The novel was written in defense of the people, as he says in the preface. The idea of a novel about the life of the poorest strata of society arose from the writer at the beginning of his creative career. Hugo collected information about the life of convicts. The basis of the novel is the idea of moral progress. He called his novel an epic of the soul, implying the moral improvement of the main character Jean Valjean.
With this novel, Hugo tried to solve a double problem: to expose social evil and show the way to overcome it. By showing the innkeeper Thenardier's desire to enrich himself, exposing legislation hostile to the people, embodied in the image of the police detective Javert, Hugo creates an unfavorable picture of society emerging after the revolutionary era.
The image of Bishop Miriel embodied one of the writer’s main ideas: this is the highest humanity, based on the principles of Christian charity. The fate of the main character Jean tests the truth of this journey, which justified itself: the degeneration from a convict into a person of high morality.
The people become the bearer of moral and historical truth. The people admire the life of Bishop Miriel and admire the feat of Jean, who saved the sailor hanging over the abyss.
The novel conveys the idea that even those who have violated social law can have high morality.
This novel is about the fate of the law. Law in it is not equal to justice.
For Hugo, the idea was important that as a person changes for the better, society also changes, social evil disappears, but nevertheless we see reality.
The main antipode of the main character is the policeman Javert. Their confrontation lasts throughout the entire novel. The brightest image of the novel is Bishop Miriel, his humanity is based on the principles of Christianity, mercy and forgiveness.
Jean's fate tests the truth of these ideas.
It was after meeting Miriel that the convict changes and begins to serve good.
The ending of the work does not give a clear answer about divine justice, since in the finale of the novel J. is forgotten by Cosette, who finds happiness in love.
In 1861, Hugo completed the work of many years of his life - the novel Les Misérables. The basis of the work is the idea of moral progress. Hugo called the novel an epic of the soul. Jean Valjean, Cosette, Gavroche, Fantine - moral perfection
At the center of this big story are people from the people, living in poverty under the yoke of unjust laws, suffering from social disorder, from the bad will of evil people.
Hugo paints the story of Jean Valjean, who spent 19 years in hard labor. He once ended up in hard labor for a loaf of bread that he stole for his sister’s starving children. Upon returning from hard labor, he continues to be persecuted by the law of the bourgeois state. A person with a yellow passport is not given any food or shelter. He is one of the outcasts in this society. Embittered and hunted, Jean Valjean commits a new theft here, at the will of the author, and is reborn under the influence of the good Bishop Miriel. . Hugo sought to defeat moral evil and show the way to overcome it. The image of Bishop Miriel. It embodies one of the writer’s main ideas – Christian charity. ZhV. Thanks to him, a former convict turns into a highly moral person.
He becomes honest, sensitive to the needs of others, selfless in his desire to do good to people. But for bourgeois law he is only a former convict. At the end of the work, M. retreats from his ideas. He understands that with the help of mercy it is impossible to free the people from oppression and turns to revolutionary ideas. ZhV. does not deviate from the idea of mercy. Hugo could not decide what was more important: humanity or struggle.
The greedy and insensitive Thenardier, in whose house Faitipa's little daughter Cosette is being raised, embodies the disgusting traits of the philistines, for whom everything is based on monetary calculation.
The police inspector Javert, who is pursuing both Jean Valjape and Faptina, a man for whom only paragraphs of the law exist, is just as soulless as Thenardier. He is one of the cogs of the machine for suppressing the people that is the bourgeois state.
Hugo does not know how to fully explain social evil. He does not understand that the point is not at all about good or evil people, not that Thenardier and Javert are inhuman, but that the entire capitalist order, based on private property, gives rise to this evil and leads to innumerable disasters.
But Hugo knows how to passionately, excitedly talk about the people's suffering and arouse in the reader hatred against the oppressors and ardent sympathy for the disadvantaged.
Not understanding the need for revolution, V. Hugo devotes inspired pages to depicting the republican uprising of 1832. The image of the republican leader Enjolras, a courageous fighter for the interests of the people, is noble. Gavroche, the little defender of the barricade, who died the death of a hero, became the favorite hero of young readers for many years.
Despite the vagueness of Hugo's social program, the novel Les Misérables made a great impression in democratic circles in France and beyond. The novel quickly gained wide popularity in Russia; L.N. Tolstoy loved him very much.
The great French novelist Hugo wrote in the preface in 1862: “As long as poverty and ignorance reign on earth, books like this cannot be useless.”
The core of the concept of Les Misérables is the same idea of moral progress as a necessary condition for social transformation, which permeates all of Hugo’s mature works. The writer did not hide the fact that his book was didactic in nature: “The writing of this book came from the inside out. The idea gave birth to the characters, the characters produced the drama.” He called his novel “an epic of the soul,” referring to the process of moral improvement of the hero Jean Valjean, as in other works of Hugo, the clash of the main characters embodies the romantic idea of the struggle between good and evil, the writer switches social problems to the ethical plane. From Hugo's point of view, there are two justices: one, which is determined by legal laws, and the other is the highest justice, the highest humanity, based on the principles of Christian charity. The bearer of the first in the novel is police inspector Javert, the bearer of the second is Bishop Miriel. The truth of these principles is tested in the fate of the protagonist Jean Valjean, and in the end the legal law in the person of Javert gives way to the law of mercy taught to Jean Valjean by Bishop Miriel. In his novel, Hugo takes as the basis not material life, but moral existence, understood as the eternal human essence. It is not social conditions that need to be changed in order for a person to change, but a person must be changed, and then social conditions will change, social evil will be eradicated. The process of this re-creation of man from the inside reflects the novel “Les Miserables,” as stated in the first version of the preface to it: “This book, from beginning to end, in general and in detail, represents the movement from evil to good, from unjust to fair, from false to true, from darkness to light, from greed to conscientiousness, from decay to life, from bestiality to a sense of duty, from hell to heaven, from insignificance to god.” Hugo's psychologism is also romantic. Hugo likes to present the internal development of a person, the history of his soul, in the form of sharp revolutions (such is the rebirth of Jean Valjean, Javert), avoiding nuances and imperceptible transitions.
Composition
A monumental epic canvas of late romanticism, the novel “river” “Les Miserables” was created by Hugo in a foreign land, during the years of emigration from Bonapartist France. Refusing to return to France under the amnesty of August 18, 1859, Victor Hugo celebrated his sixtieth birthday in exile at the height of his creative powers. As if summing up a significant part of his writing journey, Hugo marks the anniversary year with the completion of work on the epic novel Les Misérables, which became his most popular work.
