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Javert – illustration from original publication of Les Misérables, after a painting by Gustave Brion (1824–1877).

Javert (French pronunciation: [ʒavɛʁ]; c. 1780-7.6.1832) is a fictional character from the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. He is a prison guard, and later policeman, who devotes his life to the law. He is always referred to simply as "Javert" or "Inspector Javert" by the narrator and other characters throughout the novel; his first name is never mentioned. Javert is the main antagonist of the novel, to Jean Valjean, the novel's protagonist.

Some consider Javert misguided rather than evil, although his inflexibility and cruelty throughout the novel moves in parallel to Jean Valjean's kindness. Those who consider Javert misguided believe that the distinction of pure evil in the novel more appropriately belongs to the greedy and treacherous Thénardiers. Others consider the Thénardiers dishonest, petty criminals; although their actual impact is minor compared to the significant levels of spite and mercilessness Javert inflicts on those he encounters.

Javert in the novel[link]

Part One: Fantine[link]

Javert was born approx. 1780 (he is said to be 52 in 1832) inside a prison. His mother was a Gypsy fortune-teller, and his father was a galley slave. The text states that this experience convinced Javert that he must choose between attacking society, or defending it; given this belief, he joins the police.

Javert is initially an assistant to a guard in the Bagne of Toulon where Jean Valjean is imprisoned. He remembers Valjean for his extraordinary strength and rather gloomy and terrifying demeanor.

In 1815, Valjean is released from prison and decides to begin anew by taking advantage of the opportunity for redemption. He moves to Montreuil-sur-Mer, a small seaside town in the North of France assumes the name of Monsieur Madeleine and reforms himself as a manufacturer and later Mayor of the town. Here he once more meets Javert, who through a curious accident of fate happens to become an inspector in the Montreuil-sur-Mer police in 1820, but Valjean pretends not to recognize him.

Javert recalls Valjean almost instantly after meeting him again, but he cannot quite convince himself that this is the man he remembers from the galleys all those years ago, and he would not allow himself to write a denunciation to Paris authorities without stronger proof than just his own vague memories plus some circumstantial evidence. This evidence includes the mayor's obvious origin from the working class; being an excellent shot; having informed himself about families from Faverolles, Valjean's birthplace; the mayor dragging his right foot (which convicts did because of chains) etc. However, further proof is furnished to him after Valjean performs a feat of strength: he lifts a loaded cart to free an envious businessman trapped underneath it. Javert informs him that only one man in his entire life's experience could have performed such a feat, hinting that he may know the mayor's secret. Javert finally decides to denounce Valjean as an ex-convict after Valjean frees Fantine, a prostitute detained by Javert for having a violent row with a street idler. Bizarrely, the Parisian authorities then inform Javert that he must be mistaken in his identification, as the "real" Valjean has already been captured and identified by several people who used to know him back in prison.

Javert is summoned to the court to help testify against the "real" Valjean. The man does, indeed, look very much like Valjean should have looked, had he not become prosperous after his release from prison. This is nothing more than a coincidence: he is just an old beggar who was caught by the police with a branch of apples believed to have been broken off an apple tree in a private orchard. This offence would have merited no more than several days in jail had someone in that same jail not mistakenly identified the beggar as Valjean. For someone with prior convictions, breaking a bough of apples from someone's tree would in fact constitute an act of recidivism, which would merit life in prison. Shaken by his apparent error, Javert requests that he be dismissed in disgrace, for his rigid code of ethics will not permit him to be less harsh on himself than he is with others.

Appalled by the idea of an innocent man going to prison in his stead, Valjean travels to the court of assizes where the beggar is being tried and discloses his identity publicly in the courtroom. After no one makes a move to detain him—Javert had by then already left town to return to Montreuil-sur-Mer—Valjean leaves the courtroom. Javert receives the order for his arrest the next morning and arrests him at Fantine's deathbed. Valjean asks for three days to bring Fantine's daughter Cosette to her, but Javert refuses to let him do so out of distrust. His revealing the mayor's true identity makes Fantine die of shock. Valjean escapes from the city jail. He is recaptured some time later and sent off once more to the galleys, from which he, however, escapes within several months.

Part Two: Cosette[link]

Javert's good memory and presence of mind recommend him well to the Parisian police, and he is recruited to be an inspector in the capital. Javert is informed of Valjean's presumed death (which the latter had feigned during his last escape) not long after it happens. Early in the year 1824, Javert hears from an alleged kidnapping, a foster child taken from the couple that kept her. When he hears that this is supposed to have taken place in Montfermeil (Valjean was captured when trying to get just there), he visits the Thénardiers, but Thénardier does not want to become involved with the police and tells Javert that the girl was fetched by her grandfather and that he saw the man's passport. Javert returns to Paris, scolding himself for being an idiot. In March of the same year, he hears of a man nicknamed "The beggar who gives alms". Curious, he takes the place of an old beggar turned police spy and half recognises Valjean when the latter gives him alms. He follows Valjean to a gloomy Parisian suburb where Valjean rents a room at Gorbeau House. Although he does not manage to get another glimpse at Valjean, he follows him and Cosette when they make their escape; Valjean having recognised Javert. Javert chases Valjean and his ward into what seems to him a dead end, Valjean evades capture by climbing over the stone wall of a convent and pulling Cosette up over the wall on a rope. Javert is stumped; days of searching bring nothing, and he gives up. Valjean and Cosette remain in the monastery for several years, Valjean as a gardener and Cosette as a pupil in the school run by the nuns.

Part Three: Marius[link]

In 1832, Javert chances to meet Valjean once more while leading a squad of policemen in the capture of a gang which had been terrorizing Paris for years: Patron-Minette. The Thénardiers, who have lost their inn, also moved to Paris, and now live at Gorbeau House, were also associated with the gang. Unbeknownst to Javert, the venerable elderly gentleman whom the Thénardiers and Patron-Minette were in the process of torturing with the intent of extortion was none other than Valjean. When Marius sees the gang capturing Valjean, he informs the police of the crime, and is introduced to inspector Javert, who gives him two pistols to fire a signal for when the he and his team should enter the building. Learning Javert's name and seeing him save Valjean from the Patron-Minette, Marius develops a deep trust for Javert. Javert does not have the opportunity to recognize Valjean upon saving him from the gang, however, as Valjean recognizes Javert almost immediately and makes a quick escape out the window of the attic where the confrontation was taking place.

Part Four: St. Denis[link]

During the 1832 June riots, Javert assumes an undercover identity and joins the stream of revolutionaries heading to build barricades, in order to gather information on them. Armed with a useless unloaded rifle, he takes part in the preparations for battle without speaking a word to anyone; nevertheless, he is recognized by a street urchin, Gavroche, as a policeman. The rebels tie Javert to a pole in the restaurant where they are holed up and leave him standing there overnight.

Part Five: Jean Valjean[link]

When Valjean appears at the barricade with the secret intent to find Marius, the beloved of his adopted daughter, Javert is more amused than incredulous: the barricades seem like a perfectly fitting place for Valjean, whom he considers irredeemably evil.

