Les Miserables Summary
Victor Hugo

Everything you need to understand or teach Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.

Les Miserables Summary & Study Guide
16 Student Essays
2 Encyclopedia Articles
...and more

30 Les Miserables Lessons
20 Activities
180 Multiple Choice Questions
60 Short Essay Questions
20 Essay Questions
Pre-Made Tests and Quizzes
...and more

Les Miserables Summary

When Victor Hugo's novel Les Miserables first came out in 1862, people in Paris and elsewhere lined up to buy it Although critics were less receptive, the novel was an instant popular success. The French word "miserables" means both poor wretches and scoundrels or villains The novel offers a huge cast that includes both kinds of "miserables." A product of France's most prominent Romantic writer, Les Miserables ranges far and wide. It paints a...

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Study Pack

The Les Miserables Study Pack contains:

Les Miserables Study Guide

Introduction

Author Biography

Plot Summary

Characters

Themes

Style

Criticism

Adaptations

Topics for Further Study

Encyclopedia Articles (2)

Les Miserables

817 words, approx. 3 pages

Les Miserables Billed as "the world's most popular musical," Les Miserables has been translated into numerous languages and has been performed in theaters all over the world. With... Read more

Les Miserables

3,905 words, approx. 14 pages

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo Victor Hugo, the son of a general in Napoleon's empire, was born in 1802 in Besancon, France. Although raised by his mother to be a royalist, Hugo's inclination to rep... Read more

Victor Hugo Biographies (5)

Victor Hugo

5,918 words, approx. 20 pages

When Victor Hugo died in 1885 at the age of eighty-three, one million mourners gathered in the streets of Paris to see his corpse borne to the Pantheon. Buried with honors usually reserved for heads o... Read more

Victor (Marie) Hugo

14,862 words, approx. 50 pages

No century of French literature has been better represented by a single author than the nineteenth, and no writer better personifies the French nineteenth century than Victor Hugo. His life span corre... Read more

Victor (Marie) Hugo

11,841 words, approx. 40 pages

Victor Hugo, one of France's most prolific nineteenth-century authors, wrote novels, poems, and dramatic works. His career as a playwright began in 1816 and ended almost sixty years later. The dramas ... Read more

Victor (Marie) Hugo

15,001 words, approx. 51 pages

On 22 May 1885 Victor Hugo died, prompting international mourning unprecedented for a literary figure. Within an hour the periodical Gil Blas published a special edition, which sold out everywhere, a... Read more

Victor Marie Hugo, Vicomte

2,304 words, approx. 8 pages

The French author Victor Marie, Vicomte Hugo (1802-1885), was the supreme poet of French romanticism. He is noted for the breadth of his creation, the versatility that made him as much at ease in the ... Read more

Essays & Analysis (16)

Les Misérables

706 words, approx. 3 pages

Les Misérables uses philanthropic and loving tones to demonstrate the transformation of Jean Valjean from a hardened convict to a humanitarian. The diction of Les Misérables amplifies the c... Read more

Les Miserables

1,045 words, approx. 4 pages

Everyone goes throughout there lives in a certain social standing. Whether it may be they're considered to me rich, or poor, or popular, or nerdy. Pretty much as you go through out life you place your... Read more

Les Miserables

574 words, approx. 2 pages

Victor Hugo lived in France in the mid to late 19th century as a republican, playwright, poet, and novelist. France was consumed in a long period of political instability, and had several bloody conf... Read more

Les Miserables: Valjean as a Role Model

560 words, approx. 2 pages

Although he was first a convict, Jean Valjean eventually became a moral person. Victor Hugo portrayed Valjean in Les Misérables as someone his readers should look up to. At the end of the book,... Read more

The Changing of Jean Val Jean

1,633 words, approx. 6 pages

The story Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, began with introducing the main character, Jean Valjean to us. He was a convict, who had to do time in prison for stealing a loaf of bread for his family. Duri... Read more

Themes in Les Miserables

947 words, approx. 4 pages

First of all, the story starts with a character named Jean Val jean. He is a victim of harsh penal laws of the nineteenth century. In those days, penal laws are more like laws in ancient civiliz... Read more

Les Misérables - a Review

974 words, approx. 4 pages

Paris, France- While picking up a book the other day to read, I read it with great detail in goal to find mistakes. Not just spelling or capitalization, I am talking about falsified facts and details... Read more

Jean Valjean's "Scarlet Letter"

1,484 words, approx. 5 pages

Les Miséables is the story of Jean Valjean as he struggles to erase the stain that being a convict has left on his life, but the yellow passport signifying he is an ex-convict is like a brand tha... Read more

Character Sketch: Jean Valjean

455 words, approx. 2 pages

At the beginning of the novel Jean Valjean is introduced right after he has been released from the galleys. He is a ragged traveler and is about 46 or 47 years old. He is of medium height and appears ... Read more

Themes in Les Misérables

614 words, approx. 3 pages

Les Misérables is a novel of many components. It has innumerable themes that can be applied to life, although it is a fictional novel. It is a novel which exposes the life of the poor, and the ig... Read more

Divine Intervention and Biblical Symbolism as Seen in Les Misérables

1,739 words, approx. 6 pages

Divine Intervention and Biblical Symbolism as seen in Les Misérables Morality and revolution are two focuses presented in the Catholic Bible. These two ideas, hand in hand, also mold the themat... Read more

Les Miserables Quote Analysis

303 words, approx. 2 pages

"After he had fully determined that the young man was at the bottom of this state of affairs, and that it all came from him, he, Jean Valjean, the regenerated man, the man who had labored so much upon... Read more

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

1,177 words, approx. 4 pages

Les Misérables is a captivating French novel, which follows the life of an unfortunate man named Jean Valijean. Jean Valijean is an escaped prisoner, who was convicted for stealing a loaf of bre... Read more

Roles of Religion and Religious Characters in Les Miserables

1,002 words, approx. 4 pages

Throughout history, there have been numerous debates about the presence of a Supreme Being or many supreme beings, for that matter. The debates have led to wars, unaccountable numbers of deaths, fami... Read more

Les Miserables

516 words, approx. 2 pages

Nowadays, heroes are hard to be found. Every now and again, the heroic side of a person may appear, but they then return to hibernation. What would an ideal hero be like? In the novel Les Miserables,... Read more

The Conflicts of Jean Valjean and Javert

1,079 words, approx. 4 pages

In Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo, Jean Valjean strives to redeem himself while Javert strives to enforce justice. The goals of these two men, one who was formerly a convict and one is a police office... Read more

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