What Is Les Misérables About? Victor Hugo's Novel Beyond the Musical

Les Misérables is an epic French novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that follows the ex-convict Jean Valjean on his long road to redemption, from 1815 to the June Rebellion of 1832 in Paris, while a relentless police inspector, Javert, tries to bring him back to prison. Around Valjean, Hugo gathers a whole society: an abandoned mother, an abused child, a pair of greedy innkeepers, young revolutionaries and a street boy. The book is about law and grace, poverty and love, and it is often called one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century. Many people know it through the musical, but the novel is far larger, darker and more surprising.

The story in brief

A stolen loaf and a bishop's candlesticks. In 1815, Jean Valjean leaves the prison galleys of Toulon after nineteen years: five for stealing bread for his sister's starving family, and fourteen more for trying to escape. His yellow passport marks him as a former convict, and every inn turns him away. The kind Bishop Myriel of Digne takes him in, and Valjean repays him by stealing his silverware. When the police bring him back, the bishop says the silver was a gift and adds two silver candlesticks, telling Valjean to use them to become an honest man.

Mayor Madeleine and Fantine. Six years later, under a new name, Valjean has become a wealthy factory owner and the mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer. The town's police inspector, Javert, once a guard at Toulon, grows suspicious when he sees the mayor lift a cart with amazing strength. Meanwhile Fantine, a young mother abandoned by her lover, has left her daughter Cosette with the Thénardiers, innkeepers who exploit the child and keep demanding money. Fired from Valjean's factory, Fantine sells her hair and her front teeth and falls into prostitution. Valjean rescues her and promises to bring Cosette to her, but when an innocent man is about to be convicted as "Jean Valjean", he reveals his true identity in court to save him. Fantine dies, and Valjean is arrested.

Cosette and Marius. Valjean escapes, buys Cosette from the Thénardiers and raises her as his daughter, hiding for years in a Paris convent. Cosette grows up and falls in love with Marius, a young law student connected to a group of revolutionary students, the Friends of the ABC.

The barricade. In June 1832 the students raise a barricade in Paris. The street boy Gavroche is shot while collecting cartridges. Valjean, who has joined the fighting, is given the captured Javert to execute, but he fires into the air and lets him go. When the barricade falls, Valjean carries the wounded Marius through the sewers of Paris. Javert meets them at the exit and, torn between the law and the mercy he has received, lets Valjean go; unable to live with this contradiction, he throws himself into the Seine.

The ending. Marius recovers and marries Cosette. Valjean confesses his past to Marius, who pushes him away, until Marius learns that it was Valjean who saved his life. Marius and Cosette rush to him, and Valjean dies at peace, having told Cosette her mother's story.

Main characters

• Jean Valjean – the ex-convict who becomes a good man, living under several false names.
• Javert – the police inspector who believes completely in the law.
• Fantine – a young working woman who sacrifices everything for her daughter.
• Cosette – Fantine's daughter, rescued and raised by Valjean.
• Marius Pontmercy – the law student who loves Cosette.
• The Thénardiers – cruel, greedy innkeepers who appear again and again.
• Éponine and Gavroche – the Thénardiers' children: Éponine loves Marius, and Gavroche lives alone on the streets.
• Bishop Myriel – the bishop whose mercy changes Valjean's life.

Who was Victor Hugo?

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) was a French Romantic writer, poet, playwright and politician. His most famous novels are The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Misérables, and he campaigned for causes such as the abolition of the death penalty and slavery. Royalist when young, he became a committed republican, and his political views forced him into exile. He lived for many years on the Channel Island of Guernsey, where he completed or published some of his best work, including Les Misérables. When he died, more than two million people attended his state funeral.

How the novel was written

Hugo took material from what he saw. In 1829 he watched a man who had stolen a loaf of bread being taken away by a police officer while a mother and daughter looked on, an image that helped inspire Valjean, Fantine and Cosette. He visited the prison at Toulon in 1839 and took notes, though he did not begin writing until 1845. In his notes the hero was first called "Jean Tréjean". Valjean is loosely based on the life of Eugène François Vidocq, an ex-convict who became a police chief, and the bishop was modelled on a real Bishop of Digne. Hugo himself walked the streets of Paris during the 1832 uprising and had to shelter from gunfire. He visited the battlefield of Waterloo in 1861 and finished the novel there.

A very long book

Les Misérables is one of the longest novels ever written, with more than 650,000 words in French. More than a quarter of it is made up of essays that do not move the plot forward: on the Battle of Waterloo, on convents, on Paris slang, on the sewers. Some readers skip them; others find them the heart of the book, because they show how Hugo saw the history and the city that shaped his characters.

Themes

Law and grace. Javert stands for a law that never forgives; the bishop stands for mercy. Valjean's whole life is shaped by the moment someone chose mercy instead of punishment, and Javert's tragedy is that he cannot accept mercy.

Poverty and society. Hugo shows how poverty pushes people into crime and despair, and he asks how society can be just to those at the bottom.

Love in many forms. Fantine's love for her child, Valjean's love for Cosette, and the romance of Cosette and Marius all drive the story forward.

Legacy and adaptations

The novel's publication was a highly anticipated event, since Hugo was considered one of France's leading poets. It has been adapted many times for film, television and the stage. The best known is the 1980 musical by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, which was itself filmed in 2012 with Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway.

Learn with Les Misérables: English phrases

Phrase	Meaning	Example
to turn over a new leaf	to start behaving in a better way	After meeting the bishop, Valjean turned over a new leaf.
the letter of the law	the exact words of a rule, not its spirit	Javert follows the letter of the law.
to show mercy	to forgive instead of punishing	The bishop showed mercy to a thief.
to make ends meet	to have just enough money to live	Fantine could not make ends meet.
to live in the shadows	to hide from public view	Valjean lived in the shadows for years.

Try this: Write three English sentences about someone who got a second chance, using "to turn over a new leaf" and "to show mercy".