This staunch belief is dealt a fatal blow when Valjean, after performing a sharp-shooting feat that saves the barricade from immediate destruction without shedding any blood, requests from Enjolras, the leader of the revolutionary movement, the privilege of slaughtering the police agent. Enjolras acquiesces, and Valjean leads Javert away from the barricade and into a side street. There, instead of killing Javert, Valjean cuts his bonds and implores him to run and save himself. He also gives Javert his address, in the unlikely case that he survives the uprising. Valjean then fires a shot into the air and returns to the barricade, where he tells everyone that the policeman is dead. Upon hearing this, Marius, who did not see Javert at the uprising, is devastated to hear of Javert's supposed death since he saw Javert saving Valjean from the Patron-Minette gang, giving Marius a feeling of respect towards Javert.

As the army storms the barricade, Valjean manages to grab the unconscious Marius, who had been grievously wounded, and dives into a sewer, where he wanders with Marius on his shoulders, despairing of finding an exit. A stroke of luck brings him face to face with Thénardier, whom he already met when Thénardier was part of the Patron-Minette gang captured by Javert and his squad. In the dark and muck of the sewer, neither party recognizes the other. Thénardier assumes that Valjean is a robber who had just killed a well-to-do young man, and he offers to let Valjean out of the sewer if Valjean splits the loot found on Marius' person in half. Valjean pays him, and Thénardier opens for him a sewer grate with a stolen government-issued key.

Valjean's joy at finally being out of the sewer does not last long. As he struggles to regain his bearings on the surface and ponders what to do about the bleeding, unconscious boy, he notices that he is observed by a tall figure, which, predictably, turns out to be Javert. This is almost too much; Javert takes a long time to examine the filthy man emerging from the sewer and finally is satisfied that he is, indeed, looking at Valjean. Far from trying to evade arrest, Valjean repeats that he is ready to surrender, but he asks for Javert's help in delivering the wounded boy to his family first. Javert agrees, looks up the address of Marius' family from an address book he finds on him, and they set off.

During the trip, Javert finds himself, for practically the first time in his life, at a complete loss. On the one hand, he cannot allow Valjean to go free. Over the course of the decade during which Javert knew him, Valjean had committed, to Javert's limited but accurate knowledge, breaking and entering, violent robbery of a small child, multiple counts of fraud, child "kidnapping" and numerous escapes from prison; to make matters worse, just several hours ago Javert found him with the rebels on the barricade—an offence which in itself merits the death penalty. Yet, Javert cannot bring himself to turn Valjean in, since Valjean had saved his life by setting him free on the barricades instead of shooting him, and then rescued another man for no personal gain. After they deliver Marius to his grandfather's home, Valjean asks an opportunity to say goodbye to Cosette. Javert agrees; they arrive at Valjean's house, and Javert says that he will wait for Valjean to come back downstairs. Nevertheless, when Valjean looks out of the window, Javert is gone.

Javert wanders the streets in emotional turmoil: his mind simply cannot reconcile the image he had carried through the years of Valjean as a brutal ex-convict with his acts of kindness on the barricades. Now, Javert can be justified neither in letting Valjean go nor in arresting him. For the first time in his life, Javert is faced with the situation where he cannot act lawfully without acting immorally, and vice versa. Unable to find a solution to this dilemma and horrified at the sudden realization that Valjean was simultaneously a criminal and a good person—a conundrum which made mockery of Javert's entire system of moral values—Javert decides to remove the problem by removing himself from the problem. Towards the end of the book Javert drowns himself in the river Seine; his body is later found.

Javert in the musical[link]

In the stage musical based on the novel of the same name, Javert is one of the central characters, billed second after Valjean. His part is mostly unchanged (other than strong religious motivations which differ from Javert in the novel, who, although respecting the church, answered only to the law and not God), and he acts as a foil and semi-antagonist to the hero, Valjean. Javert has the first sung line of any main character in the musical. After his death his ghost is generally not present in the finale, presumably due to his antagonistic role in the novel.

Songs in the musical[link]

Javert features in several songs.

"Work Song"

This is the first song in the musical, as opposed to the book, where the scene is told after the beginning through flashbacks. Javert is the prison official presiding over the parole proceedings of the day. When Valjean arrives, he and Javert argue over whether Valjean's actions were justifiable, thus expositing Valjean's past to the audience. Javert corrects Valjean when the latter claims his parole means his freedom, saying, "[Your parole] means you get your yellow ticket of leave", hinting at Valjean's uncertain future. Also, in defiance of Valjean and in order to degrade him, Javert begins his habit of referring to Valjean only as his prison number, "24601".

"Fantine's Arrest"

Eight years later, Javert is a police inspector in Montreuil-sur-Mer. He and Valjean, the mayor and a factory owner under the name Madeleine, are familiar with one another. Valjean remembers Javert but pretends to only know him from Montreuil-sur-Mer, while Javert is fooled by Valjean's new identity; he even respects Valjean as an authority figure somewhat. Javert and several other officers arrest Fantine for attacking Bamatabois, and Javert dismisses Fantine's claims of having a child to support as the same lies he has always heard from criminals. When "Madeleine" arrives, pardons Fantine and has her taken to a hospital, Javert is still suspicious of her and attempts to protest to the mayor, to no avail.

"The Runaway Cart"

After witnessing Valjean saving Fauchelevant from a runaway cart, he tells "Madeleine" that the latter's strength reminds him of the real Valjean, whom he remembers from the prison years before. Unlike in the book, Javert merely notices a similarity between Valjean and Madeleine, and never truly suspects the mayor of being the prisoner as the man who resembles Valjean had been arrested previously and awaits trial.

"Who Am I? (The Trial)"

At the end of the song, the real Valjean steps before the court where Javert is testifying to the doppelganger's identity as Valjean. Though he has no speaking lines, Javert is still the one Valjean is addressing when he reveals his true identity and exonerates the man on trial. Through the line "This man bears no more guilt than you," Valjean hints towards the fact that Javert's idea of justice is a mislead one.

"The Confrontation"

At the hospital, after Fantine has died, Javert arrives to find Valjean at her deathbed. Javert, who had once been compelled to respect Valjean as the mayor, is now able to look down on him once more as a prisoner. Javert scoffs at Valjean's request for three day's time to free Cosette, and ridicules and berates Valjean as a recidivist and criminal scum, and mocks his claims of morality by telling of his origin, being born in a prison with men like Valjean. Javert vows to pursue and capture Valjean no matter where or how he escapes. He is knocked out by Valjean after a struggle.

"Javert's Intervention"

Nine years have passed. Javert is still an inspector, now in Paris. He breaks up a street fight between two men, one of whom is M. Thénardier, who was fighting the other man out of resentment for his taking Cosette all those years before. Javert fails to recognize the other man as Valjean, the latter of whom recognizes the former instantly and escapes. Thénardier informs Javert that the man he fought was an ex-convict, and Javert makes the connection and identifies him as Valjean.

"Stars"

Javert's first solo song in the musical. Javert sings of his rekindled intent to capture Valjean, and muses on how he believes his actions are just and righteous, as natural and sequential as the order of the stars. Javert prays to God to aid his pursuit, and swears to the stars that he will never relent. The nature of this song shows how Javert is immensely ill-advised, rather than immoral.

"The Attack on Rue Plumet"

Though he doesn't appear, Javert plays an unseen part in this song. Valjean hears from Cosette that she saw men outside their apartment. Though the men in question were actually Thénardier and members of the Patron-Minette gang, Valjean assumes they were Javert and other policemen under his direction, and decides to flee the city.

