Jean Valjean
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Jean Valjean (also referred to as "Monsieur Madeleine," "Ultime Fauchelevent," "Monsieur Leblanc," "Urbain Fabre," "24601" and "9430"; c. 1769-1833) is the protagonist of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables. The character's nineteen year-long struggle with the law for stealing bread (5 years for the theft, 12 years for four attempted escapes and 2 years for fighting back during one escape attempt) during a time of economic and social depression - along with police inspector Javert, who relentlessly pursues Valjean - has become archetypal in literary culture. While in prison, he was first labeled 24601 then labeled 9430. Valjean's character in Les Misérables forces the reader to evaluate their sense of good and evil and live in an existence of duality with the novel's antagonist. His struggle highlights man's capacity for cruelty to his fellow man. As a parolee, Valjean is branded an outcast and his passport (his identification card) is yellow colored - identifying him to all as a former offender much like Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter. Valjean would be judged by social standards as evil - a known criminal and a parolee - yet grows morally to represent the best traits of humanity. Valjean becomes a repentant, honorable, dignified man after his encounter with the Bishop Myriel of Digne; he is kind to all he encounters, a devoted father, and a benefactor to those in need. Valjean occupies a place on the wrong side of the law, but the right side of human virtues and ethics. His antithesis, Javert, should occupy a place of honor in society - he is a dedicated police officer who devoted his life to taking crime off the streets. However, the reader comes to realize that Javert represents a modern day Pharisee. Much like Jesus and the Pharisees of the New Testament, the relationship of Valjean and Javert is a binary opposition between law and love. Javert is cruel and manipulative to all he encounters and lives in a world of black and white. He pursues Valjean with the same white-hot vengeance as Captain Ahab, and is defined by his hatred and disdain for his fellow man. His interactions with other characters throughout the novel are characterized by an abuse of his authority, whether forcing other members of law enforcement into obedience or striking fear into the peasantry in order to extract intelligence. Javert occupies a place on the right side of the law, but the wrong side of humanity. From Wikipedia under the
GNU Free Documentation License 10 min., 7 sec. www.youtube.com Sat, 16 Oct 2010 19:16:27 PDT seeing Cosette, for her sake. Crushed, Valjean agrees, losing the first and only person he ever loved. Cosette cannot understand why Valjean is ... 0 sec. video.google.com Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:08:09 PDT personal preoccupation; Jean Valjean so uneasy that he did not notice Cosette's sadness, Cosette so sad that she did not notice Jean Valjean ... From Google Video Search: "jean valjean" |
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