Reflection on Les Miserables
Reflection on Les Miserables Les Misérables, which means “The Miserables Ones” in English, is a musical portrayal of the French Revolution. The musical is an epic tale and portrayal of the spirit of the very poor, people who have suffered throughout their lives. There are four main characters acknowledge the adversities they have faced. Their privations were distinct to them. Fantine is a woman whose life was miserable; she was held captive in a bog of poverty and public shame and was compelled to abandon her child to foster parents. Cosette, the most naive of the miserables, was raised in poverty, having been born to a poor and unmarried mother. Valjean, one of the major characters in the story, certainly experienced the most poverty, as his life was full of suffering from his earliest days. Character Javert, who was an inspector, was one of “The Unfortunates” because he locked himself within the restrictions of the law. Jochen Streit (2004) writes, “Les Miserables is a work to which one can return time and again without a sense of having exhausted its possibilities. Like its multifaceted hero, it can be viewed from numerous perspectives, each enriching the others. It is tragedy comedy, melodrama, romance, satire, epic, poetry, history, philosophy, theology, and political polemic, all rolled into one, it enables us to escape into adventures of others; it brings us back to ourselves.” Mr. Streit brought to light the dept of the philosophy involved in the musical. The author of Les Miserables, Victor Hugo, exhibits highly developed humanistic and philosophical beliefs in the novel through his “multifaceted hero,” Valjean. The song “At the End of the Day” in Act I is sung by the entire company, all of whom are portraying factory workers. The song creates a strong sense of the misery and poverty experienced by the majority of the French residents. “At the end of the day you get nothing for nothing, sitting flat on your butt doesn’t buy any bread.” The