The idea of a novel about the life of the lower classes, victims of social injustice, arose from the writer at the beginning of his creative career. Having learned in 1823 that his friend Gaspard de Pons would be passing through Toulon, he asked him to collect information about the life of convicts. (This material will help you write competently on the topic of Victor Hugo’s novel Les Miserables. The summary does not allow you to understand the whole meaning of the work, so this material will be useful for a deep understanding of the work of writers and poets, as well as their novels, stories, plays, poems. ) Hugo's interest in penal servitude was probably awakened by the sensational story of an escaped convict who became a colonel and was arrested in 1820 in Paris. In 1828, the former prefect Miollis told Hugo about his brother, Monseigneur Miollis, bishop of Digne, who showed hospitality to the freed convict Pierre Morin in 1806. Spiritually reborn under the influence of the bishop, Morin became a military orderly and then died near Waterloo. In 1829, Hugo placed in Chapter XXIII of “The Last Day of a Condemned to Death” the story of a convict who has served his sentence and, from his first steps in freedom, is faced with the prejudice and hostility of those around him; in many ways this was already reminiscent of the story of Jean Valjean. By the beginning of 1830, Hugo began to imagine the outlines of the future novel and sketched the beginning of the preface to it: “To those who would ask whether this story really happened, as they say, we would answer that it does not matter. If, by chance, this book contains a lesson or advice, if the events it talks about or the feelings it evokes are not without meaning, then it has achieved its purpose... The important thing is not that the story is true, but for it to be true.
In 1832, Hugo intended to begin direct work on the “history,” for in March of this year he entered into an agreement with the publishers Goslin and Raiduelle to publish a novel, the title of which was not indicated, although there is no doubt that it was about the future novel “Poverty.” "("Les Miseres"), the first version of "Les Miserables". The theater distracted the writer from the novel, but the idea of the book continued to ripen in his soul, enriched by new impressions that life gave him, and by Hugo’s ever-increasing interest in social issues (we can also find the outlines of the future novel in the 1834 story “Claude Gue”, by the hero of which has a lot in common with Jean Valjean, and in poems of the 30-40s associated with the ideas of social compassion). Finally, the resounding success of “Parisian Mysteries” by Eugene Sue (1842-1843) turned Hugo’s thoughts to a novel about the life of the people, although, of course, entering into obvious competition with Sue, Hugo was not thinking about a lively feuilleton novel, but about a social epic.
On November 17, 1845, Hugo began to write the novel that he had dreamed about so much and which he called “Jean Trejean”; two years later the title changes to “Poverty,” at which time Hugo is so engrossed in work that he decides to dine only at nine o’clock for two months, “to lengthen his working day.” The events of the revolution of 3848 interrupted this hard work, and Hugo returned to it again in August 1851. This was followed by a new break caused by the December 2 coup. Hugo finishes the last part in Brussels.”
The first edition of the novel was thus ready by 1852. It consisted of four parts and contained a much smaller number of episodes and author's digressions than the final text
When Hugo decided to rework the book in 1860, finally titled Les Miserables in 1854, he gave complete freedom to the lyrical nature of his prose. Due to the author's digressions, the volume of the novel has increased significantly. Branches from the main storyline also appeared in it. In 1861, during a trip to Belgium, Hugo created a description of the Battle of Waterloo in two weeks; At the same time, new chapters are included in the novel, depicting the secret republican society “Friends of the ABC”, and the ideal image of the “priest of the revolution” Enjolras is created. Some new shades appeared in the characterization of Marius, which reflected certain features of the young Victor Hugo. In general, the final edition of Les Misérables testified to the deepening of the writer’s democratic views.
Les Misérables is generally considered a novel about modern life. However, we must not forget that it was completed in 1862, while the events taking place in it date back to 1810-1830. Thus, like Hugo’s other novels, this novel is essentially historical, and this is not accidental, because historical scale is required by Hugo to pose the most important, from his point of view, questions of human existence.
The core of the concept of Les Misérables is the same idea of moral progress as a necessary condition for social transformation, which permeates all of Hugo’s mature works. The writer did not hide the fact that his book was didactic in nature: “The writing of this book came from the inside out. The idea gave birth to the characters, the characters produced the drama.” He called his novel “an epic of the soul,” referring to the process of moral improvement of the hero Jean Valjean, as in other works of Hugo, the clash of the main characters embodies the romantic idea of the struggle between good and evil, the writer switches social problems to the ethical plane. From Hugo's point of view, there are two justices: one, which is determined by legal laws, and the other is the highest justice, the highest humanity, based on the principles of Christian charity. The bearer of the first in the novel is police inspector Javert, the bearer of the second is Bishop Miriel. The truth of these principles is tested in the fate of the protagonist Jean Valjean, and in the end the legal law in the person of Javert gives way to the law of mercy taught to Jean Valjean by Bishop Miriel. In his novel, Hugo takes as the basis not material life, but moral existence, understood as the eternal human essence. It is not social conditions that need to be changed in order for a person to change, but a person must be changed, and then social conditions will change, social evil will be eradicated. The process of this re-creation of man from the inside reflects the novel “Les Miserables,” as stated in the first version of the preface to it: “This book, from beginning to end, in general and in detail, represents the movement from evil to good, from unjust to fair, from false to true, from darkness to light, from greed to conscientiousness, from decay to life, from bestiality to a sense of duty, from hell to heaven, from insignificance to god.”
Such a plan could easily lead the writer to schematism of images, and Hugo does not always manage to avoid this danger.
Being a great artist, Hugo could not help but reflect in the novel some of the most significant aspects of reality related to the three main social problems of the time, which are mentioned in the preface (“the oppression of a man belonging to the proletarian class, the fall of a woman due to hunger, the withering of a child due to darkness ignorance"). Hugo's democratic sympathies lead him to create a true picture of the popular uprising of 1832.
But at the same time, we still have before us a typically romantic work. In this huge panorama, everything is elevated, bright, colorful, unusual. The plot, as always with Hugo, is extremely sharp and adventurous; chance, the discovery of a secret, etc. play a big role in the development of the action. Such adventurous motives seem to contradict the author’s love for all kinds of descriptions and digressions, but these retardations only arouse interest, and also create the impression of grandeur and epicness (for example, for the story of how Thenardier “saved” Father Marius, Hugo gives the entire story of the Battle of Waterloo).
Hugo's psychologism is also romantic. Hugo likes to present the internal development of a person, the history of his soul, in the form of sharp revolutions (such is the rebirth of Jean Valjean, Javert), avoiding nuances and imperceptible transitions.
