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CHARACTER LIST
Major Characters
Jean Valjean
The ex-convict who had been imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread. Primary protagonist.
Monsiegneur Bienvenu
The benevolent priest of the first book whose generosity and self sacrifice changes Valjean.
Cosette
The child of Fantine whom Valjean raises as his granddaughter.
Javert
The inspector of police whos lifelong ambition is to put Valjean back behind bars.
Marius
College student and idealist who falls in love with Cosette.
M. Gillenormand
Grandfather of Marius. Representative of the old bourgeois.
Thenardier
The paragon of evil both in character and in representation of other negative forces.
Minor Characters
Fantine
Cosettes mother. Has Cosette during a relationship with a college student who leaves her without marrying her or
providing for the child. Fantine is forced to leave Cosette with someone who will supposedly take care of her while Fantine
works for her support.
M. Fauchelevant
An old gardener whom Valjean rescues when a cart falls on him. Later helps provide a place of refuge for Valjean and
Cosette.
Eponine
Daughter to Thenardier.
Enjolras
College student-primary leader of the insurrection. His mistress is France.
Gavroche
Son of Thenardier.
Felix Tholomyes, Listolier, Fameuil, Blacheville
Students
Champmathieu
Another convict who is captured and believed to be Valjean.
Sister Simplice, Sister Perpetue
The nuns who take care of Fantine.
Colonel George Pontmercy
Marius father.
OVERALL ANALYSIS
CHARACTER ANALYSIS
Cosette
Although a pivotal character, Cosette is almost static and flat. She is innocent throughout, passive with respect to the
men in her life, and obedient to a fault even when such subservience makes her unhappy. The brief moments of selfawareness occur when she first realizes that she is pretty and when she meets Marius in her garden.
Even then, she is powerless to do anything other than what Valjean wants. Her passivity is transferred to Marius once
they are married. She is the doll, the saint of blind goodness and purity, the Cinderella who cannot function without her
prince. The narrator simply presents her, allowing the other characters to fawn over her. He offers less editorial comment
about her than any of the other major characters. Her saintliness is entirely the perceptions of others.
Eponine
Eponine is the opposite of Cosette in many ways, but the contrast is ironic. Eponine is the legitimate daughter of the
Thenardiers while Cosette was born out of wedlock, the offspring of a naive, love-sick girl and a playboy type student. Yet
Eponine is submerged in the criminal element and only escapes drowning in it through her own high spirits and courage
born of necessity. Cosette has almost anything she could want while Eponine has nothing, and the one thing Eponine does
want (Marius) can never be hers. Eponine is the daughter of a known criminal, while Cosette is being foster-fathered by a
secret one.
Cosettes innocence and purity is the result of a very sheltered life, of a lack of exposure to anything that might be a
negative influence on her. Eponine has an understanding of human nature far beyond her years, and is not afraid to fight
for what she wants. She knows how to manipulate people and situations to her own ends, yet she does so without malice.
She is the same age as Cosette, but she acts much older. In reality, she is a child herself, starving for a touch of humanity
and maintaining her own dignity in the face of overwhelming odds.
Gavroche
Little Gavroche reveals Hugos soft spot of the neglected waifs of Paris. Like his sister, he is immersed in the criminal
element of Paris, but while he uses it to his own ends for survival, he is untainted by it. He is a bundle of spunk, of
courage, and has a no-nonsense view of right and wrong. He will steal from other thieves, but his vandalism is often
committed to the benefit of others in need. He is quick to do favors and just as quick to make sure he is in the middle of
all the action. He is inventive, quick thinking, independent and non judgemental. In short, he is the most lovable
character of the novel.
Thenardier
Thenardier is the epitome of evil. A continuous bane to Valjean, he is also the chief representative of the worst elements
of French society. He is the product of laws that turn misdemeanors into major felonies, the outcome of a society where
the honest poor can barely survive. His own lack of character leads him into a life of crime where his style of living is
even worse than simply being poor. Yet, he is clever. He has the intelligence to rise above his circumstances, but chooses
to use it for criminal ends.
Gillenormand
Old Gillenormand is the one of the last of the old Bourgeois and is proud of it. He pretends that he is loyal to the old
politics, but in reality it is the lifestyle that he misses. He loved the old extravagances, the lavish parties, the frolick of the
popular and dashing courtier and was apparently one of them prior to the revolution. The probability of children who carry
his genes if not his name is significant enough to prevent him from denying support to women who claim to have his
children.
