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Les Misérables | Study Guide

Victor Hugo

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Course Hero. "Les Misérables Study Guide." Course Hero. 12 Jan. 2017. Web. 27 May 2023. <https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Les-Misérables/>.

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Course Hero. (2017, January 12). Les Misérables Study Guide. In Course Hero. Retrieved May 27, 2023, from https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Les-Misérables/

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Course Hero. "Les Misérables Study Guide." January 12, 2017. Accessed May 27, 2023. https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Les-Misérables/.

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Course Hero, "Les Misérables Study Guide," January 12, 2017, accessed May 27, 2023, https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Les-Misérables/.

Les Misérables | Characters

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Character Description
Jean Valjean Jean Valjean becomes a fugitive of the law shortly after he gets out of jail, but his life is redeemed by practicing true Christian virtue as taught to him by a kind bishop. Read More
Monseigneur Bienvenu Monseigneur Bienvenu is an exemplary bishop who saves Jean Valjean with two silver candlesticks and his love and forgiveness. Read More
Cosette Cosette is an orphan who becomes Jean Valjean's daughter and the center of his life. Read More
Fantine Fantine is a working woman deserted by the father of her illegitimate child; she must then struggle to support her. Read More
Marius Marius Pontmercy is a young lawyer who falls in love with Cosette and fights at the barricades. Read More
Javert Inspector Javert is the heartless police officer who doesn't understand the difference between the law and justice. Read More
Thénardier Thénardier is the villainous innkeeper who uses his children to commit crimes; lies, steals, and associates with criminals; and will stop at nothing to obtain money. Read More
Azelma Azelma Thénardier is the youngest daughter of the Thénardiers.
Babet Babet is one of the criminals in the gang called Patron-Minette.
Bahorel Bahorel is one the members of Enjolras's revolutionary group, the Friends of the A B C.
Bamatabois Bamatabois is the dandy who insults Fantine on the street and throws snow down her back.
Mademoiselle Baptistine Mademoiselle Baptistine is the faithful sister of Monseigneur Bienvenu.
Barthélamy Barthélamy is the leader of the men on the barricade at the Faubourg du Temple in 1848.
Basque Basque is one of M. Gillenormand's servants.
Blacheville Blacheville is a bourgeois student who abandons his working-class mistress as part of a "surprise" engineered by Tholomyès.
Bossuet Bossuet (Laigle) is a member of Enjolras's revolutionary group, the Friends of the A B C.
Madame Bougon Madame Bougon is the landlady of the Gorbeau House when Marius and the Thénardiers live there. Madame Bougon is also known as Madame Borgon.
Boulatruelle Boulatruelle is the peasant who sees Jean Valjean with a box and pickaxe and assumes he has buried some treasure; he looks for the treasure but never finds it.
Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte led France from 1799 until 1815, with a brief period in which the monarchy was restored to power.
Brevet Brevet is a convict who identifies Champmathieu as Jean Valjean.
Brujon Brujon is a criminal who works with the gang called Patron-Minette.
Bruneseau Bruneseau is an inspector commissioned by Napoleon to map the sewers of Paris.
Le Cabuc Le Cabuc is a stevedore who unnecessarily kills a citizen and is then executed by Enjolras.
Cambronne Cambronne is the brave French commander of the guard who refuses to surrender.
Champmathieu Father Champmathieu is accused of stealing apples and then identified as Jean Valjean, which will result in a life sentence for him.
Chenildieu Chenildieu is a convict who identifies Champmathieu as Jean Valjean.
Claquesous Claquesous is one of the criminals in the gang called Patron-Minette.
Cochepaille Cochepaille is a convict who identifies Champmathieu as Jean Valjean.
Combeferre Combeferre is a member of Enjolras's revolutionary group, the Friends of the A B C.
Courfeyrac Courfeyrac is a member of Enjolras's revolutionary group, the Friends of the A B C; he becomes good friends with Marius and puts him up in his rooms when he runs out of money.
Cournet Cournet is the leader of the men on the barricade at the Faubourg Saint-Antoine in 1848.
Cravatte Cravatte is a bandit who sends Monseigneur Bienvenu a chest of treasure from the cathedral he robbed.
Mother Crucifixion Mother Crucifixion is the saintly nun who dies with a last wish of being buried beneath the altar in the convent of the Petit-Picpus.
Dahlia Dahlia is a grisette (young working-class woman) who is the mistress of Listolier.
Enjolras Enjolras is the leader of the revolutionary group, the Friends of the A B C; he has a pure revolutionary spirit and is a leader of men.
