What is the story of Les Miserables?

Question

and what does it mean?

Answer 1

ive watched the play twice and it's simply mind-blowing! you'll have to watch it yourself to really feel the impact of the whole story. the lights, sounds, stage settings, backdrops.. everything just fits perfectly in place. the songs and dances are all very captivating and the whole story is just thought provoking.

some of the main themes i would say, would be grace, and scepticisms from society. set in early 1800s, Paris, it displays how past societies judges people, sterotype against them, and refuse to acknowledge their presence. it's the whole system of "law & order" without exceptions. grace comes in when the Bishop lies to Javert, and by doing so, sets a man free and gave him a new lease of life.

i think the purpose of the author is to let us understand the harsh life and poverty in the 1800s. even in other countries like London or America in those days, many were having a hard time trying to bring the bread home and meeting with social standards. children were dying of hunger or illness, the law was strict but corrupted at the same time, women were forced into prostitution, had illegitimate children as a result, and were only degraded even more due to this. it's a whole vicious cycle for the poor.

anyway, here's a link that will be of help to you:

http://www.lesmiserables.com/pages/about/story_1.htm


enjoy!

Answer 2

It is a story of how miserable the lives were of the population in those times. Only one relationship is happy. All the others are destined never to continue through untimely deaths. A very sad story. Very unfair premise. But a window into the times that existed then.

Answer 3

A beautiful story of human spirit and endurance against injustice on a personal scale for each character and as a whole for the revolution.

So many well developed characters, Fantine and Eponine break my heart. 24601 Jean Valjean what power and enduarance yet kindness and love. Javert tries his best and is torn between the law and what is right in the end.

Incredible book - incredible play - dont cheat yourself of reading it.

Answer 4

The word means unhappy/poor
Les Misérables is set in the Parisian underworld. The protagonist, Jean Valjean, is sentenced to prison for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread. After his release, Valjean plans to rob monseigneur Myriel, a saintlike bishop, but cancels his plan. However, he forfeits his parole by committing a minor crime, and for this crime Valjean is haunted by the police inspector Javert. Valjean eventually reforms and becomes under the name of M. Madeleine a successful businessman, benefactor and mayor of a northern town. To save an innocent man, Valjean gives himself up and is imprisoned in Toulon. He escapes and adopts Cosette, an illegitimate child of a poor woman, Fantine. Cosette grows up and falls in love with Marius, who is wounded during a revolutionary fight. Valjean rescues Marius by means of a flight through the sewers of Paris. Cosette and Marius marries and Valjean reveals his past. -

Answer 5

It's about a man who is imprisoned for 15 years for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his family. The story starts when he gets out of prison and tries to reform his life, but he is hounded by the man who put him in jail in the first place and who believes "once a criminal, always a criminal." It has a lot to do with class stratification and the events that led up to the French Revolution, but it also looks at the themes of redemption and overcoming one's past AND how it is possible to change someone else's point of view by showing them kindness and mercy when they really don't deserve it. Our criminal actually became a quite wealthy and influential individual despite being hounded by the cop, but the cop later changed his mind about our criminal after the criminal spared his life and ended up throwing himself off a bridge when he finally realized how wrong he was about this man and how much damage he had done to his life while believing "once a criminal, always a criminal."

Answer 6

Les Miserables is a 5000 pg book written by Victor Hugo. The book was written in 7 smaller books...mainly about each main characters: Jean Valjean, Fantine, Cossette, Javert, Marius, Eponine, and Enjolras. Its actually interesting to read because you read about each character first and their lives and tehn you read the others. At the end of your reading...you can see how each one intertwine. But here's a run down for you:

Time: 1800s France Revolution Days

Valjean was jailed for stealing a loaf of bread. He was freed on parole by Javert (who was born in Jail, hence very hatred). Valjean escapes his parole by the help of a priest provided he will start anew. Valjean became a man of the government and changed his name. He vowed to help those unfortunate like himself. Enter Fantine who was dying. Fantine has a daughter name Cossette who was boarded with the Thenardiers who she pays. The Thenardiers has a daughter as well named Eponine. Fantine dies, Valjean accepts responsibility for Cossette, takes Cossette from the Thenardiers. Javert makes a promise to find Valjean and bring him back in jail.

Years past and Cossette has grown. Enjolras is a student who is forming a revolutionary group. Marius is friends with Enjolras. Eponine is in love with Marius..but Marius only sees her as a friend. Marius meets Cossette in passing and falls in love with her. Eponine sacrifices her love and introduces Cossette and Marius. REvolution happnes. Valjean and Javert meet. Javert was captured by revoltionists...Valjean frees him. Javert kills himself. Eponine and Enjolras dies in the conflict in Paris. Marius and Cossette maries...Valjean gets really old and die.

Answer 7

It is an awesome book. I read it twice. It is very long, and there are long parts that aren't really part of the story. Tim's synopsis is very good, so I am not going to try to give one too! But, even with Tim's synopsis, you should really read it for yourself...it is wonderful. There is even a sequel written by someone else, called Cosette, and it is excellent too!!!