The enduring historical significance of Les Miserables is that Hugo appears in this novel as a tireless denouncer of the bourgeois world, its hypocrisy, lies, callousness, and cruelty. Hugo takes under the protection of an outcast person, a suffering and persecuted people. That is why, even today, the work that the great humanist Leo Tolstoy once called the best French novel cannot leave the reader indifferent. Tolstoy remained faithful to his love for Hugo until the end of his life, declaring in 1907 in a conversation with S. A. Stakhovich! “Victor Hugo has great power, real....”
Dostoevsky also praised Les Misérables. According to the writer’s wife, Anna Grigorievna, he took advantage of his two-day arrest for violating censorship conditions during the publication of the magazine “Citizen” to re-read “Les Miserables.” “Fyodor Mikhailovich returned from arrest very cheerful and said that he had spent two wonderful days. His cellmate...slept for hours during the day, and the husband managed to re-read Victor Hugo’s “Les Miserables” without interference....” “It’s good that I was locked up,” he said cheerfully, “otherwise would I ever have found time to renew my long-standing wonderful impressions of this great work?”
In the preface to the novel “Toilers of the Sea,” V. Hugo wrote that the main problem of the novel “Les Misérables” (1862) is the fight against the Ananke of social laws and infinity. Drawing the pariahs of society (the former convict, the prostitute Fantine, the destitute little Cosette, the homeless boy Gavroche) and their enemies, also humble, “little” people (Thénardier, the policeman Javert), Hugo embodies the philosophical and moral ideas of the time, reflects on humanity, on the purpose goodness and mercy. He creates a new type of social novel - a social-heroic epic, which depicts social conflicts generated by oppression and poverty, political disasters (Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo), the uprising of the French people in the 30s and 40s, and the life of various strata of society. “Les Miserables” raises the problems of poverty and lack of rights of the people, unemployment, prostitution, merciless exploitation (the Thenardier family oppresses little Cosette), the injustice of the court (the story of Jean Valjean), homelessness, the spiritual evolution of a generation (the story of Marius), etc. Hugo writes about love ( the line of Marius and Cosette), depicts the pathos of barricade battles (the feat of Enjolras, the death of Gavroche), raises the problems of the future of the people. In Hugo’s mind, everything bright and humane is associated with the people, the people and good are synonymous, the poor are good, the rich are evil, behind the actions of the disadvantaged is the just judgment of the people.
“Les Misérables” is an accusatory, preachingly missionary social and philosophical novel. In the preface to the first version of Les Miserables, V. Hugo wrote: “This book, from beginning to end, in general and in detail, represents the movement from evil to good, from unjust to just, from false to true, from darkness to light.” "Les Miserables" was called the "modern gospel" in the West. The fates of V. Hugo's heroes are typical: Valjean and Fantine had real prototypes, the story of Marius is partly similar to the story of the writer himself. But little people turn into heroes in Hugo; events acquire philosophical significance. Social life for Hugo is a particular manifestation of the moral existence of humanity. Specific questions of the life of the peoples of the 19th century are reduced to “eternal” questions; behind the everyday struggle of his heroes there is always a struggle between good and evil. Hugo not only paints pictures of social hell, but invites the reader to form a judgment about them. Jean Valjean's struggle
with Javert takes on a social-symbolic character. Being correlated with the socio-historical background, this struggle is symbolic, for the righteousness of the oppressed is embodied in the holiness of Jean Valjean, and the absolute cruelty of the oppressors is embodied in the malice of Javert. The story of Jean Valjean turns into a parable about suffering.
The conflict between the characters is not perceived as metaphysical, because history is combined in the novel with politics. The private life of the heroes enters into the larger life of the people; the fate of all heroes is determined by the revolution. The tendency toward a universal vision of the era, manifested in “Notre Dame de Paris,” becomes dominant in “Les Misérables.”
There are two levels in Les Misérables: plot (Jean Valjean's line) and philosophical. The author introduces extensive historical, journalistic and philosophical chapters into the novel, which give the work an epic scale. Behind today's imperfect day, Hugo sees bright horizons and identifies the march of progress with the will of Providence. The purpose of progress is to establish goodness. A new era, freedom, equality, fraternity will come as a result of the moral improvement of mankind.
In the spirit of the ideas of utopian socialism, V. Hugo points out ways to overcome evil, improve the economy and morals of the country. He believes that social contradictions can be reconciled if exemplary enterprises are created in the spirit of the industrial system of Saint-Simon (a similar enterprise was organized by Mr. Madeleine). Hugo advocates peaceful reform of industrial relations.
The philosophy of history of V. Hugo is based on the experience of the French Revolution. Hugo connects all social disasters with the Bonapartist regime that he hated. Hugo sings of the cleansing power of the invincible revolution and does not want to put up with human passivity. Revolution, in Hugo’s interpretation, is progress: revolution gave freedom of thought, proclaimed the truth; progress is achieved only at the cost of daring. Hugo treats the defenders of the barricade with reverence, surrounds them with an aura of heroism and tragic greatness; they are great scouts of the future, selfless and strive to benefit humanity.
V. Hugo contrasts rebellion with rebellion. Rebellion serves the goals of progress; rebellion is a lawless, regressive act. Hugo idealizes the republic and interprets the French workers' uprising of 1848 as an illegal rebellion because it occurred when republicanism was established in France. From the moment of the establishment of the republic, according to Hugo, the need for class struggle disappears, everything should be decided only by universal suffrage.
“Les Misérables” affirms two, at first glance, opposite, but essentially complementary points of view: “Long live the revolution!” and “Long live the happiness of loving, the happiness of doing good and not bringing evil!” After the events of 1848–1852, V. Hugo realizes that mercy is powerless to free the people from oppression and violence. On the pages of the novel, he pits a bishop against a revolutionary. Bishop Miriel embodies humanity and Christian charity, while the revolutionary Enjolras embodies a humanistic dream, stern inflexibility, the ability to compassion and irreconcilability towards the enemy. The Christian righteous man and the atheist revolutionary are not antagonists: they strive in different ways towards the same goal - the transformation of society and man. The credo of the revolutionary Enjolras: there should be no armament of the nation, free and compulsory education, uniform rights and labor for all are necessary. Bishop Miriel, a preacher of universal ideas rather than Catholicism, calls for protecting the disadvantaged, hating wealth and luxury, being merciful, helping orphans, introducing universal free education, increasing the salaries of school teachers, and abolishing unaffordable taxes. The bishop and the revolutionary in the novel turn out to be allies: they were united by a selfless desire to serve humanity.
