What many don't know is the depth of the true story behind it and how similarly it mirrors the actual events of history. Although French people in the 19th century didn't sing constantly with British accents in English, a lot of the major characters, events, and themes of Les Misérables are based on true events.

Is Les Misérables based on real events?

Answer and Explanation: While some the events in Les Miserables actually happened, the characters in the novel are fictional. The final conflict at the barricades in Les Miserables is based on the Paris Uprising of 1832, a short-lived rebellion that ended after only two days.

Is Jean Valjean based on a real person?

Valjean's character is loosely based on the life of Eugène François Vidocq, an ex-convict who became a successful businessman widely noted for his social engagement and philanthropy. Vidocq helped Hugo with his research for Claude Gueux and Le Dernier jour d'un condamné (The Last Day of a Condemned Man).

What is the history behind Les Misérables?

The themes of Les Misérables are concerned with social issues in 19th-century urban France. Victor Hugo uses Les Misérables to deliver critiques of wealth distribution, the justice system, industrialism, and republicanism.

What is the movie Les Misérables based on?

Les Misérables is a 2012 epic period musical film directed by Tom Hooper from a screenplay by William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, and Herbert Kretzmer, based on the stage musical of the same name by Schönberg, Boublil, and Jean-Marc Natel, which in turn is based on the 1862 novel Les Misérables ...

5 things I learned about the history behind Les Miserables

How historically accurate is Les Misérables?

The historic events are real (like Waterloo, the revolution,…) The characters, however probably not real. There may be some real people that inspired Hugo to come up with a character in his novel. But in order to express his view, most novelists adapt the characters, idealize them, or evilize them.

Why did the June Rebellion happen?

The rebellion originated in an attempt by republicans to reverse the establishment in 1830 of the July Monarchy of Louis Philippe, shortly after the death of the King's powerful supporter and President of the Council, Casimir Pierre Périer, on 16 May 1832.

What is the deeper meaning of Les Misérables?

The primary message of Les Misérables is one of hope. The book describes a lot of misery for a lot of characters, but it also focuses on the possibility that the world will improve.

What caused Fantine death in Les Misérables?

After he abandons her, she is forced to look after their child, Cosette, on her own. Originally a beautiful and naive girl, Fantine is eventually forced by circumstances to become a prostitute to support her daughter, losing her beauty and health until she finally dies of tuberculosis.

What is the overall message of Les Misérables?

The main theme of Les Miserables is social injustice. Many of the characters in the novel are victims of injustice who are unable to seek recompense through traditional channels. Jean Valjean, as a former convict, is scorned because of his mistakes.

What is the moral lesson of Les Misérables?

Moral values in the novel “Les Miserables” are love and sincerity, forgiveness, Sacrifice, Justice/Injustice. Fantine earned less and less money from her sewing, and the Thenardiers demanded more and more money to look after Cosette.

Did Jean Valjean love Cosette?

Poor old Jean Valjean, of course, loved Cosette only as a father; but, as we noted earlier, into this fatherly love his lonely single status in life had introduced every other kind of love; he loved Cosette as his daughter, and he loved her as his mother, and he loved her as his sister; and, as he had never had either ...

What does the number 24601 mean?

In Les Misérables, 24601 is Jean Valjean's (primary antagonist) prison number while serving a nineteen-year sentence for stealing bread for his sister and her children. Victor Hugo selects this as his number because he deemed him to be conceived on June 24th.

What is a fun fact about Les Misérables?

Who is Javert based on?

The character of Javert is loosely based on Eugène François Vidocq, a criminal and adventurer who became a police official (though Vidocq wrote that he never arrested anyone who stole out of need). Hugo also drew on Vidocq's life for the character of Valjean.

Is Les Misérables a sad story?

While the show could be viewed as simply depressing — it is called “the miserables,” after all — viewers would be remiss in reducing it to just another sad story. Les Misérables is a story full of hope and the promise of a better tomorrow.

Was Cosette actually sick?

She didn't know that Cosette wasn't really sick. It was all a trick for the Thenardiers to get more money from her. Fantine coughed while she sewed the soldiers' shirts. She was coughing when she read Monsieur Thenardier's next letter.

What killed Jean Valjean?

Jean Valjean, the protagonist of the novel, dies of natural causes at the end of the novel. The denouement of the novel reveals that he does die as an integral man. Valjean transitions under Bishop Myriel's candlesticks.

Who is Cosette's biological father?

Félix Tholomyès – Fantine's lover and Cosette's biological father. A wealthy, self-centered student in Paris originally from Toulouse, he eventually abandons Fantine when their daughter is two years old.

Is Les Misérables a true story?

How historically-correct are the events in Les Miserables? The story is historical fiction because it contains factual and historic events. Jean Maximilien Lamarque (1770–1832) was a French commander during the Napoleonic Wars who later became a member of French Parliament.

What is the main problem in Les Misérables?

Major conflict Valjean struggles to transform himself from a thief into an honest man; over the years he struggles to stay a step ahead of the zealous police officer Javert and tries to raise his adopted daughter, Cosette.

What does Fantine symbolize?

Answer and Explanation: Fantine represents the downtrodden of France. Her story shows how through no fault of her own, she experiences a series of misfortunes that eventually kill her.

What is the message of Les Misérables?

Hugo uses his novel to condemn the unjust class-based structure of nineteenth-century France, showing time and again that the society's structure turns good, innocent people into beggars and criminals. Hugo focuses on three areas that particularly need reform: education, criminal justice, and the treatment of women.

What time period are Les Misérables set in?

Set in early 19th-century France, Les Misérables is the story of Jean Valjean, a French peasant, and his desire for redemption, released in 1815 after serving nineteen years in jail for stealing a loaf of bread for his sister's starving child.

What historical event is Les Misérables based on?

The June Rebellion, also known as the Paris Uprising, was a brief and bloody insurrection by Parisian republicans in 1832 against the newly-established French monarchy of Louis Philippe. The June Rebellion occurred on June 5–6, 1832, in Paris, France.