"One Day More"

As with all the other characters, Javert sings of his plans and views for the coming day, June 6, 1832. He describes his condescending view of the student rebels and foresees failure for their insurrection, and schemes to go undercover as a spy for the National Guard to learn the secrets of the revolutionaries and provide them with false intelligence.

"Upon These Stones (Javert at the Barricade)"

Javert has successfully disguised himself as an adult sympathizer of the uprising, and gains the trust of the students by volunteering to ascertain the plans of the National Guard.

"Javert's Arrival"/"Little People"

Javert returns to the barricade after an absence and tells the students that the Guard will refrain from attack until at least the next day, and will attack with forces from the right. Gavroche arrives and denounces him as a liar and a police inspector. Javert is captured and restained in the ABC Café, and remains defiant of the students even as his prospects for escaping alive seem bleak.

"The First Attack"

After arriving at the barricade and joining the student's numbers, he begins fighting in the first skirmish between the revolutionaries and the troops. After Valjean kills a sniper aiming at Enjolras and the latter falls in his debt, Valjean is allowed to execute the spy Javert. Valjean finds Javert, who is reeling in confusion over his impending execution for nothing more than enforcing the law. He is belligerent to Valjean, and Javert tauntingly encourages him to kill him. Valjean frees Javert, who believes he wishes some bargain in return. Valjean dismisses any request for payment; he explains that he harbors no ill will towards Javert and even gives him his address in case he lives through the fight. A very confused Javert is let free into the night, Valjean telling the students he is dead.

"The Final Battle"

After the battle is over and the revolutionaries are all dead, save for Valjean and the wounded Marius, Javert returns to the barricade to search for Valjean and finds him gone. He deduces that he is in the sewers, and moves to head him off at an exit near the Seine.

"Dog Eats Dog"

Javert finds Valjean in the sewers with the wounded Marius. He reiterates his intent to capture Valjean, who is not surprised that his old foe has returned to his mission. Valjean requests an hour's time to bring Marius to a hospital and then he will turn himself in. Unlike he did earlier with Cosette, Javert relents somewhat and allows Valjean to leave and save Marius.

"Javert's Suicide"

This is Javert's second solo and last song in the musical. Now alone on a bridge above the Seine, Javert soliloquizes his confusion that Valjean wouldn't kill him, whom Javert assumes Valjean sees as his enemy. He faces an immense inner conflict, as his black-and-white view of the world of Good and Evil is "lost in shadows". He describes his discomfort in living further, first trying to convince himself this is because of his hesitance to live in the debt of a thief. After grappling briefly with the possibility that Valjean might ultimately be forgiven of his crimes ("Shall his sins be forgiven? Shall his crimes be reprieved?"), Javert commits suicide by hurling himself over the bridge. He would rather "escape now from the world ... of Jean Valjean," where forgiveness trumps judgment. His suicide is seen by some as a way to show that he was driven by misguided beliefs, rather than pure evil. It has the same tune as "Valjean's Soliloquy," portraying the fact that Javert has seen the wrong of his ways. Regardless, he cannot accept it as Jean Valjean has, which is shown by the piece ending on a note that doesn't agree with the key.

Moral character[link]

There are those who attack Javert's actions, and others who defend them. Victor Hugo intentionally created his protagonist and antagonist so that neither were entirely on one side of the boundary separating Good and Evil. Here is how he describes Javert:

Probity, sincerity, candor, conviction, the sense of duty, are things which may become hideous when wrongly directed; but which, even when hideous, remain grand: their majesty, the majesty peculiar to the human conscience, clings to them in the midst of horror; they are virtues which have one vice, – error. The honest, pitiless joy of a fanatic in the full flood of his atrocity preserves a certain lugubriously venerable radiance. Without himself suspecting the fact, Javert in his formidable happiness was to be pitied, as is every ignorant man who triumphs. Nothing could be so poignant and so terrible as this face, wherein was displayed all that may be designated as the evil of the good.^[1]

Javert has been described as a legalist, in that his "moral foundation ... is built strictly on legalism".^[2] He is "one of the most tragic legalists in Western literature"^[3] and "the consummate legalist."^[4]

Possible inspirations[link]

The character of Javert is loosely based on Eugène François Vidocq a real-life criminal and adventurer later turned policeman. Just like Vidocq, Javert realises that the only way out of a criminal surrounding (which, in contrary to Vidocq, Javert was born into) is by protecting society and becoming a policeman. Both have a strong belief in justice, although their interpretation of "justice" is different. Javert has inherited many of Vidocq's talents, such as his knowledge of argot, excellent memory and ability for disguises^[5]. In one point, they differ fundamentally: Vidocq took pride in the fact that he never arrested anyone who stole out of need^[6].

Adaptations[link]

Musical[link]

• Jacques Mercier, 1980 Original French Concept Album
• Jean Vallée, 1980 Original French Musical
• Roger Allam, 1985 London Musical
• Terrence Mann, 1987 Broadway Musical
• Takeshi Kaga, 1987 Japanese Production
• Thomas Goerz, 1989 Original Canadian Cast
• Patrick Rocca, 1991 Paris Revival
• Miguel del Arco, 1992 Original Spanish Cast
• Philip Quast, 10th Anniversary Concert, Original Australian Production 1987, 1988 Complete Symphonic Recording and West End Production 1989-1990
• Jérôme Pradon, 2002 Concert
• Norm Lewis, 2006 Broadway Revival, 25th Anniversary Concert and 2010-2011 West End Production
• Pierre Bénard and Alexandre De Grandpré, 2008 Québec City Production
• Brian Stokes Mitchell, 2008 Hollywood Bowl Concert
• Earl Carpenter, 2010 UK Tour
• Andrew Varela, Current 25 Anniversary US Tour 2011
• Ignasi Vidal, Current Spanish 25th Anniversary Production Cast
• Hadley Fraser, Current West End Production 2011-2012
• Tam Mutu, Current West End Production (taking over from Hadley Fraser June 2012)

Film and television[link]

• William V. Ranous, 1909 Adaptation
• Henri Étiévant, 1913 Adaptation
• Hardee Kirkland, 1917 Adaptation
• Jean Toulout, 1925 Adaptation
• Charles Vanel, 1934 Adaptation
• Charles Laughton, 1935 Adaptation
• Hans Hinrich (as Giovanni Hinrich), 1948 Adaptation
• Jawar Setharaman, 1950 Adaptation
• Robert Newton, 1952 Adaptation
• Bernard Blier, 1958 Adaptation
• Marcel Bozzufi, 1961/1962 "Théatre de la jeunesse" Adaptations (parts 1&2)
• Georges Géret, 1963 "Théatre de la jeunesse" Adaptation (part 3)
• Tino Carraro, 1964 Adaptation
• Bernard Fresson, 1972 Adaptation
• Antonio Passy, 1973 Adaptation
• Anthony Perkins, 1978 Adaptation
• Michel Bouquet, 1982 Adaptation
• Geoffrey Rush, 1998 Adaptation
• John Malkovich, 2000 Adaption
• Russell Crowe, 2012 Adaptation

Informal sequels[link]

• In 2001, French publishing company Plon released two informal sequel novels continuing from Hugo's novel entitled Cosette or the Time of Illusions and the follow-up Marius or The Fugitive. Both were by author François Cérésa. In the novels, Javert was retconned into surviving his suicide attempt, becoming religious, and portrayed as a hero.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Les Misérables

• Javert at the Internet Movie Database
• Search for Javert at the Internet Broadway Database

Philip Quast (born 30 July 1957)^[1] is an Australian actor who has thrice won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He is perhaps best known for his role as Inspector Javert in the stage musical version of Les Misérables, or for appearances in numerous Australian soap operas including Sons and Daughters, The Young Doctors and Police Rescue.

