LES MISERABLES ... Imageries in the musical

Les Miserables, written by Victor Hugo, is one of the greatest literary works of the western canon. It has been successfully presented as one of the longest running musical of the same name, running continuously for 20 years in the West End (London) and Broadway (New York), as well as resident and touring productions all over the world.
Story Synopsis and more are available on the official website of Les Miserables The Musical.



Victor Hugo was the greatest French writer who ever lived, revered by both the French nation and the world. His greatest works include 'Les Miserables' and 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'. Hugo died in 1885 at the age of eighty-three. Although he left instructions that his funeral be simple, over 3 million spectators followed his cortege to the Pantheon, where he was buried amid France's great men. Hugo's death came at the end of a century of war, civil conflict, brutally repressed insurrections such as the student rebellion in Les Misérables, and social injustice. Because of his belief in the triumph of good over evil and his pleading for tolerance and non-violence, Victor Hugo was the herald of the new democratic spirit.

ACTIVITY:
For the following song numbers from the musical Les Miserables, examine and appreciate the figurative expressions and imagery presented about love/romance and friendship in the lyrics.

A Mother's Love: Come To Me (Fantine's Death)
http://les-miserables-lyrics.wonderlyrics.com/Come-To-Me-(Fantine's-Death).html
Fantine entrusts Cosette to M. Valjean on her deathbed, with all her hopes and aspirations for her beloved child.



Unrequitted Love: On My Own (Eponine) Eponine sang of her unrequitted love for Marius, as she paced the loneliness of the night.

Final Love at Death's Side: A Little Fall of Rain (Eponine/Marius) Eponine risked her life to bring news to Marius, dying in the arms of her beloved. Pain and rain intertwined amongst the emotions of both Eponine and Marius in this bittersweet scene.

A Father's Love: Bring Him Home (Valjean) Valjean saved Marius from the clutches of death in the aftermath of the Revolution. Marius had little life left in him, and Valjean prayed in supplication to God that Marius, the beloved of his daughter Cosette, might live.

Of Friendship In The Last Days

Drink With Me (Students) The student rebels passed their final night before the attack drinking to their friendship and to the passing of innocence and a life gone by, for none knew if each will witness the coming of the next day after the revolution.

Empty Chairs At Empty Tables (Marius) In the days after the failed Revolution, and after his recovery, Marius revisited the site where he had drunk the last drink with his brother comrades that night before the attack. The sight of the empty chairs and empty tables provided a poignant backdrop to his reminiscence.

Passion & Compassion for Humanity:
Human Dignity and Freedom

Do You Hear The People Sing (All) As the revolution gained momentum, the people at the barricade chorused their hopes for dignity, freedom and libertie la France - pouring forth their heartfelt pride and love for their nation. The fire in their hearts burned with a fury and passion that they would willingly lay down their lives as martyrs for their aspirations for the motherland.

Epilogue (All) The revolution had failed, and in this final epilogue scene, the martyrs and the survivors sang in a common spirit of the everlasting legacy of a national freedom that they leave behind. It was a failed revolution, but it was not a lost cause.

all pictures are taken from the lesmis official website www.lesmis.com

EBook Download Site: Gutenberg Project (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/135)

Extract from Les Miserables (translation), final paragraphs:

In the cemetery of Pere-Lachaise, in the vicinity of the commongrave, far from the elegant quarter of that city of sepulchres,far from all the tombs of fancy which display in the presence ofeternity all the hideous fashions of death, in a deserted corner,beside an old wall, beneath a great yew tree over which climbs thewild convolvulus, amid dandelions and mosses, there lies a stone. That stone is no more exempt than others from the leprosy of time,of dampness, of the lichens and from the defilement of the birds. The water turns it green, the air blackens it. It is not nearany path, and people are not fond of walking in that direction,because the grass is high and their feet are immediately wet. When there is a little sunshine, the lizards come thither. All aroundthere is a quivering of weeds. In the spring, linnets warble inthe trees.
This stone is perfectly plain. In cutting it the only thoughtwas the requirements of the tomb, and no other care was taken thanto make the stone long enough and narrow enough to cover a man.

No name is to be read there.

Only, many years ago, a hand wrote upon it in pencil these four lines,which have become gradually illegible beneath the rain and the dust,and which are, to-day, probably effaced:

Il dort. Quoique le sort fut pour lui bien etrange,

Il vivait. Il mourut quand il n'eut plus son ange.

La chose simplement d'elle-meme arriva,

Comme la nuit se fait lorsque le jour s'en va.

He sleeps. Although his fate was very strange,

He lived. He died when he had no longer his angel.

The thing came to pass simply,of itself,

as the night comes when day is gone. (Translation)