By confessing “thou shalt not kill,” V. Hugo completely justifies the revolutionary actions of the oppressed masses. Behind cruel actions, he sees good intentions to end tyranny, to establish humanity as the norm of relations. The bishop comes to the old atheist revolutionary to condemn him. After listening to the atheist revolutionary, the bishop kneels before him and asks for a blessing. Throughout the novel, the question is resolved: what is more important - non-resistance to evil through violence or active struggle. Enjolras sought tomorrow's happiness for all people, hated violence and death, but against his will he brought them into the world. The humane ideas of the revolution conflict with its violent methods; violence destroys the ideals of the revolution. This creates Enjolras’ “tragic guilt” and his “severe sadness,” a fatal doom. Those around him treat him “with admiration, which shows compassion”; they see him as an executioner and a clergyman, a hero and a victim. V. Hugo proceeds from absolute human morality and judges society for deviations from it, so “thou shalt not kill” becomes more important. The outcome of the lives of all active fighters for the happiness of the people in the novel is the same: tragic death. The finale of the novel is the apotheosis of the bishop: his shadow hovers over Jean Valjean, who dies with the words: “There is nothing in the world except the happiness of loving.” The winning attitude is: love, kindness, selflessness, condescension to human weaknesses are more important than bloodshed in the name of the good of humanity; only humanity will save the world; The revolution of the spirit is greater than the social revolution.
V. Hugo believes that the circumstances of life form an ugly character, but one “revelation event” is enough to destroy the power of the law of social determination. “Co-existence-revelation” is not connected with the fate of the state, but it clearly highlights the kindness and mercy of man. By seeing the light of this truth, even the greatest sinner can be reborn. The “revelation event” for Jean Valjean is the act of Miriel, when he gave him silver candlesticks and saved him from new hard labor. A convict hardened by life is reborn into a highly moral person, a sinner becomes a great righteous man. After the spiritual crisis, Jean Valjean's whole life is a continuous series of self-denials. He sacrifices himself for the happiness of others, puts himself in the hands of justice to save an innocent man who is about to be condemned as “the convict Valjean,” selflessly takes care of a girl who is alien to him, then of Cosette’s fiancé, although Marius will take his dearly beloved adopted daughter away from him; The unarmed Jean Valjean goes to the barricades to save people from death and even releases his sworn enemy, the police spy Javert. Sacrifice surrounds Jean Valjean, like Bishop Miriel, with an aura of holiness.
The “revelation event” for Marius is the information that the escaped convict Jean Valjean, whom Marius first forbade to see Cosette, saved him from death. After the death of Jean Valjean, Marius will become the bearer of mercy.
The “revelation event” for Javert is the act of Jean Valjean, when he saves him from death and releases him from the barricade. 
In a certain respect, the principles of Miriel's mercy were continued by Javert - the antipode of goodness and humanity, an impeccable policeman, the embodiment of a ruthless social order. In Javert, V. Hugo exaggerates two simple feelings, bringing them to the point of grotesquery: “This man consisted of two feelings: respect for authority and hatred of rebellion.” Javert deliberately destroyed everything human in his soul: compassion, love, pity for the victims of an unjust social order. Javert wants to expose the former convict Valjean, who became the mayor, without paying attention to either his obvious virtues or the benefits he brings to his fellow citizens. The inveterate villain Javert experienced a great shock when Jean Valjean freed a policeman who had fallen into the hands of the revolutionaries. Hugo leads Javert, who is not used to reasoning, to the terrible thought that the convict Jean Valjean turned out to be stronger than the entire social order. Everything Javert believed in is crumbling. 
Javert, unlike Jean Valjean, could not be completely reborn, but he could not remain the same. The fact that Javert committed suicide is a clear confirmation of his rejection of previous moral standards. Javert demonstrates a dead-end version of human destiny. 
Les Misérables combines romantic and realistic features. Realistic features are inevitable here, because this is a social epic. The social task of the book is emphatically realistic; the story of the main characters was born from reality; realistic depiction of the environment and circumstances; the historical parts of the novel were documented, topographic maps were used; accurate characters of historical figures; the spiritual life of the heroes has much in common with the life of V. Hugo himself and his loved ones.
Hugo the romantic paints exceptional events and circumstances. In Les Misérables, antithesis becomes the main principle of the writer’s artistic thinking. The world appears in sharp contrasts, in the alternation of light and darkness, everything gravitates towards the pole of good or evil. The novel features “saints” (Bishop Miriel, Jean Valjean) and “devils” (Thénardier, Javert). The scale of good and evil they do is equal. Human passions are brought to extreme tension, characters are formed only from vices or only from virtues. Hugo highlights those aspects of personality that help him reveal the idea, therefore the characters of his heroes are symbolic. The psychologism of the novel “Les Miserables” consists mainly in a romantically exaggerated depiction of a cleansing storm that shakes a person’s usual worldview. Hugo almost never analyzes the change in the spiritual world of the heroes, but illustrates the change in his consciousness with a stream of metaphors, sometimes extended for an entire chapter. The silent internal struggle usually corresponds to the dark, scary tones of a romantic landscape.
As V. Hugo generalizes, he becomes more and more detached from reality. Gradually, Jean Valjean loses specific human qualities: his name changes, he becomes the embodiment of morality and mercy.
Questions and suggestions
for self-TEST
1. Problems of the novel by V. Hugo “Les Miserables”.
2. Depiction of the revolution in V. Hugo’s novel “Les Miserables.”
3. How is the idea of humanity and the “chain reaction” of good revealed in V. Hugo’s novel “Les Miserables”?
4. What is unique about the method of V. Hugo’s novel “Les Miserables”?
ABSTRACT
ON THE TOPIC OF:
"Les Miserables" by V. Hugo
PLAN
3. Literature used
1. Features of writing the novel “Les Miserables” by V. Hugo
The novel "Les Miserables", to which Victor Hugo devoted more than twenty years of his life, undoubtedly ranks first among all his novels.
The idea of creating a large social novel dedicated to the disadvantaged arose in Hugo even before the exile. He began writing it under the original title "The Poor" ("Miseres") in the mid-40s, but interrupted his work in connection with the events that began with the February Revolution of 1848.
Even then - in the first version - the author conceived and created the central images of the poor people rejected by society: a convict whose crime was that he stole bread to feed the hungry children of his sister and mother, who was forced to sell her teeth, hair and body in order to pay for the maintenance of your child.