Personal life[link]

Quast was born in 1957 in Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia, but currently lives in Great Britain.^[2] He is married and has three children.^[3] Quast also teaches at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, Australia.^[4]

Musical theatre[link]

Quast played the part of Javert in Les Misérables in Great Britain and Australia, as well as in Les Misérables: The Dream Cast in Concert at the Royal Albert Hall, on the Les Misérables Complete Symphonic Recording, and in Hey, Mr. Producer, a concert in honour of Sir Cameron Mackintosh. He has won the most Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Actor in a Musical, having won thrice for:

• 1991: for Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George in the role of George Seurat
• 1998: for the Dempsey and Rowe musical The Fix as Grahame Chandler
• 2002: for Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific in which he played Emille de Becque

Quast co-starred in the musical version of The Secret Garden opposite another famous Australian actor, Anthony Warlow. Though mainly a baritone, Quast has played some roles written for tenors, namely George (see above), Candide, and Neville in The Secret Garden. Although he is known for his serious roles, he has also performed comedic parts, such as his 2004 appearance as the pompous Miles Gloriosus in a limited run revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at the Royal National Theatre.

Philip Quast more recently played the supporting role of Juan Peron in Andrew Lloyd Webber's 2006 production of Evita at the Adelphi Theatre in London. He was nominated for but did not win an Olivier award for this role.^[5][6]

In July 2007, Quast performed the role of Judge Turpin in a concert version of Sweeney Todd at London's Royal Festival Hall.^[7]

Quast was most recently in the Menier Chocolate Factory production of Jerry Herman's La Cage aux Folles as Georges.^[8]

Quast rejoined the cast of La Cage Aux Folles on 4 May 2009 with Roger Allam. Coincidentally, both actors have performed in the role of Javert in Les Misérables.

From July 2010, Quast played Mr Banks in the Australian premiere production of Mary Poppins at Melbourne's Her Majesty's Theatre. He won the 2010 Victorian Green Room Award (Melbourne's top theatre awards) for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for his performance. He also won the Broadway World Australia 2011 award for 'Best Featured Actor in a Musical' for Mary Poppins.

Recordings[link]

Philip Quast has appeared in the cast recordings for many musicals, but has also released his own album, Live at the Donmar, containing both covers and original material.

Other work[link]

Quast has also made numerous appearances on television, in motion pictures and in dramatic theatre. Major roles include:

• Yes, Prime Minister (2012, currently playing); Cabinet Secretary, Sir Humphrey Appleby
• The Devil's Double (2011); Saddam Hussein
• Clubland (2007)
• The Caterpillar Wish (2006); Carl Roberts
• Me & Mrs Jones (2002) (TV); Richard Bowden
• Corridors of Power (2001) (TV); Michael Fielding MP
• Ultraviolet (1998) (TV); Father Pearse Harman
• The Damnation of Harvey McHugh (ABC-TV, 1995); The Minister
• The First Kangaroos (1988); Alex Burdon
• Sons and Daughters (Grundy Television Production) ; Bob 'Mitch' Mitchell (1984-TV)
• The Young Doctors (Grundy Television Production) ; Dr Rob Hawkins (1982-1983-TV)
• Play School (1981–1996)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Philip Quast at the Internet Movie Database
• The Philip Quast Continuum: The Official Philip Quast Website
• The Philip Quast Guide
• Winners of the Laurence Olivier Award

This page is about the man in Les Misérables. For the novel by Cleaver, see: Jean Val Jean.

This book-related article describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. Please help rewrite it to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective. (February 2008)

Jean Valjean as Monsier Madeleine. Illustrated by Gustave Brion.

Jean Valjean (c. 1769-1833) is a fictional character who is the protagonist of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables. Hugo depicts the character's 19-year-long struggle with the law for stealing bread, so he could feed his sister's children (5 years for the theft, 14 years for four attempted escapes and two years for fighting back during one escape attempt) during a time of economic depression. Valjean, along with his nemesis, Police Inspector Javert, who relentlessly pursues Valjean, have become archetypal characters in literary culture.^{[citation needed]} Valjean is also known as Monsier Madeleine, Monsieur Le Mayor, Ultime Fauchelevent, Monsieur Leblanc, Urbain Fabre, 24601 and 9430.

Background story[link]

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. The Bishop Myriel of Digne, from whom he stole valuable silverware, tells the police that he has given the treasure to Valjean. Out of this encounter, Valjean becomes a repentant, honorable, dignified man. He is kind to all whom he encounters, a devoted substitute father to a girl who loses her mother, and a benefactor to those in need. Though a known criminal and a parolee, Valjean yet grows morally to represent the best traits of humanity. Valjean occupies a place on the wrong side of the law, but the right side of human virtues and ethics.

His antithesis, Javert, a dedicated and capable police officer, occupies a place of honor in society. The relationship of Valjean and Javert is a binary opposition between law and love. Javert pursues Valjean with the same white-hot vengeance as Captain Ahab does Moby-Dick, seeing him only as the convict he once was, rather than the benefactor of humanity he has become. The novel describes the developing struggle of Valjean to hide from Javert, and that of Javert to uncover the location of and arrest Valjean.

Valjean in the novel[link]

Part One: Fantine[link]

Even though Jean Valjean is unarguably the novel's main protagonist, he is only introduced in the second book of Part One.

Valjean was born sometime in 1769 (most likely before October) in the small town of Faverolles, Aisne, the son of Jean Valjean and Jeanne Valjean, née Mathieu. Both parents die when he is still a child; the father falls from a tree, the mother dies of a milk fever, and his older sister Jeanne raises him. He becomes a pruner, like his father before him. Jeanne is married to an unnamed man, who dies in 1794, with whom she has seven children, all born between 1786 and 1793.

In winter 1795, when resources become scarce, Valjean steals a loaf of bread from a local baker, Maubert Isabeau. He is caught and imprisoned for five years in the Bagne of Toulon, the Toulon prison, and assigned the number 24601. He attempts to escape four times, in 1800 (shortly before he was due to be released anyway), 1802, 1806 and 1809, each time his sentence is lengthened by three years; he also receives an extra two years for once resisting recapture during his second escape. Finally, after nineteen years in prison, he is released, but must, by law, carry a yellow passport that announces his imprisonment. Furthermore, he is ordered to report to Pontarlier, since ex-convicts were not allowed to choose their residence themselves.

During the fourth year of his captivity, he learns what has happened to his sister. At the time, she was living in Paris, working in at a printer's shop and had only her youngest child, a son, with her who attended the school next door. They were quite poor. Nothing is ever heard about the other six children.

When Valjean is back in the world, he is turned away by every inn due to his yellow passport; if he manages to find work, he is paid only half the normal wages.