Eponine Eponine Thénardier is the eldest daughter of the Thénardiers; she is in love with Marius. Eponine rises above the degradation of her family and heroically shields Marius from a bullet on the barricade—thus losing her own life.
Fameuil Fameuil is a bourgeois student who abandons his working-class mistress as part of a "surprise" engineered by Tholomyès.
Fauchelevent Father Fauchelevent is saved by Madeleine (Jean Valjean) and later takes him into the convent at Petit-Picpus as an assistant gardener to protect him.
Favourite Favourite is a grisette (young working-class woman) who is the mistress of the student Blacheville.
Feuilly Feuilly is a member of Enjolras's revolutionary group, the Friends of the A B C.
G_____ G____ is an unnamed Conventionist, a radical of the French Revolution who was a member of the National Convention, a legislative assembly from 1792 to 1795.
Gavroche Gavroche Thénardier is the eldest son of the Thénardiers; he is thrown out in the street to fend for himself. Garvoche is the quintessential street urchin who protects the downtrodden when he can and heroically and cheerfully gives his life at the barricade.
Gervais Petit Gervais is the chimney sweep who drops a coin that Jean Valjean will not return and who later reports Jean Valjean to the police.
Mademoiselle Gillenormand Mademoiselle Gillenormand is the eldest, single daughter of M. Gillenormand.
Gillenormand Monsieur Gillenormand is the old bourgeois grandfather of Marius. Gillenormand demonstrates his great love for Marius by nursing him back to health after Jean Valjean saves the young man and acceding to some of his political views at the end of the novel.
Grantaire Grantaire is a peripheral member of Enjolras's revolutionary group, the Friends of the A B C, who admires Enjolras's pure spirit.
Guelemer Guelemer is one of the criminals in the gang called Patron-Minette.
Mother Hucheloup Mother Hucheloup is the proprietor of the bistro Corinth.
Mother Innocent Mother Innocent is the prioress at the convent of the Petit-Picpus, where Jean Valjean gets a job as an assistant gardener.
Joly Joly is a member of Enjolras's revolutionary group, the Friends of the A B C.
Monsieur Laffitte Monsieur Laffitte is the head of the bank where Madeleine (Jean Valjean) keeps his savings and then withdraws them.
Listolier Listolier is a bourgeois student who abandons his working-class mistress as part of a "surprise" engineered by Tholomyès.
Abbé Mabeuf Abbé Mabeuf is a priest at the church where Marius hears Mass as a child and where his father comes to look at him.
Mabeuf Monsieur Mabeuf is a churchwarden in his brother's church and a botanist who falls into poverty and then joins the June Rebellion (insurrection of June 1832).
Madame Magloire Madame Magloire is Monseigneur Bienvenu's servant.
Magnon Magnon is a female servant for M. Gillenormand and becomes engaged in criminal activities—one of which includes the Thénardiers.
Marguerite Marguerite is an impoverished old woman who befriends Fantine.
Mestienne Mestienne is the gravedigger who dies and leaves Fauchelevent in the lurch.
Montparnasse Montparnasse is one of the criminals in the gang called Patron-Minette.
Nicolette Nicolette is one of M. Gillenormand's servants.
Sister Perpétue Sister Perpétue works as a nurse in Madeleine's (Jean Valjean's) infirmary.
Colonel Pontmercy Colonel (Baron) Georges Pontmercy is Marius's father and a staunch Bonapartist; he had a long army career and fought at Waterloo.
Jean Prouvaire Jean Prouvaire is a member of Enjolras's revolutionary group, the Friends of the A B C.
Master Scaufflaire Master Scaufflaire provides transportation for Madeleine (Jean Valjean) so he can get to Champmathieu's trial on time.
Abbé Sicard Abbé Sicard is the priest who disregards Madeleine's (Jean Valjean's) request to give Fantine a proper burial.
Sister Simplice Sister Simplice works as a nurse in Madeleine's (Jean Valjean's) infirmary.
Baronne de T. Baronne de T. hosts a Royalist salon in Paris that M. Gillenormand attended for many years.
Madame Thénardier Madame Thénardier is the villainous wife of the sociopath Thénardier; she abuses Cosette and later mistreats her own children. Madame Thénardier is mostly called the Thénardiess.
Théodule Lieutenant Théodule Gillenormand is the great nephew of Mademoiselle Gillenormand and great grand-nephew of Gillenormand.
Tholomyès Félix Tholomyès is a spoiled bourgeois who takes Fantine for a mistress and then abandons her after she becomes pregnant.
Toussaint Toussaint is Cosette's servant.
Two Thénardier sons Two unidentified sons of the Thénardiers are sold to Magnon to replace her own sons who died.
Mademoiselle Vaubois Mademoiselle Vaubois is Mademoiselle Gillenormand's friend.
Madame Victurnien Madame Victurnien is the busybody who finds out about Fantine's child and tells the overseer so that she gets fired.
Duke of Wellington The Duke of Wellington was the British general who led an allied coalition of forces who defeated Napoleon for good at Waterloo.
Zéphine Zéphine is a grisette (young working-class woman) who is the mistress of the student Fameuil.
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