He conveys much of his message through the character of Fantine, a symbol for the many good but impoverished women driven to despair and death by a cruel society.
Character. The death of Fantine; Valjean (as Mayor Madeleine) closes her eyes. Fantine has been interpreted as a holy prostitute figure who becomes a quintessential mother by sacrificing her own body and dignity for the purpose of securing the life of her child.
What metaphorical purpose does Fantine's tuberculosis serve in Les Misérables?
TB was seen as a “moral” or moralizing disease, providing “a redemptive death for the fallen” as it does for Fantine in Les Miserables, or simply a chance for the already virtuous to “boost themselves to new moral heights” as it does with Little Eva in Uncle Tom's Cabin who “during her last days urges her father to ...
Social injustices that Fantine endures and the stunning regularity with which her predicament is received represents why there must be a change in French society. Hugo is making the assertion through Fantine that the obstacles that the poor must face and, in particular, poor women must face cry out for change.
In his descriptions of Fantine's life and death, Hugo highlights the unfair attitude of French society toward women and the poor. Fantine's fellow citizens criticize her for her behavior and depravity, but they also take every opportunity to make her circumstances even more desperate.
Turned out on the streets, Fantine tried to find other work and sold her few possessions, her hair, and eventually several of her teeth in a desperate attempt to get enough money to support her ill daughter. Fantine became a prostitute as a last resort. The next censure continues Fantine's story.
In the acclaimed musical and novel Les Miserables, an unmarried woman named Fantine struggles to support her daughter in 19th century France. Fantine resorts to selling her possessions, her hair, her teeth, and eventually herself in order to send more and more money to the family caring for Cosette.
What does Valjean promise Fantine as she is dying?
At the hospital, as Fantine is dying, Valjean promises to take care of her daughter, Cosette. For five years, Cosette has lived with a horrible couple, the Thénardiers, who run an inn in Montfermeil and treat her miserably.
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.
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.
Fantine is subsequently fired from her job on charges of immorality. She owes many people money, and although she tries to live on as little as she can, the Thénardiers continue to raise their price for taking care of Cosette.
Emma Oliveros The most miserable or tragic character in Les Miserables for me is Eponine. As soon as I read about her, my heart really felt sad about her. Like she was an innocent, poor one. I honestly forgot she was once evil to Cosette.
Fantine turned from a beautiful girl into a worker that is unfairly fired from her work, forcing her to become a prostitute that lost all: her good looks, (selling her hair and her teeth) her freedom (thanks to Javert) and her physical and mental health.
Fantine is the beautiful, young girl who, abandoned by her lover, is left to fend for herself and her daughter, Cosette. She is rejected by society and forced through circumstances to sell herself.
Fantine. A working-class girl who leaves her hometown of Montreuil-sur-mer to seek her fortune in Paris. Fantine's innocent affair with a dapper student named Tholomyès leaves her pregnant and abandoned. Although she is frail, she makes a Herculean effort to feed herself and her daughter, Cosette.
John Andrew Frey identified Éponine as a parallel figure to Fantine: "Eponine is symbolic of redeemed types found in Hugo's work—the Mary Magdalene fallen woman redeemed by a deep, albeit romantic and impossible love." He sees her death as typically operatic, a drawn-out farewell scene with an aria-like speech ...
The climax of Les Misérables is Jean Valjean's rescue of Marius from the barricade. Marius has been shot and is in desperate need of medical care. Valjean drags him, unconscious, through the Paris sewers, where he briefly encounters M. Thenardier.
Les Mis is about people who struggle, who succeed, who fail, who love, who want, and the thread that connects them all is the revolutionary fever that surrounds them. Because Les Mis is so expansive and well-written, it affords you a chance to live a life, Jean Valjean's entire adult life, in your imagination.
Les Misérables ends with Jean Valjean's reconciliation with Cosette and her new husband Marius and Valjean's subsequent death. He manages to tell Cosette about his past as a convict, and receives her forgiveness. He also tells her the story of her mother, Fantine, and of how he adopted her from the Thénardiers.
Fantine gives Cosette to the Thenardiers because she needs to go find a job, and she knows finding one will be less likely if she has a child and no husband.
Fantine was a kind and loving mother who deeply cared for Cosette, having worked extremely hard for several years just to scrape up enough money to be able to live with her. Her former boss at the black glass factory said that her coworkers described her as "cold", due to her secrecy about having an illegitimate child.
Javert sees Valjean as a criminal who chose theft, an action that is not only illegal but also morally reprehensible, as a solution to his problems; and he disdains him for it. Valjean, as Javert understands him, has no appreciation for the order of law and lacks moral integrity.
How did Anne Hathaway lose so much weight for Les Misérables?
Afterwards, the actress lost an additional 15 pounds by spending two weeks eating nothing but two thin pieces of oatmeal paste a day. “The idea was to look near death,” said Hathaway. She admitted that the diet was a break from reality, but one she felt necessary to fully embody her character.
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.
