Justice, mercy, and humility are foundations upon which Victor Hugo based Les Miserables. Hugo’s account of the turbulent period following the French Revolution offers valuable insight into the importance of these values and the dangers of their being forgotten. According to Hugo, “justice” can only be just when it is tempered by mercy and driven by an overall desire to improve society. The harsh, rigid penal system of post revolutionary France was more focused on severely punishing minor offenders and upholding an unjust political system. The character Jean Valjean is the typical victim of this system. Imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s family, Valjean becomes a hateful and dangerous person as a direct result of the harsh punishment inflicted upon him. It is only through the kind and merciful acts of M. Myriel that Valjean devotes himself to honesty and compassion.

Jean Valjean meets M. Myriel (the Bishop of Digne) in 1815 at the end of Napolean’s reign as Emperor and the beginning of the Bourbon Restoration. Valjean comes to Digne after ninetee

Javert, an unyielding policeman, is on the opposite side of the spectrum from Bishop Myriel. Javert is the embodiment of everything that is wrong with the French justice system. Javert has tunnel vision when it comes to the law; there are no gray areas. “A persona is necessary if one is not to be overly vulnerable; but if one confuses the person with the real self, growth is impossible and in time one becomes fixed and rigid” (Hemmings 711). We see Javert, the policeman, whose dedication to the word of the law demands him to be less human, and thus inflexible. This is evidenced in the novel through Fantine, a young girl who is employed by Valjean (M. Madeleine; Valjean’s assumed identity). She is an unwed mother, who is being blackmailed by the people who are caring for her daughter, Cosette. Fantine is forced into prostituting herself to pay the Thenardier’s rising demand for money. One night, while waiting for possible customers outside a bar, Fantine is harassed by a man. When she fights back, Officer Javert arrests her. When Valjean, as M. Madeleine hears of the incident, he frees Fantine and promises to care for her and her child. Javert’s actions toward Fantine demonstrate the rigidness and inflexibility of the justice system in France at that time. Both punished people without consideration of circumstances and societal factors.

“The plot of the novel shows Valjean’s rise to respectability and his fall from the same many times” (St. Martin 854). Jean Valjean through his constant suffering acknowledges that it is always hard to do the right thing, but in the end, it is the only way. Javert and the French justice system try, and in the end, fail to bring down Valjean. The French justice system focuses on process, not equity, as does Javert

Some topics in this essay:
Jean Valjean, Bishop Myriel, Myriel Javert, Myriel Myriel, Valjean Madeleine, According Hugo, Restoration Valjean, Jean Valjean’s, Javert Javert, Victor Hugo, justice system, jean valjean, les miserables, bishop myriel, victor hugo, french justice system, loaf bread, french justice, theft loaf bread, mercy humility, valjean meets, javert javert, st martin 854, justice mercy humility,