Answer 8

it really is a tricky plot to describe so that you may want to pick to look on Wikipedia and browse it :)) in reality, this is about an escaped convict referred to as Jean Valjean who begins a clean existence for himself even as escaping from Inspector Javert (he has it in for Valjean!) He will change into the owner of a production unit and between the staff, Fantine, has a daughter named Cossette who she can not discover the money for to maintain to she sends her to stay with a terrible inkeeper and his spouse even as Fantine sends money to pay for her. She loses her job and finally ends up starting to be a prostitute, also even as slowly demise from intake (TB) or maybe as she's on her demise mattress, Valjean vists her and delivers to look after Cossette. He adopts her and they pass to commence a clean existence mutually. Years later, the French Revolution is in swing and a collection of scholars, one of them being Marius, a established personality, is thinking. there is also a woman named Eponine, who's the inkeeper's daughter (an identical one which followed Cossette - they dealt with Cossette very cruelly) who's now adverse after the inkeeping organization went bust. besides, so there's a love triangle between Eponine, Marius and Cossette - Marius and Cossette are deeply in love even as Eponine is lusting after Marius. the scholars construct a barricade and Eponine dies attempting to guard Marius. Marius is injured yet Jean Valjean saves him by potential of carrying him by potential of the sewers to protection. Javert commits suicide. interior the end, Marius and Cossette marry. certainly pass and browse an entire plot summary! i might want to have were given some issues incorrect yet hi ho! :))

Answer 9

I, William Shakespeare, of Stratford-upon-Avon, in the county of Warrick, gentleman in perfect health & memory. God be praised, do make & ordain this my last will & testament in manner & form following, that is to say, first, I commend my soul into the hands of God, my Creator, hoping & assuredly believing, through the only merits of Jesus Christ, my Saviour, to be made partaker of life everlasting, and my body to the Earth whereof it is made.

Answer 10

Below is a plot summary with plenty of spoilers. The main themes boil down to the inherent good or evil of men, and whether they can change.

Plot summary:

Les Misérables contains a multitude of plots, but the thread that binds them together is the story of the ex-convict Jean Valjean, known in prison only by his prisoner number, 24601, who becomes a force for good in the world, but cannot escape his past. The novel is divided into five parts, each part divided into books, and each book divided into chapters. Each chapter is relatively short; usually no longer than a few pages. Nevertheless, the book in its entirety is quite lengthy by usual standards, well exceeding twelve hundred pages in unabridged editions. Within the borders of the novel's story arc, Hugo fills many pages with his thoughts on religion, politics, and society, including his three lengthy digressions, one being a discussion on enclosed religious orders, another being on argot, and most famously, his epic retelling of the Battle of Waterloo.

After nineteen years of imprisonment for stealing food for his starving family, the peasant Jean Valjean is released. However, he is required to carry a yellow ticket, which marks him as a convict. Rejected by innkeepers who do not want to take in a convict, Valjean sleeps on the street. However, the benevolent Bishop Myriel takes him in and gives him shelter. In the night, he steals the bishop’s silverware and runs. He is caught, but the bishop rescues him by claiming that the silver was a gift. The bishop then tells him that in exchange, he must become an honest man.

Six years later, Valjean has become a wealthy factory owner and is appointed mayor of his adopted town, having broken his parole and assumed the pseudonym of Monsieur Madeleine to avoid capture by Inspector Javert, who has been pursuing him. Fate, however, takes an unfortunate turn when another man is arrested, accused of being Valjean, and put on trial, forcing the real ex-convict to reveal his true identity. At the same time, he meets the dying Fantine, who had been fired from her job at his factory and has resorted to prostitution. She has a young daughter, Cosette, who lives with a corrupt innkeeper and his selfish, cruel wife. As Fantine dies, Valjean, seeing in Fantine similarities to his former life of hardship, promises her that he will take care of Cosette. He pays off the innkeeper, Thénardier, to obtain Cosette. Valjean and Cosette flee for Paris. Once in Paris, they find shelter in a convent. Not allowed to search the convent, Javert is unable to find the pair.

Ten years later, as Cosette and Valjean are leaving the convent, angry students, led by Enjolras, are preparing a revolution on the eve of the Paris uprising on June 5–6, 1832, following the death of General Lamarque, the only French leader who had sympathy towards the working class. They are also joined by the poor, including the young street urchin Gavroche. One of the students, Marius Pontmercy, who has become alienated from his family because of his liberal views, falls in love with Cosette, who has grown to be very beautiful. The Thénardiers, who have also moved to Paris, lead a gang of thieves to raid Valjean’s house while Marius is visiting. However, Thénardier’s daughter, Éponine, who is also in love with Marius, convinces the thieves to leave.

The following day, the students revolt and erect barricades in the narrow streets of Paris. Valjean, learning that Cosette's lover is fighting, joins them in order to protect Marius. Éponine also joins to protect Marius, and ends up taking a bullet for him and dying happily in his arms. During the ensuing battle, Valjean saves Javert from being killed by the students and lets him go. Javert, a man who believes in absolute obedience of the law, is caught between his belief in the law and the mercy Valjean has shown him. Unable to cope with this dilemma, Javert kills himself. Valjean carries off the injured Marius, but many others, including Enjolras and Gavroche, are killed. Escaping through the sewers, he returns Marius to Cosette. Marius and Cosette are soon married. Valjean loses his strength to live, since Cosette no longer needs him. Marius is convinced Valjean is of poor moral character and steers Cosette away from him. Marius learns of Valjean's good deeds too late and rushes to Valjean's house, where he lies dying. Valjean reveals his past to the pair, and then dies.