His primary indulgence is in his grandson whose father made the mistake of devoting himself to the cause and army of
Napoleon. For Marius to inherit a title, which had been given by someone Gillenormand views as an upstart imposter is
the most unbearable of insults. Nevertheless, the old mans primary weakness is also his grandsons-sheer stubbornness.
He is not willing to accept change especially when it seems centered in his own household where he cannot ignore it.
Javert
Javert is another type. As a character, he is static and relatively flat in that he is capable of thinking from only one
perspective. He also is unable to cope with change especially where his personal values are concerned. He is neither good
nor evil; he is simply the embodiment of the law, an entity that never questions itself and that proceeds to enact its own
precepts without concern for its victims. His pursuit of Valjean is as close as he comes to making a vendetta personal, for
to him Valjean represents an element which lives outside the law, and although little or no crime is committed, there is a
lack of control which Javert sees as a threat to the guiding principle of his life.
Marius
Marius primary purpose in the novel is to lure Cosette away from Valjean and to bring Valjean to the point of ultimate self
denial and self sacrifice. Throughout the novel he is immature if not somewhat shallow. He grows up quickly when forced
to make a decision whether to go on moping in self pity or to take action in a cause. Even then, if he had not believed he
had lost Cosette, it is doubtful whether he would have become involved in the insurrection. He cares for his friends but
has been raised in a sheltered environment and is spoiled. He does not understand the political ideals of the ABC anymore
than he does those of Napoleon. He idolizes the glory of Napoleon for the sake of the glory and is likewise in love with
love as much as he is with Cosette. She is for him the angel of submission and will adore him blindly without ever asking
him justify his desires or opinions. Marius is probably the weakest character in the novel, but is non-the-less a catalyst for
Valjeans salvation.
Valjean
Valjean is the main character of the book. He is what 20th century critics call an anti-hero in that he is an ordinary
person who exerts extraordinary effort to not only survive, but to protect and defend those who are weaker than himself.
In his self-sacrifice and his lamb to the slaughter image, he resembles Christ. In other ways he closely resembles Job in
that he first considers himself a victim but gradually sees his own fault and becomes repentant and humble. His fate is
severe because he is on the edge of social change. As a type he represents those who inspire change but are also the
victim of its resistance.
Because he lacked a close family relationship, his ability to love, to chose right from wrong, to defend the helpless, and to
give even to those who did not deserve it all emerge from within his own being. He is as intelligent as Thenardier but
uses his brains for good instead of evil. In fact, we could say that the two men are born into similar circumstances and
that but for the intervention of the bishop, Valjean could have gone the way of evil. In fact, he would have had more
reason than Thenardier to do so as his yellow passport would forever mark him as a convict. Javert, knowing he could not
live a normal life under his true identity, apparently expected him to become a part of the criminal element of Paris and
therefore hounded him to the point of persecution to try to pin some new crime on him and have him returned to the
galleys for life. Valjeans success in evading recapture is a result of constant vigilance as well as care in maintaining his
anonymity.
Valjean also represents a sense of independence, a noble defiance of mans law in favor of Gods law. Hugo alludes
repeatedly to religious influences and to the presence of God in the life of Valjean. And it is the laws of God that seem to
be asserting themselves for Javert when the human law fails him.
Marius actually does owe Valjean for his very life. Javert also owes Valjean for his life and pays it by releasing Valjean and
then taking his own life. Gillenormand owes Valjean for rescuing and returning Marius. Both Marius and Valjean have
debts to Eponine who delivers letters, messages, and traces addresses whenever needed. The gardener Fauchelevant
feels that he owes his life to Valjean, whom he knew as Father Madeleine. Practically the only significant characters in the
book who owe nothing to anyone are Father Myriel, Father Mabeuf and Gavroche.
Savior/Sacrifice
Valjean is a savior image throughout the story. Thenardier is falsely believed to be a savior by Marius and his father
Pontmercy. Gavroche tries to act the role of a savior on several occasions, the final one costing him his life. Javert is an
unwilling savior when he releases Valjean and drowns himself in the river.
POINT OF VIEW
Omniscient. Hugo leaps from one character to another as it suits his purpose, accompanying all with extensive editorial
comment and address to the readers.