Context
Plot Overview
Character List
Analysis of Major Characters
Themes, Motifs & Symbols
“Fantine,” Books One–Two
“Fantine,” Books Three–Four
“Fantine,” Book Five: The Descent
“Fantine,” Books Six–Eight
“Cosette,” Books One–Two
“Cosette,” Book Three: Fulfillment of the Promise Made to the Departed
“Cosette,” Books Four–Five
“Cosette,” Books Six–Eight
“Marius,” Books One–Three
“Marius,” Books Four–Seven
“Marius,” Book Eight: The Noxious Poor
“Saint-Denis,” Books One–Seven
“Saint-Denis,” Books Eight–Fifteen
“Jean Valjean,” Books One–Three
“Jean Valjean,” Books Four–Nine
Important Quotations Explained
Key Facts
Study Questions & Essay Topics
Quiz
Suggestions for Further Reading
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Les Misérables Victor Hugo
“Jean Valjean,” Books Four–Nine
Summary: Book Four: Javert Off the Track
[T]o betray society in order to be true
to his own conscience . . . this is what prostrated him.
After leaving Valjean at his house, Javert wanders the
streets of Paris lost in thought. For the first time in his life,
he is racked by indecision. He feels that turning in Valjean would
be ignoble and undignified, but as an officer of the law he feels
he cannot let his man go. Javert's only goal in life is to be beyond
reproach, but Valjean's mercy makes it impossible for him to remain
true to this goal. With a final note of resolution, Javert writes
a letter to the prefect of the Parisian police with several suggestions
about various matters of discipline and prison life. Javert then
walks to the raging Seine, spends some time watching the waters
flow by, and finally throws himself in and drowns.
Summary: Book Five: Grandson and Grandfather
Marius makes a slow recovery in his grandfather's home,
unaware that it is Valjean who rescued him from the barricades.
Marius has suffered a broken collarbone and lost a lot of blood
from his many wounds. After six months with a raging fever, he makes
a full recovery, and his thoughts turn immediately to Cosette. Eager
to reestablish good terms with his beloved grandson, Gillenormand
grants Marius permission to marry Cosette. He does so with some
reservation, since he still believes that Cosette is a simple working-class
girl without any money. When Gillenormand finally meets Cosette,
he is amazed by her beauty and shocked when Valjean tells him that Cosette
will have a dowry of 600,000 francs.
Cosette and Marius are not interested in such financial matters,
and Marius declares his undying love for Cosette.
Summary: Book Six: The White Night
Because Valjean is the only one who knows about Cosette's
illegitimate birth, there are no more obstacles in the way of Cosette
and Marius's marital bliss. A few days before the wedding, Valjean
fakes an accident with his writing hand. The others do not realize
that it is merely a ruse so that he will not have to forge a false
name on the marriage certificate. The ruse works, and Gillenormand
signs all the necessary documents instead. The wedding day is a
happy one, and Cosette moves into the Gillenormand household. Valjean,
however, spends the night lost in thought, distraught that he is
losing the only person he has ever loved.
Summary: Book Seven: The Last Drop in the Chalice
Now that Cosette is married, Valjean feels compelled to
confess his criminal past. He goes to Marius's house and tells the
young man everything. Marius is shocked by Valjean's revelations
and at first refuses to believe them. Valjean almost breaks down
in his attempts to convince Marius that he is telling the truth.
Marius finally accepts Valjean's statements as the truth and offers
to arrange for a pardon, but Valjean refuses. Cosette, flushed with
happiness, comes into the room and jokes with the two men, and she
pouts playfully when they send her away. Marius agrees with Valjean
that it would be best if Valjean never saw Cosette again. In the
end, however, Valjean caves and asks that he be allowed to see Cosette
in the evenings at least. Marius agrees. Once Valjean leaves, Marius
begins to regard his father-in-law as a criminal, a belief that
is cemented by the fact that Marius thinks Valjean really did execute
Javert on the barricade. Marius also begins to doubt the legitimacy
of Cosette's dowry.
Summary: Book Eight: The Twilight Wane
Unknown to Cosette, Marius slowly pushes Valjean out of
her life. Marius ensures that Valjean's visits become less frequent,
and when Valjean does come to the house he is received only in the
unfurnished cellar below the parlor. Depressed at having lost Cosette
forever, Valjean returns to his apartment. He takes to his bed and catches
a fever. As he lies in his room in misery, Valjean thinks that he
will never see Cosette again and that death cannot come soon enough.
