Characteristics of jean valjean. An Analysis of the Characters of Jean Valjean and Fantine in Les Miserables by Victor Hugo 2022-10-20

Characteristics of jean valjean Rating: 7,1/10 1027 reviews

Jean Valjean is a character from the novel "Les Misérables" by Victor Hugo. Throughout the novel, Valjean undergoes a significant transformation, evolving from a bitter, imprisoned man to a compassionate and selfless individual. Here are some key characteristics of Jean Valjean:

  1. Resilience: Valjean spends 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister's starving children. Despite this hardship, he does not let his circumstances define him, and he works tirelessly to rebuild his life after his release.

  2. Compassion: Valjean is a compassionate and caring person, especially towards those who are downtrodden and marginalized. He takes in Cosette, the orphaned daughter of Fantine, and raises her as his own, showing her love and kindness.

  3. Selflessness: Valjean is a selfless individual, always putting the needs of others before his own. He risks his own life to save Marius, a young man he barely knows, from the barricades during the June Rebellion.

  4. Honesty: Valjean struggles with his past as a convicted criminal and the stigma that comes with it. However, he is ultimately honest about his past, confessing his true identity to Cosette and Marius when they become engaged.

  5. Courage: Valjean displays great courage throughout the novel, both physically and emotionally. He stands up to his oppressors, including the cruel Inspector Javert, and faces his own inner demons, choosing to do what is right even when it is difficult.

Overall, Jean Valjean is a complex and multifaceted character who undergoes a significant transformation throughout the course of the novel. Despite facing numerous challenges and hardships, he remains resilient, compassionate, selfless, honest, and courageous, ultimately becoming a better person for it.

Jean Valjean

characteristics of jean valjean

Valjean goes into prison a simple and decent man, but his time in jail has a seemingly irreversible effect on him, and he emerges from the chain gang a hardened criminal who hates society for what it has done to him. At the end of the story, when Colette is getting married, he reveals his dark past, so that Cosette will never be impacted by the shadow of his reputation. Jean Valjean found Cosette important because he escaped the galleys after he was caught again while being mayor. Valjean goes to Montfermeil, where he meets Cosette alone in the forest on The next morning, Valjean takes Cosette to Valjean recognizes Javert, and taking Cosette, walks out of the house and leaves. Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare by 1595, epitomizes this common topic. Unfortunately, they are too late and find Valjean is dying.

Next

Jean Valjean

characteristics of jean valjean

He may learn by his own mistakes and become a better person through overcoming life challenges and twists of fate. The Confessions Of Jean-Jacques Rousseau Analysis 1355 Words 6 Pages The autobiography, The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, provides a vivid insight into the complicated, yet exhilarating, life of Rousseau. After escaping from his second sentence, Valjean is determined to keep his vow to Fantine, a prostitute whose daughter Valjean promised to raise. They then climbed down a shed roof into a garden. Jean Valjean, an ex-convict, takes in an orphaned girl named Cosette after her mother Fantine dies as his promise to her. Javert took his own life at the end of the story because he realized that despite of what he did wrong to Valjean he still choose not to kill him instead Valjean forgive him and help him. Along the way, Jean Valjean and a slew of characters he becomes entangled with get swept into a revolutionary period in France, where a group of young students make their last stand at a street barricade.

Next

Character Analysis Of Jean Valjean In Victor Hugo's Les...

characteristics of jean valjean

By any definition, it is a core novel in Francophone literature, and it remains popular 150+ years later. Like Gavroche, he too dies in the June Rebellion of 1832 in Paris. Jean Valjean seems like a three-dimensional character at first. Hardened by prison and rescued by the kindness of M. There, Cosette is used to clean and work.

Next

Characters from Les Misérables

characteristics of jean valjean

He has a new mindset that Cosette is completing his life. It was the second white apparition which he had encountered. As it says in the quote Desiree based her joy on Armands actions and feelings. Valjean confesses his past to Marius, who then tries to prevent Valjean from having any contact with Cosette out of fear that his past will ruin her life. He dies a martyr in the June Rebellion of 1832 in Paris. The beginning of his life was filled with misfortunes, such as the death of his mother which was quickly followed by a distraught and self-sabotaging attitude which his father adopted.

Next

Jean Valjean Character Analysis

characteristics of jean valjean

Champmathieu: He is mistaken for Jean Valjean and pursued by the police. Whenever we see her, we cannot help but hope her and Marius will live happy lives together in the future despite the bitter endings of the other characters. Then, Desiree decided to go to deserted bayou instead of Valmondé. Valjean is then transformed by his encounter with the Bishop of D---. He reflected that this was but just, and he remained there for some time, with his soul absorbed in words addressed to God. Before his experience on land, Huck remained conscious of, but not fully aware of heartless actions.

Next

Jean Valjean from Les Miserables

characteristics of jean valjean

This revelation puts Javert's entire worldview in danger. Jean Valjean is the main protagonist of the novel. It is only the first prison code of Valjean in the novel, but his only code in the musical. That includes legal knowledge. After he steals from a small boy once more after that encounter, we never see him commit an evil act again.

Next

Jean Valjean in Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

characteristics of jean valjean

After this, Valjean's previously habitual visits to Cosette at Marius' grandfather's house become shorter and shorter, until he ceases to visit at all, having become bedridden with loss of will to live. Despite his struggles, Valjean finds love and hope in a little girl named Cosette. In his transformation from hardened convict to moral paragon, Valjean is the kind of man we should all aspire to be. Then after 19 years, he decided to break his parole and start his life anew after a kindly Bishop inspired him to, but he is relentlessly tracked down by a police inspector named Javert. Jean Valjean begins the story as a hardened convict. One of these characters is Jean Valjean, the main protagonist throughout the narrative. He is quite vain and also agrees to spy on Marius when Gillenormand asks him to.


Next

Jean Valjean Character Analysis in Les Misérables

characteristics of jean valjean

Quotes of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables Les Miserables is an epic novel about Valjean's journey from a hardened convict to a loving father who decides to do the right thing. Sean MacDonald Source of Character: Les Misérables novel, musical play and 1998 movie Adνеrtisеmеnt. In William Shakespeare 's Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, the two star-crossed lovers portray their love by protecting each other at any cost, choosing one another above all else, and marrying as soon as possible. He eventually adopts an orphaned girl, Cosette, and raises her as his own. Valjean is an ex-convict who leaves behind a life of hatred and deceit and makes his fortune with his innovative industrial techniques. His whole life is a quest for redemption, and he ultimately finds bliss on his deathbed.

Next

How Does Jean Valjean Change

characteristics of jean valjean

Jean Valjean is the protagonist of Les Miserables, a former convict who turns his life around after a kindly act from the bishop. Cosette would still be stuck with the Thenardiers. Names are important in this tragedy as the reason there was so much tragedy was based on the two teenagers having to hide their love from everyone and the weight that responsibility bared on them. 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. Madeleine, Ultime Fauchelevent, and M.

Next