Hugo took with him the unfinished manuscript of Les Misérables into exile. However, after the turbulent events of political life, which captured the writer over the next decade, when he so ardently protested against the crimes of Louis Bonaparte, creating fiery pamphlets and poems of "Retribution", the first edition of the novel could no longer satisfy him.
Resuming work on The Dispossessed in 1860, he sought to embody in the novel the philosophical and moral ideas that he had developed in recent years. Now “Les Miserables” becomes not only an accusatory work, but also a novel that asked the most important question for Hugo of that time about the meaning of goodness and mercy for the social and moral revival of humanity.
At the same time, Hugo introduces large historical, journalistic and philosophical sections into his new novel, adding epic proportions to it.
2. The main motives of the novel “Les Miserables”, the main images
"Les Misérables" is a true polyphonic novel with many themes, motives, ideological and aesthetic plans, where a big picture of people's life is given and where the Paris of the poor, the Paris of miserable and gloomy slums appears before the reader against the backdrop of the largest political events in French history at the beginning of the 19th century: the disaster at Waterloo, the fall of the Restoration and July Monarchy regimes, the popular revolutionary battles of the 30s and 40s. From reality and the story of the main characters of the novel.
The writer's image of Jean Valjean arose in connection with the trial of a certain Pierre Morin, who, like Hugo's hero, was sent to hard labor for stealing bread. Studying this process, introducing him to the existing criminal code, visiting Parisian prisons, Hugo notes two points in this, his acutely pressing question: firstly, the corpus delicti - theft of bread, which confirmed the writer’s conviction that the cause of crime is not rooted in depravity , and in the poverty of the people; secondly, the fate of a person who has returned from hard labor and is being driven from everywhere, and therefore does not have the opportunity to return to an honest working life. Hugo brought all this into the biography of his main character, adding an artistic and convincing form to these problems.
It is with the appearance of Les Misérables that endless debates about changes in Hugo’s artistic method of the second period are associated. Many scholars insist that Les Misérables is a realistic novel. Indeed, there are elements of realism in the novel. Having thought about the concept of the novel “Les Miserables,” which corresponds to the writer’s idea of human life as a continuous change of light and darkness, one can find that, despite many features of realism, Hugo still remains a romantic both in his worldview and in his method.
The task of a moral lesson is more important for him than realistic analysis. So he himself says at the end of the book that it has a much more important goal than a reflection of real life. Understanding the world as a constant movement from evil to good, Hugo seeks to demonstrate this movement, emphasizing (often even contrary to the logic of real events) the obligatory victory of the good and spiritual principle over the forces of evil. The irreconcilable contrast between evil and good, darkness and light, which manifested itself in the characters of Hugo’s characters in the first period of his work, is now complemented by a new motive: recognition of the possibility of transforming evil into good. “The book, lying before the reader’s eyes, represents from beginning to end, in general and in detail... - the path from evil to good, from wrong to just, from lies to truth, from night to day... Starting point "matter, the final point is the soul. At the beginning there is a monster, at the end there is an angel," writes Hugo. It is not for nothing that his novel opens with the book “The Righteous,” in the center of which stands the romantic image of the Christian righteous man - Bishop Miriel.
It was in the image of the bishop, who played a decisive role in transforming the consciousness of Jean Valjean, that Hugo embodied his moral ideals: kindness, selflessness, broad condescension towards human weaknesses and vices.
Hugo saw his task as reviving moral ideals lost by a society in which the people were reduced to a state of extreme poverty and lack of rights. This makes Hugo's novel not only accusatory, but also preachy - missionary, due to which "Les Miserables" in the West was often called the "modern Gospel", as Hugo himself characterized it. The main theme of the revival of personality can be seen in the novel through the example of the main character, Jean Valjean.
A convict, embittered by life, who before our eyes becomes an excellent, highly moral person thanks to the kind deed of Bishop Miriel, who treated him not as a criminal, but as a disadvantaged creature in need of moral support.
The description that Hugo gives to his hero is quite realistic, but, a romantic by nature, Hugo adds spectacular hyperbolic images to him: his eyes shine from under his eyebrows, “like flames from under a pile of cowards”; "There was something sinister about this figure." The hero's transformation is also purely romantic, a transformation after a grandiose cleansing storm caused by the bishop's generous attitude towards him.
The entire story of Jean Valjean, which stands at the center of the novel “Les Miserables,” is built on dramatic clashes and sharp turns in the hero’s fate: Jean Valjean, who breaks the window glass of a bakery to take bread for his sister’s hungry children, and is sentenced to hard labor for this; Jean Valjean, who returns from hard labor and is driven from everywhere, even from the doghouse; Jean Valjean in the house of the bishop, from whom he tried to steal silver knives and forks and received them as a gift along with silver candlesticks; Jean Valjean, who has become an influential mayor of the city, and the dying Fantine, who begs to save her child; Jean Valjean in a clash with the “watchful eye” of justice - Javert; Jean Valjean in the Chanmathieu case, which returns him to the position of a persecuted convict; the feat of Jean Valjean, who saves the sailor from the warship Orion, and his escape from hard labor to fulfill his promise to Fantine; Jean Valjean with little Cosette in his arms, pursued by Javert through the dark streets and alleys of Paris, and unexpected salvation in a convent on the Rue Piquepus; then, a few years later, Jean Valjean in Thénardier's den of thieves, alone against nine scoundrels, bound by them and still managed to free himself by cutting the ropes with the help of an old convict coin; finally, Jean Valjean is at the barricade, where he does not kill anyone, but saves the lives of two people: Marius and his pursuer Javert. The peculiarities of the psychologism of the novel "Les Miserables" consist mainly in the romantically exaggerated depiction of a cleansing storm, which shakes all the foundations and all the usual human perception of the world.
The cruel injustice that he had always experienced among people, that he had become accustomed to hatred, Jean Valjean “was dimly aware that the mercy of the priest was the most powerful attack, the most formidable attack to which he had ever been subjected ... that now a gigantic and decisive struggle had begun between his anger and the kindness of that person." This struggle is a struggle of sharp romantic contrasts, because it is about the transformation of a “monster” into an “angel”, about the pain that “excessively bright light causes to the eyes of a person”, which came out of the darkness. As a result of this shock, Jean Valjean becomes completely another person. “Something more than a transformation happened, a transformation happened,” says the author. Throughout the novel, Jean Valjean experiences several more mental crises, but they do not so much change as they strengthen the hero’s personality in his positive qualities.