Up to this point, his story is told in a flashback. The novel introduces him as a strange man, arriving one October evening in Digne. Without explanations, the novel follows him as he searches a place to stay for the night and is turned away. At last, he is taken in by Bishop Myriel, a kind-hearted old clergyman, in the town of Digne. The bishop trusts Valjean, feeds him supper, and gives him a bed for the night.

During the night, he awakens and steals the bishop's silverware and silver plates, and runs off. He is arrested and brought back to the bishop. However, the Bishop admonishes Valjean (in front of the police) for forgetting to also take the silver candlesticks that he'd given Valjean, reminding Valjean of his "promise" to use the silver to become an honest man, claiming to have bought Valjean's soul with it, withdrawing it from evil and giving it to God. Despite the Bishop's words, we later find that the police mark the event down in Valjean's permanent record.

Bewildered and not really understanding what the bishop is talking about, Jean Valjean heads instead back out into the nearby mountains and meets a young foreign traveling worker named Petit Gervais. There are two perspectives on this encounter. From one perspective, Valjean, still a man of criminal mind, places his foot on a coin that Petit Gervais drops, then refuses to return it to the boy, despite Gervais' protests. When the boy flees the scene and Valjean comes to his senses, remembering what the bishop had done for him, he is horribly ashamed of what he has done and searches for the boy in vain. Another interpretation of this scene is that Valjean was not aware that he had moved his foot over the coin, and snarled at Petit Gervais for annoying him. Either way, he was unresponsive to the boy's pleas and keeping the 40-sous piece and shaking his stick at the boy makes the event an armed robbery -- enough to return him to prison for life if the police ever find him again.

The novel now centers around Fantine, mentioning Valjean only in book five again. Jean Valjean enters the town of Montreuil-sur-Mer in late 1815 and saves the two children of the town's police chief from a fire. In gratitude, the police chief doesn't have any interest in asking Valjean for papers or investigating his past. With a few simple changes, Valjean revolutionizes the town's traditional black bead and bracelet production and gains a fortune, which he spends mostly for the town's good, paying for the maintenance (including required staff) of hospital beds, orphanages and schools. He is appointed mayor for his deeds twice, refusing the first time (until an old woman asks him if he's afraid of the good he could do as mayor). He is also notified that the king wishes to present him with the Croix d’honneur, but declines.

Valjean later saved an old man named Fauchelevent from death, but the event had dire consequences. Fauchelevent had fallen beneath his wagon just as it started settling into the mire and his horse broke its thighs. Javert, who was at the scene and had sent for a jack, told Valjean that he'd known a very strong man, back when Javert had worked as the guard for a prison chain gang, who had climbed under a wagon like that one and raised it on his back. Valjean offered to pay anyone who could raise the wagon but when nobody wanted to risk their life climbing under the wagon and the wagon started settling faster than the jack would get there, he jumped down into the mud and lifted the wagon off Fauchelevent. Since Fauchelevent had earlier lost his business and now had a broken kneecap, Valjean arranged a job at a convent for Fauchelevent. Jean Valjean also bought the broken cart and horse as an excuse to give Father Fauchelevent money.

Later, Javert arrested Fantine, who had become a prostitute, when he saw her spit and try to hit a bourgeois named Bamatabois, who had taunted Fantine and thrown snow down her dress while she walked back and forth trying to get business. Valjean had seen the whole thing and knew that Bamatabois should have been the one arrested and ordered Fantine free. Javert knew only what he'd seen and was furious with Valjean for interfering with police work. When Valjean orders Javert to leave in front of Javert's squad, Javert leaves and denounces "Madeleine" to the prefect of police at Paris, saying that he suspects Madeleine is Valjean. Javert is told that he must be incorrect because the "real" Jean Valjean (who is in reality Champmathieu) had just been found.

Valjean takes Fantine to the local hospital (which is on the side of the mayor's house) and has her cared for. He learns of Cosette, Fantine's daughter, and tries to pay off the Thénardiers (who are abusing Cosette).

Javert then apologizes to "M. Madeleine", and tells him that the "real" Jean Valjean has been found and is to be tried the next day. Javert also asks that he be dismissed in disgrace by Valjean from his job for acting out of revenge incorrectly, saying that since he had been hard on others he could not be less harsh on himself but after Valjean repeatedly refuses, Javert says he will continue acting as police chief until a replacement can be found.

It is only here that the novel finally reveals Madeleine to be Valjean, a fact which was heavily foreshadowed before.

That night, Valjean has a terrific struggle within himself, but finally decides to go to the trial and reveal his identity in order to free Champmathieu (for, if he gave himself up, who would care for Fantine or rescue Cosette?). After giving his evidence and proving that he is the real Jean Valjean, nobody wants to arrest him, so Valjean says that they know where to find him and he returns to Montreuil-sur-Mer. The judge at the trial, although quite impressed with M. Madeleine's work and reputation, is shocked that Valjean, while mentioning a date that another convict had tattoed on himself (in order to prove that M. Madeleine was actually Jean Valjean) called Napoleon Bonaparte "the Emperor" instead of "Bonaparte" and orders Valjean arrested for the 40-sous theft. Javert comes to arrest him the next day while Valjean is in Fantine's room. Valjean asks for three days to get Cosette from Montfermeil and give her to Fantine before he is arrested and Javert refuses, saying that it would be too easy for Valjean to escape. Fantine (who'd been told by the doctors that Valjean, who'd been at the trial, had been getting her daughter) was shocked to find that her daughter was not there already and that her savior was being arrested, and died of shock (her body had been greatly weakened by her poor living conditions and long illness, probably tuberculosis).

Valjean allows Javert to arrest him, but quickly escapes. It is hinted that Valjean escaped with the help of a file hidden in a coin, an item he is later proved to possess. Valjean returns to his house to pack his clothes and hides behind the door when Javert comes looking for him. One of the hospital nuns, who had a reputation for never having told a lie in her life, twice lied to Javert that there was nobody there but her. Javert believed her and left, giving Valjean an opportunity to escape the town.

Part Two: Cosette[link]

A short chapter, mainly consisting of two newspaper articles, informs the reader, that Jean Valjean has been re-arrested while getting into the stagecoach to Montfermeil (on his way to get Fantine's eight-year-old daughter, Cosette, whom he had promised to rescue). In July 1823, he was condemned to death for the 40-sous theft and the escape from the jail in Montreuil-sur-Mer, as the prosecutor claims that Valjean was part of a gang of street robbers and the latter refuses to defend himself. His sentence was graciously reduced by the king to only life in prison instead of death. Before he was captured, Jean Valjean had already traveled near to Montfermeil and buried all the money he'd saved as M. Madeleine -- a chapter tells of a worker in Montfermeil, a former Toulon convict, who claims having seen, according to a local fairy tale, the devil burying his treasure in the forest. No further explanation is ever given as to why, having buried his money near Montfermeil, Valjean had traveled back to Paris and then attempted to travel back to Montfermeil.

Valjean was assigned a new number of 9430, but escapes from a sailing vessel after only a few months' imprisonment, on the 16.11.1823, by apparently falling into the sea after a daring rescue of a sailor who had gotten stuck in a dangerous situation up in the ship's rigging. Thereafter he is officially presumed dead.

