Analysis - Les Miserables

Hey, there!

First of all, I'm sorry this took so long to get up onto the blog. I misplaced my script for awhile and ugh, it took awhile to find again. I found my notes once more, so now I can do the assignment! Would it make you feel better if I put something to make you laugh?

Alright, now that we have that up, here we go.

Les Miserables is one of the most intricate and emotional stories I've heard in a long time. Of course I haven't read the actual novel, but look, that's like over 200 pages, okay? I have work and stuff. But anyway, there are many themes that Victor Hugo inserts into this novel. Love, friendship, family, sacrifice, dignity, passion, and many more. It would take a long time to list them all. The way every character connects to each other in one way or another, with the two main plots and the romantic subplots that end up affecting every character either way. I still remember watching the film in theaters at the beginning of 2013 (the very first day, in fact) and I remember bawling my eyes out at least 5 times the first time I watched it. I've been obsessed with the musical for a solid three years now and have been studying it feverishly, in hopes that if Sturgeon does it, I would be armed with the knowledge that may or may not help in auditions.

Watching this version of the musical, (as it was the first version I had watched), I learned that Victor Hugo enjoys repeating the theme of love. We could go on and on what love is defined as, or what love he talks about. It's presented in all its main forms, in romantic, familial and platonic love. But if there is anything Victor Hugo wanted to portray in this musical, is that love is one of the most important promises you can make. Note I say promise. Not emotion..

Because to quote the 12th Doctor from Doctor Who,

 " Love is not an emotion. Love is a promise."

(Yes, I'm transitioning into The Importance of Love and Compassion, just so I don't get anyone confused.)

Let's look at the examples in Les Miserables.

This is one of the biggest moments in Les Mis, a pivotal moment. Valjean promises Fantine, a woman who had fallen on the hardest of times and eventually succumbs to illness, that he will care for her daughter, the one thing that had kept her going all these years. The reason she sold her body, the reason she lives, her daughter. The man she thought would carry her for the rest of her days left her alone, and she is left with a small scrap of him, his daughter. If Valjean hadn't promised to take care of Cosette, or even, if Fantine hadn't been created as a character, Valjean's life would have gone a completely different direction. He probably would have been able to hide out from Javert for longer, but he would never have to deal with Marius Pontmercy, never save the boy, never help the Barricade Boys and eventually, Javert's Suicide. If this moment hadn't happened, Marius would have died with the boys at the barricade. Javert would have no moral conflicts, and would probably have lived longer. And if anything, Jean Valjean wouldn't have been able to save the Barricade Boys earlier on and they would have lost the revolution much earlier. 

If Valjean had not promised Fantine to care for her daughter, Cosette, most likely, would be cast out by the age of 13 or less, and have to sell her body, just like her mother. And most likely succumb to illness, the same way her mother did. Eponine Thenardier would not have her heart broken, and most likely would have Marius' heart, and the two would die together at the barricade had Valjean not promised to give Cosette his love. 

Love is enough to change the future, to change roles and people's lives. This scene is so important, if it hadn't happened, Javert would probably still be alive. Eponine, Marius, would be dead. Cosette, most likely dead. Because Valjean promised to love Cosette, to care for her. He made that promise.

Even if you listen to the theme used during Valjean's and Fantine deaths, they are the same. It is the same theme Claude Michel Schongberg uses during "On My Own", as well as many other themes.

"Take my hand, I'll lead you to salvation. Take my love, for love is everlasting. And remember, the truth that once was spoken, to love another person is to see the face of God."

-Valjean's Death/Epilogue

"Take my hand, the night grows ever colder. Take my child, I give her to your keeping. For God's sake, please stay till I am sleeping. And tell Cosette I love her, and I'll see her when I wake."

-Come to Me, Fantine's Death

"I love him, but every day I'm learning. All my life, I've only been pretending. Without me, his world will go on turning. A world that's full of happiness that I have never known."

-On My Own. 

The theme is used many times, and every time, it portrays the idea of love, whether it be unrequited, familial or even the important of love. Mr Claude is a genius for making it into a motif, to portray the idea of love each time. 