In the section with the characteristic title “Storm in the Soul,” Hugo shows the second decisive turning point in the soul of Jean Valjean, that for many years he has been leading a respectful and respectable life under the name of Monsieur Madeleine and suddenly finds out that some poor fellow has been mistaken for the convict Jean Valjean and must appear before the court.
What should a disciple of Bishop Miriel do? Jean Valjean does not so much think as he experiences painful “convulsions of conscience,” a “storm, a whirlwind is raging within him,” he asks himself,” he listens to voices that come “from the darkest recesses of his soul,” he “plunges into this night, like into the abyss." And again, at the heart of this spiritual storm is the struggle between light and darkness, because Jean Valjean has to choose between two poles: “stay in heaven and turn into a devil there” or “return to hell and become an angel there.” Of course, he chooses the second.
The next stage in Jean Valjean's moral development was his meeting with Cosette. The appearance of this young and defenseless creature in his life gave it new meaning. He abandoned his social ideals, which he wanted to put into practice as mayor. He devotes his whole life to her, he has never known true love, for the first time he feels tenderness for this girl, and he values her love more than anything in the world. Being close to her is the main meaning of his new life. And that’s why it hurts him so much to realize that he has no right to keep her in the monastery, where the two of them fled from Javert’s persecution. He, already a far elderly man, dreams of living out his days next to the loving Cosette, but at the same time he understands that he has no right to “rob” the girl, to deprive her of the joys of worldly life, which she does not know. Having come to this conclusion, Jean Valjean immediately leaves the hospitable monastery, experiencing terrible mental anguish. An equally difficult test for Jean Valjean is his encounter with police inspector Javert, his antagonist. Javert was also created using the method of contrast, but in relation to all that good and truly humane that Bishop Miriel taught the former convict. Javert represents the very inhuman “justice” that Hugo hates and denounces in his novel.
For Javert, the main thing is to “represent power” and “serve power.” “This man consisted of two feelings - respect for authority and hatred of rebellion,” but Hugo, drawing the character of Javert, exaggerates these simple feelings and proves them almost to the point of grotesquery. The clashes on the barricade of these two heroes, personifying opposing concepts of understanding justice, are perhaps one of the most dramatic moments of the novel.
Jean Valjean gains spiritual victory over Inspector Javert. Thus, he is for him the same as Bishop Miriel was for him. This kind of chain reaction of good (Bishop Miriel - Jean Valjean - Javert) is extremely important for the concept of the novel.
The author deliberately brings the faithful guardian of the rule of law Javert, who is not used to reasoning, to the terrible thought for him that the convict Jean Valjean “turned out to be stronger than the entire social order.” He even has to admit the “moral nobility of the outcast,” which was unbearable for him. So Javert loses ground under his feet. In him, as earlier in Jean Valjean, a decisive moral revolution takes place. After all, until now his ideal was to be an impeccable servant of the law. However, good, according to Hugo, is above the law established by society. Therefore, it pushes Javert to the terrible discovery that “the code of laws does not say everything,” that “the social order is not perfect,” that “the law can make mistakes,” etc. Everything this man believed was crumbling. This internal catastrophe - the retreat of the forces of evil before the good that Jean Valjean carries within himself - leads Javert to suicide.
The people-loving position of Bishop Miriel, expressed by Jean Valjean, also clashes with the logic of the revolution, presented by Enjolras and his comrades. Two types of positive heroes who correspond to Hugo's moral criteria constantly appear and meet in Les Miserables. One type includes active fighters and revolutionaries from the "Society of Friends of the ABC", the other - righteous people who are guided in their lives by the principles of goodness and forgiveness. This is the kind of Bishop Miriel who became Jean Valjean under his influence. The writer does not oppose these characters, but makes them allies; they seem to complement each other in that incessant movement of humanity that Hugo calls progress and which he persistently preaches. Having inherited the bishop's moral ideas, Jean Valjean makes them the basis of his entire life. Even when he finds himself on the barricade, he does not participate in hostilities, but only tries to protect what they are fighting, having received the order to shoot his eternal pursuer Javert, who entered the barricade as a spy, he releases him, continuing to believe that only goodness and mercy can influence per person. This, of course, goes against the ideas of the revolution (and for this he was condemned at one time by Soviet critics).
In the sections devoted to the uprising, the figure of Jean Valjean with his ideas of mercy is naturally relegated to the background by the heroic images of Enjolras and Gavroche and the pathos of the revolution that inspires them. But when, at the tragic moment of the death of the barricade, Jean Valjean, throwing the seriously wounded Marius on his shoulders, descends into the underground sewer of Paris and, moving in the twilight, among the flow of sewage, risking his life dozens of times, still saves the young man from inevitable death - the attention of the readers again switches to this man who embodies unusual moral greatness.
It’s not for nothing that this section is called “Dirt, defeated by the power of the soul.” Hugo says about him that “streams of dirt flowed from him, but his soul was full of an unclear light.” The fact that Jean Valjean saves Marius does him credit. After all, he understands that it is this person who is the main obstacle to his happiness with Cosette. In the last period of his life, Jean Valjean dooms himself to loneliness, losing his beloved Cosette to Marius and voluntarily eliminating himself from her life so as not to interfere with her happiness, although this self-elimination kills him. This is the last and most difficult step in his life, which was brought to the city by his enthusiastic young people, but, unfortunately, it was too late. However, we can say that Jean Valjean dies happy, the way the righteous die who realize that they have fully fulfilled their earthly duty.
In the views of Jean Valjean, a representative of the people, Hugo tried to reveal his point of view on the truly noble, humane behavior of a person, regardless of whether such a person is an entrepreneur or a worker.
Thus, along with the heroism of struggle and revolution, Hugo in his novel glorifies the heroism of moral greatness. This is precisely the main credo of his novel. Marius also experiences moral evolution in the novel. Using his example, Hugo shows us the evolution of the consciousness of a young man of the Restoration era, which he himself once experienced. He is a complex and multifaceted character, which plays an important role in the concept of Les Misérables. Describing the dramatic break between Marius and his grandfather, the old conservative Gillenormand, and the “discovery” of his father, Colonel Pontmercy, that he had given his life to serving the “Napoleonic sword,” Hugo of the 60s, had long overcome the Bonapartist illusions of his youth, critically notes that, “admiring genius," Marius at the same time admired brute force." Marius, in love with Cosette, Marius, whose intimate diary is a typical example of romantic lyricism, is very close to the romantic heroes from Hugo's dramas of the 30s. However, the author puts this romantic hero here in a real situation and forces him to join the forefront of political movements of his time. He brings him to the "Society of Friends of the ABC" and makes him one of the heroic defenders of the June barricade.