Valjean goes to Montfermeil, where he meets Cosette alone in the forest on Christmas Eve 1823. He accompanies her back to the inn; and watches that evening as the Thénardiers mistreat her very badly. He sees the Thénardiers' daughters Éponine and Azelma acting unkindly to her as well, tattling on her to their mother when she tries to play with their temporarily abandoned doll. After seeing this, Valjean briefly leaves the inn and returns with a beautiful new doll to give to Cosette, which she happily accepts. This makes Mme. Thénardier furious with Valjean, affronted that he would do such a thing for Cosette instead of her own daughters. M. Thénardier tells her that Valjean can do as he wishes as long as he pays them. That evening, Mme. Thénardier insists that Cosette will be turned out onto the street the next day.

The next morning, Christmas Day, Valjean offers to take Cosette with him. Mme. Thénardier immediately accepts, but M. Thénardier haggles for a compensation and gets 1500 francs in the end. Valjean takes Cosette with him. Only now does the book confirm that the mysterious man Cosette met is actually Jean Valjean. M. Thénardier is soon overcome with grief at having sold Cosette too cheaply and runs after them. When M. Thénardier demands more money, Valjean gives him the note Fantine signed before she died, saying that the bearer of the note was authorized to take Cosette. M. Thénardier tries to continue following Valjean, but is soon frightened back to the inn.

Valjean takes Cosette to Paris, where they live in No. 50-52 Boulevard de l'Hôpital, in the so-called "Gorbeau House." They cannot live calmly for long -- in Spring 1824, Javert (who'd been promoted to the police in Paris) finds the house. He'd heard of a "kidnapping" from Montfermeil, remembered Valjean's request of three days, and had also heard of a man poorly dressed who gave money to other poor people, the "beggar who gives alms", who had a granddaughter with him, who (so rumors said) said that she came from Montfermeil. Javert goes undercover, discovers that it is Jean Valjean, and makes plans to arrest him.

Valjean recognizes Cosette and they just walk out of the house and leave. They barely manage to get away from Javert, who allowed Valjean to leave the house, believing that Valjean would take him to meet other criminals. Valjean managed to steal a rope from a streetlamp, climb a wall to a convent and pull Cosette up after him. They then climbed down a shed roof into a garden. it turned out that this was the convent where Fauchelevent worked, who wanted to return the favor and save Valjean's life this time. After almost burying Valjean alive in a scheme to get him out of the convent so that he could openly walk back into the convent, Fauchelevent was able to bring in his "brother" Ultimas (fr. Ultime) Fauchelevent (the real name of Fauchelevent's deceased brother). Cosette was admitted to the convent school.

Part Three: Marius[link]

During this whole part, Valjean's and Cosette's appearance is unnamed. They are only described as a father and daughter, whom Marius Pontmercy notices on his daily walks in the Jardin du Luxembourg. He ignores them at first, but later he and Cosette fall in love. Marius stalks the two until Valjean is alerted that someone is stalking them and moves from his house in Rue de l'Ouest (today Rue d'Assas).

They meet again by pure luck, six months later: Valjean is known for his generosity. As "the generous man from the St-Étienne-church", Thénardier, Marius' neighbour, asks for charity. He recognises Valjean and decides to build a trap for him. Marius, overhearing the plans, denounces the plot to the police, unfortunately meeting Javert. Valjean walks right into the trap and attempts to escape Thénardier once he realises this. Thénardier forces Valjean to write a letter to Cosette, instructing her to come with the bearer. Valjean, however, gives Thénardier a false name and address and manages to free himself of the ropes tying him with the help of a file concealed in a coin, which is found afterwards. He berates the gang for thinking that they could force him to tell something he does not want to tell and burns his own left forearm with the poker Thénardier had used to threaten him before surrendering to the gang. It is at that moment that Javert enters the scene. Valjean manages to escape before the latter recognizes him.

Part Four: Saint-Denis[link]

Only now do we learn about Valjean's and Cosette's life during the last years: They lived in the convent until Fauchelevent's death. and left in 1829; Cosette is fourteen years old. Valjean buys three houses (so that he will always have somewhere to flee to) in Rue de l'Ouest (today Rue D'Assas), Rue Plumet (today Rue Oudinot) and No. 7 Rue de l'Homme-Armé (today 40, rue des Archives), mostly living in Rue Plumet.

Valjean does not know that Cosette returns Marius' love and does not understand why Cosette seems less attached to "her grandfather" than before. He is happy to see that the brand wound he got during the attack makes her worry and care for him more. During one of their walks, they witness the passing of a chain gang being taken from Paris south. The event leaves a profound impression on Cosette and makes Valjean even more determined to stop his daughter from learning about his past.

Marius, through Éponine, finds Cosette, stalks her house, leaves his daily love journal for her to find then one evening leaps over the gate and surprises her in the garden. They begin meeting every evening to gaze into each other's eyes. But it is also Éponine, jealous, who throws Valjean an anonymous note, telling him to move. Valjean, feeling threatened since the incident with Thénardier and since he believes there has been a man hiding in his garden, decides to move to England. He takes Cosette to the house in the Rue de l'Homme-Armé. This takes places during the first days of June 1832.

It is only there that he learns of Cosette's love for Marius when a young boy (Gavroche) delivers a letter from Marius to Cosette, which mentions that Marius is at the barricade and will die as he promised her, since she left without a forwarding address. Valjean has another long inward struggle, at first feeling relief about Marius' certain death, then guilt about his former feeling. He joins the rebellion without an actual decision about his following actions.

Part Five: Jean Valjean[link]

Valjean does his part in the insurrection and proves to be an excellent shot. Enjolras, the barricade's leader, wishes to thank Valjean and offers him anything he wants. Valjean asks that he be allowed to kill Javert, who had been captured as a spy. The request is granted and Valjean takes Javert "out back". Instead of executing him, Valjean sets Javert free. Javert warns Valjean that that should Valjean allow him to go free instead of killing him, that he will still be bound to arrest Valjean. Valjean agrees and gives Javert his address. Sometime after Valjean releases Javert, the fighters on the barricades are all killed with the exception of Marius, whom Valjean carries to safety through miles of Parisian sewers and quicksand. Valjean finds the sewer exit to the Grand-Caillou, but it's locked. M. Thénardier is there and has the key. He offers to give the key to Valjean in return for "halves", believing that Valjean had killed Marius for his money. Valjean gives the few sous he has to M. Thénardier and unlocks the sewer gate only to run into Javert, who'd gone back on duty after his release and had been chasing M. Thénardier. Valjean requests that Javert help him carry Marius to safety and Javert summons his carriage to carry them back. Valjean then asks that he be allowed to return home to say goodbye to Cosette and Javert agrees, saying that he will wait out front. As he walks up the stairs, Valjean looks out the window and notices that Javert is gone. Faced with the choice of turning in a man who'd done only good acts for years and had saved Javert's life, or of letting a known criminal go free, Javert ended up "requesting of God" that he, as he'd asked M. Madeleine so many years before, be "dismissed in disgrace" -- he committed suicide.

