean Monogatari, directed by Takashi Kuoka, Japanese animation
• 1982, directed by Robert Hossein
• 1985, TV version of the 1982 film
• 1988, animation
• 1995, directed by Claude Lelouch (a loose, multi-layered adaptation set in the 20th century starring Jean-Paul Belmondo)
• 1995, Les Misérables - The Dream Cast in Concert Musical done in concert style
• 1998, directed by Bille August and starring Liam Neeson, Geoffrey Rush, Uma Thurman, and Claire Danes
• 2000, French TV miniseries directed by Josée Dayan and co-produced by Gérard Depardieu (starring: Gérard Depardieu, Christian Clavier, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Virginie Ledoyen, Asia Argento, Jeanne Moreau, Veronica Ferres, John Malkovich,...)
• 2007, Les Misérables: Shōjo Cosette, Japanese animated TV series by Nippon Animation
• 2007, Les Misérables: School Version copyrighted
• 2008, Les Misérables: Le Capitole de Quebec Version directed by Frédéric Dubois

Stage Adaptations

In 1980, a musical of the same name opened in Paris and has gone on to become the most successful musical in history. It was written by Robert Hossein, the composer Claude-Michel Schönberg and the librettist Alain Boublil. Many of the songs from Les Misérables, the musical, are well-known individually in the music world.