(FUN FACT: In the musical portrayal of the musical, Eponine appears with Fantine during Valjean' Death. Many find this absurd, as Eponine doesn't even encounter Valjean during the musical, but it's  so GENIUS because when you look at the arrangement of the characters:

Cosette is on the same side as Fantine, her mother. Who loved her very much. Marius is on the same side as Eponine, his friend. Who had loved him so much she died for him. This arrangement is SO important as it portrays the characters loves, whether it be unrequited or familial. And Valjean is the center of all this love. 

(*mind blown*)

Now, let's go to that other theme. Morality and Righteousness. 

Morality, even if it seems small in Les Mis, is a rather important thing to our main characters of the musical, Jean Valjean and Javert. Javert has a very strict moral code, as demonstrated by the song, Stars. His admiration of stars stem from the fact that stars remain the same throughout the years, they never change. They never question their nature, their purpose.

"Filling the darkness
With order and light
You are the sentinels
Silent and sure
Keeping watch in the night."

"You know your place in the sky
You hold your course and your aim
And each in your season
Returns and returns
And is always the same
And if you fall as Lucifer fell
You fall in flame!"

Perhaps Javert feels he can relate to the stars, how they are both "sentinels" in their natures, keeping the order and the light. Perhaps he envies them, how they know their place, how they "-know their course and your aim." Javert is clearly a man who values his morals, how they apply to him, how it affects his actions and his way of life. He is a policeman, after all, and it is his job to bring justice to those wronged by the world,

Now, Fantine. She is a woman wronged by a man, who left her alone with a child. Regardless, we can still see Fantine is a rather loving woman, she loves deeper than anyone, and loves Cosette with all her life. She will do literally anything for the child, and is heartbroken when she loses her job, as how will she provide for Cosette? When Fantine loses her job, she sells her hair and a tooth (in the original musical) to gain money for Cosette, and eventually becomes a prostitute, in desperation. It is all done out of love.

Now, in this musical, it seems whenever a character is questioning their morals, they refer to themselves as dead, losing their life, however you want to phrase it. In essence, Victor Hugo (Or the lyricist of this musical, I can't be 100% sure) is saying the death of one's morals is the death of the person themself. It is demonstrated in three numbers of this musical. 

In The Docks (Lovely Ladies), Fantine is taken to be a prostitute, and she sings on how easy it is to lie in a bed and be screwed over and over again. That in reality, she feels dead.

"Just as well they never see

The hate that's in your head
Don't they know they're making love
To one already dead!"

We know in reality, Fantine is not dead (yet). But she refers to herself as dead, so we could conclude that Fantine feels dead inside, that she has broken her own moral code. Even if it is done out of love, she feels like she has died as a person.

Now, Javert. In this musical, there is a lot of going back and forth in the two main character's morals. Jean Valjean's life is completely turned when a man who should've thrown him back in jail lets him go free, and even gives him the precious candles. He turns his back on his old ways and becomes a new man. Javert, however, is completely turned upside down. He feels confused, unable to understand Jean Valjean's mercy, when in his perspective, he should have died. He feels dead. 

I am reaching but I fall
And the stars are black and cold
As I stare into the void
Of a world that cannot hold
I'll escape now from that world
From the world of Jean Valjean
There is no where I can turn
There is no way to go on!

He refers to the stars he had once loved as "black and cold", that he has lost his way. That he cannot live in a world where the stone cold rules he set for himself have been broken for him, for his sake. He cannot be the exception to his own rules. (By these standards, he's probably a Slytherin.) He feels if his own moral codes are broken, he is dead, and proceeds to throw himself into the river.                

In summary, the musical deals with these two heavy themes, of Morality and Righteousness, of Love and Compassion. Rather well, in my opinion. We see how a man's life is turned with one simple act of mercy, and how another is completely ruined. How a woman sacrifices literally everything for love, she is a mere representation of love. This story is insanely well-written, every character's story intertwining perfectly. The themes of the musical, along with bravery, morality, justice, are extremely powerful, and the universal truth played out perfectly in this musical.

"To love another person is to see the face of God."