After recovering from his severe injuries, Marius receives permission from his grandfather to marry Cosette and they wed on 16 February 1833. The day after the wedding, Valjean reveals to Marius that he is, in fact, Jean Valjean and an ex-convict from Toulon. After this, Valjean's previously habitual visits to Cosette at Marius' grandfather's house (No. 6, rue des filles-du-calvaire) become shorter and shorter, until he suddenly ceases to visit. M. Thénardier, who claims that Marius’ father-in-law is a murderer and shows him several Moniteur articles “proving” this, pays Marius a visit. Marius sees through M. Thénardier's disguise and, in an attempt to show Marius something that he doesn't already know, M. Thénardier shows newspaper clippings proving that M. Madeleine and Jean Valjean are the same person, and that Javert committed suicide. Marius is then told that Valjean was the man who had "assassinated" one of Marius' relatives, carrying the body through the sewers on 6 June. Realizing that M. Thénardier had seen Valjean saving him, Marius finishes with M. Thénardier and hurries with Cosette to Valjean's flat on the Rue de L'Homme Armé. Unfortunately, they are too late and see that Valjean is dying. Before he dies, though, Valjean makes peace with Marius, with whom he had had uneasy relations, and tells Cosette the name of her mother, Fantine. Happy, he finally dies.^[1]

Historical backgrounds[link]

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. Valjean's incredible strength in general is based on Vidocq's, who helped Hugo with his research for Claude Gueux and Le Dernier jour d'un condamné (The Last Day of a Condemned Man). The accident of the cart, in particular, is based on an event in Vidocq's life: In 1828, he saved one of the workers in his paper factory by lifting a heavy cart on his shoulders. Hugo only added the fact that Valjean betrayed his real identity with the act (Vidocq had already been pardoned at the time).

Valjean saving the sailor on the Orion is based on a real event not witnessed by Hugo himself. Hugo reproduced a friend's letter describing the incident nearly word for word, changing the end however by letting Valjean escape afterwards. Other incidents in the novel which have been linked to Hugo's own life include:

• In 1841, Hugo saved a prostitute from arrest for assault. He would let Valjean perform the same deed, even using a short part of the dialogue between himself and the constables.^[2]
• The 22nd of February, 1846, Victor Hugo witnessed the arrest of a bread thief. A Duchess and her child were also watching the scene pitilessly from their coach. While this cannot be considered as the inspiration for Les Misérables (Hugo had started the novel years previously), the note in his diary makes clear that the scene impressed him.^[2]
• Hugo himself joined the revolutionaries against Napoleon III on the barricades in December 1851. There he refused any weapons but tended to the wounded.

The convict's number, 24601, may stand for the date Hugo was conceived (24 June 1801); in addition, the 24th of June is St. John's (Jean's) Day.

Jean Valjean is born the same year as Napoleon Bonaparte, and his imprisonment equals the years of Napoleon's rise to power and the Napoleonic wars (1796-1815).

The revolt of the university students is based on the 1832 June Rebellion.

Musical version[link]

Differences in Valjean's character[link]

Valjean's assumed name, Father Madeleine, is not used in the musical version, where he is only called Monsieur le maire (Mr. Mayor). In the musical, Valjean is not arrested a second time and given a new prisoner number.

In Act 2, The First Attack, Valjean shoots a sniper who is attempting to kill Enjolras. This directly contradicts the story of the novel, which explicitly states that Valjean is the only person at the barricades who does not directly fight. In the book, he only shoots at soldiers's helmets, although his earlier shots to get a mattress down which had been hung up in front of some windows makes it clear that he is an excellent shot.

Valjean and Cosette do not take refuge from Javert in a convent, as they do in the novel, and Valjean never stays at the Gorbeau house. Instead, Thenardier attacks him in the streets with his street gang.

Songs[link]

Overture/Work Song

In the musical's first song, Valjean is called from a chain gang of prisoners to be released. Javert hands him his yellow passport and when Valjean says that he only stole a loaf of bread and spent nineteen years in prison for this, Javert reminds him that fourteen years were for having "tried to run." Javert calls Valjean only by his number, 24601, Valjean insists on being called by his real name.

On Parole

After leaving the prison, Valjean dreams of a bright future, but swears not to forget those nineteen years in prison. He finds work at a farm, but gets paid only half the wages. An inn also refuses to take him in. Valjean has to realise that he will remain an outcast. Only the bishop of Digne takes him in, but Valjean repays his kindness by stealing his silver.

Valjean Arrested, Valjean Forgiven

He does not get far after the theft. Two constables bring him back to the bishop, who lies by saying he had given Valjean the silver as a gift, and then gives him two silver candlesticks. After the constables leave, the bishop tells Valjean that he has now bought Valjean's soul and given it to God.

What Have I Done? (Valjean's Soliloquy)

Valjean's first large solo. Valjean is confused by the bishop's actions, claiming that there was only one way for Valjean to go ever since he was first condemned for stealing a loaf of bread. Nevertheless, the bishop's trust in him makes him decide to find another way. At the end of the song, he rips up his yellow passport.

At The End Of The Day

Eight years later. In a factory in Montreuil-sur-Mer, a fight breaks loose and the owner of the factory and mayor of the city comes to stop it. It is up to the spectator to recognise that Valjean is the mayor.

Fantine's Arrest

After Javert has arrested Fantine for assaulting a man, the mayor orders him to let Fantine go. Fantine does not believe in the mayor's sudden kindness, claiming that it was him who allowed the foreman to send her away from the factory and causing her misery. Valjean realises what has happened and decides to care for Fantine. She is taken to a hospital.

The Runaway Cart

Directly afterwards, a runaway cart crashes and traps a man underneath. As the people around hesitate to help, Valjean slips under the cart and lifts it on his back. Javert, who witnesses the scene, feels reminded of a man he knew years ago, a convict who had the same strength as the mayor. However, this man has just been arrested and awaits his trial.

Who Am I?

After Javert has left, Valjean soliloquizes about the course of action he should take. He first rejoices at the thought of not having to worry about being arrested, but then realises that he cannot have an innocent man being condemned in his place, reasoning that God has once given him strength and will do so again. At the trial, he reveals his true identity and proves it by showing the convict brand on his chest.

Come To Me (Fantine's Death)

Fantine is very ill and hallucinating. Valjean returns from the trial and promises to take care for her child, just before she dies.

The Confrontation

Javert arrives to arrest Valjean, triumphing. Valjean begs him to grant him three days' time to fetch Fantine's child, promising to return, at which Javert scoffs. As Javert makes his beliefs about criminals clear, that a man who has fallen once can never redeem himself, Valjean reminds Javert of his strength, claiming that he would not hesitate to kill Javert. After renewing his promise to Fantine, he knocks Javert out and flees.

The Bargain/The Waltz of Treachery

In the forest at a well, Valjean has met the badly-treated Cosette, Fantine's child. He follows her to the Thénardiers' inn, where he announces that he promised to Fantine to take care of her child. The Thénardiers' start to haggle for a price, claiming that Cosette cost them so much money and even faking worry about Valjean probably having bad intentions with the child. Valjean ends up giving them 1500 francs and takes Cosette with him.

The Robbery/Javert's Intervention 

Nine years later in Paris. Valjean arrives to fall into a trap set up by Thénardier, who in the following brawl gets a look at the convict brand on Valjean's chest. As Javert arrives, Valjean manages to escape with Cosette, before Javert recognises him.

In My Life

At their house in the Rue Plumet, Cosette sings about Marius. Valjean enters and Cosette starts to ask him questions about the past which he refuses to answer.