Following Enjolras, Marius moves from idealizing the Empire to defending the Republican barricade. In the image of Marius, with his gradual ideological maturation under the influence of a specific life situation, the author of Les Misérables absorbed especially clear lessons in realism into his work in the second half of the century.
Marius is also one of the consistent images created by Hugo. He, an active defender of the barricade, seems to completely forget about the ideological quest of his youth and the heroism of the barricades as soon as he returns to his respectable bourgeois family, for which A.I. Herzen called Marius “a typical representative of the generation, an abomination.” His spiritual insensitivity also does not speak in his favor; he willingly believes that Jean Valjean is an escaped convict, and he must stay away from him. It is only through chance that he learns the truth and is carried away by the spiritual greatness of this man. "Everything that is courageous, virtuous, heroic, holy in the world - everything is in him!" - Marius exclaims with delight. The antipodes of Jean Valjean, Fantini and other positive heroes of the novel are the Thenardier family. Initially being in a better position than Jean Valjean, that is, having the opportunity to live by honest labor, Thenardier descends from an inn owner to a beggar bandit and takes his wife and daughters with him. Only Eponina was able to rise above them under the influence of love for Marius. Also, little Gavroche is not at all like his parents, most likely because they did not raise him. He is perhaps the only one of the Thenardiers who can be classified as a positive hero, not counting his brothers, but they are still too young, although they also begin to develop towards the better, under the influence of Gavroche. The novel "Les Miserables" almost instantly gained enormous fame throughout the world. It was translated into many languages, all leading people read it. His main characters, for all their skillful, detailed, realistic reproduction, were still perceived not so much as people, but as symbols: the convict Jean Valjean embodied the spiritual nobility of the common people, the unhappy Fantine - the sacrifice of motherhood, Bishop Miriel - endless mercy, the revolutionary Enjolras - heroism and rebellious impulse in overthrowing the reign of injustice. That is why Flaubert and Baudelaire unanimously said about the novel: “There are no human beings there.” There was some truth in this statement; "Les Miserables" tells the story of exceptional human natures, some of which are higher than ordinary people in kindness and nobility, others lower in cruelty and meanness, such as the marauder-innkeeper Thenardier. Apparently it was precisely in this exaggeration, in this excess, that Hugo’s romanticism was reflected. However, his exaggerations are justified because his heroes are endowed with noble, real feelings. Hugo was infatuated with Miriel, he was in love with Jean Valjean. He was horrified, but quite sincerely respected Javert. The sincerity of the author and the scale of the images are a great combination for romantic art. There is enough real-life truth in Les Miserables to add the necessary verisimilitude to the novel. The novel abounded not only with elements of real life, but also historical material played an important role in it. Of course, the task of reviving moral ideals was not the prerogative of romantic writers alone. It is not by chance that one of the French researchers, Andre le Breton, noticed that Hugo’s novel is close to the highly spiritual Russian novel, especially to the work of L.N. Tolstoy. This closeness, which consists in a persistent search for moral models characteristic of both Hugo and the author of War and Peace, is confirmed by Tolstoy himself, who considered Les Misérables the best novel of all French literature of the 19th century.
Literature:
1. Evnina E.M. Victor Hugo. - Moscow: Science, 1976. -215 p.
2. Treskunov M. Victor Hugo: Essay on creativity. - Moscow: Goslitizdat, 1954. - 421 p.
3. Safronova N.N. Victor Hugo. - Moscow: Education, 1989. - 176 p.
4. Maurois A. Olympio, or the life of Victor Hugo / Trans. from fr. N. Nemchinova N. Treskunova. - Moscow: Book, 1982. - 416 p. eleven
Kemerovo State University
Faculty of History and International Relations
Department of New, Contemporary History and International Relations
Coursework on the topic:
Victor Hugo's novel “Les Miserables” as a historical source
Performed
student gr. No. I-081
Marchenko O.O.
I checked
Ph.D., Associate Professor
Kostromina N.G.
Kemerovo 2011
Introduction………………………………………………………… ……………..3
Chapter 1. Characteristics of the social situation in France during the Restoration era in Hugo’s novel “Les Miserables”……………………………….8
Chapter 2. Events of the July Revolution of 1830…………………………23
Conclusion…………………………………………………… ……………….32
Bibliography
Introduction
This course work is devoted to the analysis of a work of art as a historical source, and subsequent comparison with the data of scientific researchers.
The era of the Restoration is controversial. This is a period of about sixteen years when representatives of the Bourbon family returned to power. Louis XVII and Charles X were unable to stabilize the situation. Which leads to a new social explosion - the July Revolution. The novel Les Misérables depicts this particular period of French history.
Relevance This topic is determined, first of all, by the fact that many questions about this period remain controversial. Therefore, it is interesting to analyze how these historical events are viewed by their contemporary and researchers.
The relevance of the work implies its importance. An attempt to compare views and understand discussions on the history of France during the Restoration era is necessary to understand the essence of this phenomenon.
Works of fiction are rarely used as historical sources. This is what it's all about novelty of the work.
Geographical limits works - the territory of France in the modern era.
Chronological framework The research was defined by us as the period from 1815 to 1830, which received the name “Second Bourbon Restoration” in historiography, which ends with the July Revolution of 1830.
The lower limit is 1815.
Since the signing of the first Paris peace treaty on May 30, 1814, the first Bourbon Restoration began, when representatives of the old dynasty returned to power in France. Power is then usurped by Napoleon, and this period from March to June 1815 is called "Napoleon's Hundred Days". These periods are beyond the scope of this work, since these events are not described in the novel Les Miserables. The monarchy was again restored after the signing of the second Treaty of Paris on June 22, 1815. From this period, reforms began in the country, with which the study begins.
The upper limit is 1830, since it is a turning point in the fate of the last Bourbons, and ends with the rise to power of a new dynasty.
Object of study: The novel "Les Miserables" as a historical source.
Subject of study: The social picture in France during the Restoration period in V. Hugo’s novel “Les Miserables”, the reasons for the contradictions and revolutionary actions of 1830.
Research methods. This work uses both general scientific research methods and special historical ones. General scientific methods include, first of all, the analysis of sources and scientific theories.
Special historical: a comparative historical approach, which is manifested in the contrast of the views of Victor Hugo and the data of scientific researchers on the historical period under consideration. The work also uses a chronological research method and techniques of historical description.
Historiography:
A large number of scientific and journalistic works by Russian and foreign researchers are devoted to the theme of the Restoration and the subsequent July Revolution. In our study, we used the works of authors who give different points of view on the events that took place during the period of time under consideration.