Summary: Book Nine: Supreme Shadow, Supreme Dawn
Thénardier visits Marius a few weeks later, disguised
as a statesman. He tells Marius that he has information about Valjean
that he is willing to sell. Marius tells Thénardier his disguise
is useless, since he knows who Thénardier really is, and contemptuously
pays Thénardier five hundred francs. Thénardier reveals that Valjean earned
Cosette's dowry legitimately from his work as a manufacturer under
the name Madeleine. He also tells Marius that Javert was not murdered,
but actually killed himself.
Marius wonders aloud that Valjean might actually be an
honest man. Thénardier contradicts him, saying that Valjean is in
fact a thief and a murderer. To prove it, he tells Marius of his
encounter with Valjean and his victim in the sewer. He produces
the piece of cloth that he tore from the victim's jacket as proof.
Marius rushes to a closet and pulls out his bloodied jacket, and
the fragment of fabric fits exactly. He throws money at Thénardier
and orders him out of the house. The incorrigible Thénardier, we
are told, uses the money to leave for America, where he becomes
a slave-trader.
Marius realizes that Valjean is the man who saved him
on the barricades and brought him home through the sewers. Overcome with
guilt, Marius tells Cosette about his discovery. The couple rushes
to Valjean's apartment to see him. They find him ill and bedridden,
but he is overjoyed to see them. Overcome, Valjean embraces Cosette
one last time and dies in happiness.
[Valjean] had fallen back, the light
from the candlesticks fell across him; his white face looked up
toward heaven. . . .
Analysis: Books Four–Nine
Though Valjean's compassion helps persuade Javert to release
him, what ultimately defeats Javert is not emotion but logic. Valjean's unconditional
love for others weakens the stern Javert not because it moves him,
but because it makes it impossible for him to justify his inflexible
interpretation of the law. Suddenly, Javert and his dogged sense
of duty no longer appear honorable and beyond reproach. In the end,
Javert cannot bring himself to arrest Valjean because such an action
would make no sense. Javert does not believe that Valjean is innocent,
but he does believe that Valjean is good, and that to arrest him
would debase the moral authority of the law. For the exceedingly
practical Javert, therefore, the only way out of his dilemma is
to remove himself from it altogether, and suicide becomes the next
logical step. While his suicide is a powerful and poignant moment,
Javert himself never becomes emotional. He dies in the same way
he has lived: determined and resolute.
Hugo employs all of his descriptive talents as Javert
prepares to make his final exit in Book Four of the novel's final
section, and we see Hugo's descriptive style at work throughout
this section. We see Javert “plung[ing]” into the streets—a word
choice that foreshadows his imminent leap into the river. We also
see him passing a number of Parisian locales that have played a
prominent role in French history. Even when Javert is alone, Hugo
manages to incorporate historical references and vivid urban descriptions.
Hugo also infuses this section of Les Misérables with
symbolism, especially in the scene in which Javert walks past the
Grève, a place where public executions are staged. The mention of
this particular site standing empty reveals the hollowness of Javert's
adherence to the law and hints at the harsh judgment he will impose
on himself.
Thénardier's final appearance in the novel resolves the
story's last major conflict and raises questions about the nature
of injustice everywhere. Thénardier intends to extort money from
Marius and defame both Cosette and Valjean, but instead he ends
up bringing about their reconciliation. We may question whether
the ending is truly just , since Thénardier is never held accountable
for his crimes while Valjean becomes ill and dies. From Hugo's perspective,
however, both characters get the end they deserve. Thénardier, who
has never felt real satisfaction and fulfillment, will continue
to live in vain. Valjean, on the other hand, dies happy and content,
and he is redeemed in the eyes of others. Thénardier's journey for
America has a double meaning. On the one hand, the departure of
one of Paris's worst criminals suggests that French society as a
whole is being purged of liars and cheats. On the other hand, it
allows Hugo to broaden his sights and suggest that injustice is
a worldwide problem. By making Thénardier become a slave-trader,
Hugo points to foreign injustices, such as slavery in America.
Valjean's final words indicate the fulfillment of the
promise he makes to Myriel, the bishop of Digne, at the very beginning
of the novel. In the spirit Myriel has instilled in him, Valjean
preaches forgiveness, explaining that love is the most important
thing that exists and that even people such as the Thénardiers must
be forgiven. In the same way that Valjean's dying words recall his
promise to Myriel, the physical setting of the room evokes his stay
at Myriel's house in Digne. The description of Valjean's death reminds
us of the description of the sleeping Myriel: “[T]he light from
the candlesticks fell across [Valjean]; his white face looked up
toward heaven.” The candlesticks are the same ones that Myriel gives
to Valjean so many years earlier, and the light they cast symbolizes Myriel's
approval and recognition of a virtuous man's redemption.
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