Attack On Rue Plumet

Valjean arrives after the departure of Marius and Thénardier's gang, since he heard Éponine scream. Cosette claims that is had been her since she saw shadows moving in the street. Valjean believes that Javert has found him again and decides that it is no longer safe to stay in France. He announces to Cosette that they shall go to England.

One Day More

Valjean gets the first few lines in the song, singing about his hopes to live in peace at last, once he is in England. During the rest of the song, he and Cosette pack a suitcase.

At The Barricade (Upon These Stones)

At the barricade, Marius has given Éponine a letter, which she delivers to Valjean, who promises to pass it to Cosette. He reads it however and so discovers Cosette's love for Marius.

Night Of Anguish (Sometimes known as Valjean At The Barricades)

Valjean arrives in an army uniform. The students point out to him that he seems to old to fight, but Valjean insists on staying. The students show him Javert, bound to a chair, and warn him that if he should be another spy, he too will not live.

The First Attack

During the first attack, Valjean shows his superior shooting skills by shooting a sniper who had just missed Enjolras. This is a direct contradiction of the book, where it is emphasised that he did not kill anybody. As Enjolras thanks him, Valjean asks Javert's life as a reward, so Enjolras allows him to shoot Javert. However, Valjean cuts Javert's bonds and tells him to go. Javert encourages him to go through with it, telling him that he believes that Valjean will forever stay a thief and that he, Javert, will continue to hunt him. Valjean tells him that he is wrong and finishes by giving his address in case that he should get out alive. He unloads his rifle into the air after Javert leaves.

Drink With Me (silent)

Though Valjean does not sing in this song, it is important, because it allows him to find out who Marius is as the latter sings about his love for Cosette.

Bring Him Home

During the night, Valjean prays to God and asks him to save Marius, even if that would mean his, Valjean's, death. This is probably the most famous of Valjean's solos, but it contradicts the book most strongly. In the book, Valjean came to the barricades without a real decision what to do if he should find Marius and actually harbours such hate against him that he seems to wish for his death.

The Second Attack (Death Of Gavroche)

During the second attack, the rebels run out of ammunition. Marius proposes to get some from the dead bodies on the other side of the barricade, but Enjolras holds him back. Valjean offers to go, but Gavroche is faster. He climbs over the barricade where he gets shot and killed.

The Final Battle (silent)

After the shooting dies down, Valjean wakes from unconsciousness to find Marius badly wounded and barely alive. He searches for an escape route and finds a manhole down to the sewers where he takes Marius just before Javert arrives.

The Sewers/Dog Eats Dog

Valjean arrives with an unconscious Marius just as Thénardier is about to rob a corpse. Valjean loses consciousness and Thénardier proceeds to rob Marius, taking a ring and his watch. Just as he turns to Valjean, he wakes. Thénardier recognises him and runs. Valjean takes Marius again and carries him through the sewers until they arrive at an outlet by the Seine. But Javert is already waiting. Valjean begs again for an hour to bring Marius to a hospital, promising to come quietly afterwards. This time Javert agrees and Valjean leaves.

Every Day/A Heart Full Of Love (Reprise)

Valjean arrives in the middle of a love scene between Cosette and Marius and decides not to stand in the way of their happiness.

Valjean's Confession

A very happy Marius asks Valjean to come and live with them, but Valjean decides that first, there is something Marius needs to know. He tells his life story in short (only about being an ex-convict and a parole violator) and says that he has to leave. Marius asks him to stay, saying that Cosette will not believe any reason for her father's disappearance. Valjean makes Marius promise never to tell Cosette about this, a word which Marius gives only reluctantly.

Valjean's Death/Finale/Do You Hear The People Sing? (Reprise)

At the time of the wedding, a strongly aged Valjean prays for Cosette and Marius. The arrival of Fantine's ghost marks his near death, which gets postponed by the arrival of Cosette and Marius, who has just learned the identity of his saviour. Valjean hands Cosette his written confession and dies in her arms. Éponine's ghost then joins him and Fantine, then all the students and rebels who died at the barricade return as ghosts for the finale.

Adaptations[link]

Musical[link]

• Maurice Barrier, 1980 Original French Cast
• Colm Wilkinson, 1985 London Musical, 1987 Broadway Musical, 10th Anniversary Concert, Toronto 1998 Return Production, Ireland Return Production 1998-1999 and Shanghai Production 2002
• Takeshi Kaga, 1987 Japanese Production
• Michael Burgess, 1989 Original Canadian Cast
• Robert Marien, 1991 Paris Revival Cast, London Production, Broadway 10th Anniversary Production
• Pedro Ruy-Blas, 1992 Original Spanish Cast
• Fred Inkley, 1995, 1998-1999 Imperial Theatre, 3rd National Tour
• Alexander Gemignani, 2006 Broadway Revival
• Drew Sarich, (replaced Gemignani) 2006 Broadway Revival and 2007-2008 West End
• Gino Quilico, 2008 Québec City Production
• J. Mark McVey, Broadway & London Productions, 2008 Hollywood Bowl Concert, 25th Anniversary US Tour-Most Performances as Jean Valjean on Broadway
• John Owen-Jones, 1998-2001 and 2005-2007 London production and 25th Anniversary Tour
• Flemming Enevold, 2009 Det Ny Theater Production
• Alfie Boe, 25th Anniversary Concert and West End Production 2010-2011
• Hans Peter Janssens Antwerp, London 2000-2003.
• Gerónimo Rauch, Current Spanish 25th Anniversary Production Cast and West End Production (as from June 2012)
• Ramin Karimloo, Current West End Production 2011-Present

Film and television[link]

• Maurice Costello, 1909 Adaptation
• Henry Krauss, 1913 Adaptation
• William Farnum, 1917 Adaptation
• Gabriel Gabrio, 1925 Adaptation
• Nobuo Asaoka, 1929 Adaptation, 1931 Adaptation
• Harry Baur, 1934 Adaptation
• Fredric March, 1935 Adaptation
• Gino Cervi, 1948 Adaptaion
• Michael Rennie, 1952 Adaptation
• Sohrab Modi, 1955 Adaptation
• Jean Gabin, 1958 Adaptation
• Jean Chevrier, 1961-1963 "Théatre de la jeunesse" Adaptations
• Gastone Moschin, 1964 Adaptation
• Georges Géret, 1972 Adaptation
• Sergio Bustamante, 1973 Adaptation
• Richard Jordan, 1978 Adaptation
• Lino Ventura, 1982 Adaptation
• Jean-Paul Belmondo, 1995 Adaptation
• Liam Neeson, 1998 Adaptation
• Gérard Depardieu, 2000 Adaption
• Hugh Jackman, 2012 Adaptation

Radio[link]

• Orson Welles, 1937 radio adaptation

References[link]

1. ^ http://www.online-literature.com/victor_hugo/les_miserables/
2. ^ ^{a b} Choses vues 1830-1848

• Jean Valjean – Portrait of a tragic hero.
• Jean Valjean (Character) at the Internet Movie Database
• http://www.unique-design.net/library/sacred/story/hugo.htm

External links[link]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Les Misérables

• Jean Valjean at the Internet Movie Database
• Search for Jean Valjean at the Internet Broadway Database

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