The history of studying the Restoration era dates back to the first months after the July Revolution of 1830. However, this work uses the scientific works of researchers of the 20th century.
Soviet historian A.I. Molok studied the history of France 1. The work contains little information about the Restoration, but a lot of attention is paid to the class struggle in 1830. The undoubted advantages of the work are the use of sources available only in French. But, being a representative of the Marxist school, he views the revolution as a class struggle, which indicates his outdated views as an author.
The next stage in the historiography of the Restoration, and mainly the July Revolution, is associated with the names of K. Marx and F. Engels. Their work « Class struggle in France from 1848 to 1850” 2 is used in this work. The revolutions in France are considered as an example of the class struggle of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie. But conclusions about the existence of the proletariat at this time in France are false ideas, since at the beginning of the 19th century its formation was in its initial stages. We are talking about the labor force, the proto-proletariat.
In the preface written by Engels, attention is paid to the social system on the eve of the July Revolution. The shortcomings of their views are the exaggeration of the role of the proto-proletariat, excessive criticism of the bourgeoisie, subjectivism. However, the work helped in the study of the social situation in France. The mood of the masses before the revolution is also well described.
In Soviet historiography, many scientists studied these issues. This work uses the work of Manfred A.Z. "History of France" 3. The work details the events of the Restoration era and the July Revolution. The social picture of France on the eve of the revolution of 1830 is also presented. However, his work bears the imprint of Marxist-Leninist ideology. What should also be taken into account when working with this monograph.
This work uses the article by A.V. Revyakin “French dynasties: Bourbons, Orleans, Bonopartes” 4., which gives a clearer idea of the character of the last Bourbons and Louis Philippe of Orleans. The disadvantage of the work is that there is little information about the practical activities of the kings and their significance in the history of France.
Another work by A.V. was also used. Revyakina - “History of international relations in modern times 5.” This work is devoted to the history of international relations in Europe during the 19th century. The events are presented quite simply, the author constantly refers to sources, which increases the objectivity of the information. In addition to international relations, revolutionary events in Europe are described. There is information about the French Revolution of 1830. The shortcoming is the brevity of the presentation. The positive thing about Revyakin’s works is his more modern view of historical events; he is less subjective in his conclusions, unlike other researchers.
Purpose This work is: the study and analysis of the novel “Les Miserables” as a historical source, and a comparison of the facts contained in it with the data of scientific publications and works.
To achieve this goal, a number of decisions must be made research tasks:
- Analyze and identify events that interest us in a work of art, as well as the opinions and views of V. Hugo;
- Consider the views of contemporaries and subsequent researchers on the social problems of 1830;
- Compare and compare the opinions of Hugo and scientific researchers.
Direct source This work will be Hugo's novel Les Miserables.
Victor Hugo was distinguished by the fact that he was very interested in social themes, the problem of acute social differentiation.
The novel Les Misérables was written in 1862 and consists of five parts. Its chronological scope: from the beginning of the Restoration until the overthrow of the July Monarchy. The author was a witness to the events being studied; his work is a valuable historical source.
Work structure. The purpose and objectives of the study determined its structure. It consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion and a list of sources and literature, numbering 14 items.
- Characteristics of the social situation in France during the Restoration era in Hugo’s novel “Les Miserables”
After Napoleon's overthrow, France was again ruled by kings from the Bourbon dynasty. Their relatively short reign - about 16 years - went down in history as the Restoration.
This was a very controversial period in French history. On the one hand, the Restoration can be defined as liberal rule. There was no complete return to absolutism. This is no longer the same monarchy that it was before the events of 1789. According to the Charter of 1814, legislative power belonged to the Legislative Body, consisting of the Chamber of Deputies and the Chamber of Peers. The Chamber of Deputies was elected on the basis of limited suffrage. Voters had to meet the following requirements: be at least 30 years old and pay at least 300 francs in direct taxes per year. The requirements for parliamentary candidates were stricter - 40 years and 1000 francs in taxes.
Thus, only 80-100 thousand people had the right to vote in France, and even fewer could be elected to the Chamber of Deputies - only 16-18 thousand. The Chamber of Peers was appointed by the king from representatives of the nobility and high officials. Peers retained their seat in the House for life. Executive power belonged to the king. He appointed ministers, directed foreign policy, and convened and dissolved legislative chambers. He also had the right of legislative initiative.
Compared to the constitutions of the consulate and the empire, the charter was quite liberal. Some historians believe that the Bourbon policy corresponded to the thesis - “The Bourbons forgot nothing and did not learn anything in exile” 6.
According to the author of the work, this thesis does not characterize the reign of Louis XVIII. If the reactionary policies of Charles X correspond well to this, then Louis was quite liberal. There was definitely no return to absolutism. Charles X recognized himself as a monarch by the grace of God, and not by the will of the French nation, and therefore did not consider himself bound in his actions by its opinion. In fact, Charles X abandoned the political legacy of Louis XVIII, who tried to combine - and at first, not unsuccessfully - the divine right of kings with the constitutional right of the nation. Charles X preferred to see in the Charter only one of the traditional “liberties” granted by the king to his subjects. He chose the path of abandoning the compromise of 1814 and headed for radical measures.
Another researcher holds a similar point of view about Louis XVIII. Defeat of the monarchy in 1789-1792. served as a serious lesson for him. Perhaps he was the only one of the Bourbons who firmly held the opinion: either the monarchy will be supplemented by a constitution, or it will never exist again 7 .
Nevertheless, the situation in the country was heating up every day. This was facilitated by the economic policy of the new government. The continuation of heavy taxes led to unrest in the city.
The same thing happened in the villages. The former owners of noble and church estates threatened to take away the land plots they had acquired from the new owners and in a number of places forcibly seized them. The law of December 5, 1814 decreed that that part of the confiscated lands that remained unsold would be returned to the former emigrants 8 .
At this stage of the research work, it is worth turning directly to the source - Victor Hugo’s novel “Les Miserables”.
Victor Hugo was born in the city of Besançon into the family of a Napoleonic general. Hugo's mother, a devout Catholic, fanatically devoted to the House of Bourbon, separated from her Bonopartist husband. Taking the upbringing of her son into her own hands, she tried to instill her views in him.
The novel Les Misérables is one of Hugo's most remarkable creations. Having depicted the life of various classes of French society - from the fall of Napoleon at Waterloo to the collapse of the July Monarchy - Hugo acts as a strong champion of the people's rights to a happy and free life.