Can't get over with Les Miserables. Sharing with you my notes on the characters portrayed on the movie;
Major Characters:
Jean Valjean
(also
known as Monsieur Madeleine, Ultime Fauchelevent, Monsieur Leblanc, and Urbain
Fabre) – convicted for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister's seven
starving children and sent to prison for five years, he is paroled from prison
nineteen years later he encounters Bishop Myriel, who turns his life around by
showing him mercy and encouraging him to become a new man.
Javert
A
fanatic police inspector. Born in the prisons to a convict father and a gypsy
mother, he renounces both of them and starts working as a guard in the prison,
including one stint as the overseer for the chain gang of which Valjean is
part. Eventually he joins the police force in the small village of
Montreuil-sur-Mer. Javert can not reconcile his devotion to the law with his
recognition that the lawful course is immoral. He takes his own life by jumping
into the Seine.
Fantine
A
beautiful Parisian grisette abandoned with a small child by her lover Félix
Tholomyès. leaves her daughter Cosette in the care of the Thénardiers,
innkeepers in the village of Montfermeil. Mme. Thénardier spoils her own
daughters and abuses Cosette. Fantine finds work at Monsieur Madeleine's
factory.
Cosette
(a
nickname, formally Euphrasie, also known as "the Lark", Mademoiselle
Lanoire, Ursula) –at her yung age, she is beaten and forced to work as a drudge
for the Thénardiers. After her mother Fantine dies, Valjean ransoms Cosette
from the Thénardiers and cares for her as if she were his daughter. Nuns in a
Paris convent educate her. She grows up to become very beautiful. She falls in
love with Marius Pontmercy and marries him.
Marius Pontmercy
A
young law student loosely associated with the Friends of the ABC. He shares the
political principles of his father, who died at Waterloo, and has a tempestuous
relationship with his royalist grandfather, Monsieur Gillenormand. He falls in
love with Cosette and fights on the barricades when he believes Valjean has
taken her to London. After he and Cosette marry, he recognizes Thénardier as a
swindler and pays him to leave France.
Éponine (the
Jondrette girl)
As
a child, she is pampered and spoiled by her parents, but ends up a street
urchin when she reaches adolescence.
Monsieur Thénardier and
Madame Thénardier
(also
known as the Jondrettes, M. Fabantou, M. Thénard. Some translations identify
her as the Thenardiess) – Husband and wife, parents of five children: two
daughters, Éponine and Azelma, and three sons, Gavroche and two unnamed younger
sons. As innkeepers, they abuse Cosette as a child and extract payment from Fantine
for her support, until Valjean takes Cosette away. They become bankrupt and
relocate under the name Jondrette to a house in Paris called the Gorbeau house,
living in the room next to Marius.
Enjolras
The
leader of Les Amis de l'ABC (Friends of the ABC) in the Paris uprising.
Gavroche
The
unloved middle child and eldest son of the Thénardiers. He takes part in the
barricades and is killed while collecting bullets from dead National Guardsmen.
Bishop Myriel
The
bishop of Digne (full name Charles-François-Bienvenu Myriel, also called
Monseigneur Bienvenu) – A kindly old priest After Valjean steals some silver
from him, he saves Valjean from being arrested and inspires Valjean to change
his ways.
A
revolutionary student club:
Bahorel
A
dandy and an idler from a peasant background.
Combeferre
A
philosophical student who is second to Enjolras in the group.
Courfeyrac
Marius'
closest friend, who provides him with financial assistance and with lodging
after the Gorbeau house affair.
Feuilly
A
fan maker who studies the subject of revolution deeply.
Is
an alcoholic student who has little interest of revolution.
Jean Prouvaire
A
very well-spoken romantic.
Joly
Student
of medicine who has unusual theories about health.
Lesgle
The
oldest member of the group.
Minor Characters:
The
younger daughter of the Thénardiers.
Bamatabois
An
idler who harasses Fantine.
Baptistine Myriel
Bishop
Myriel's sister.
Bougon, Madame (called Ma'am
Burgon)
Housekeeper
of Gorbeau House.
Brevet
An
ex-convict from Toulon who knew Valjean there; released one year after Valjean.
Brujon
A
robber and criminal.
Champmathieu
A
vagabond who is misidentified as Valjean after being caught stealing apples.
Chenildieu
A
lifer from Toulon. He and Valjean were chain mates for five years.
Cochepaille
Another
lifer from Toulon. He used to be a shepherd from the Pyrenees who became a
smuggler.
Colonel Georges Pontmercy
“The
Colonel”
Marius's
father and an officer in Napoleon's army.
Fauchelevent
A
failed businessman whom Valjean (as M. Madeleine) saves from being crushed
under a carriage.
Mabeuf
An
elderly churchwarden,
Mademoiselle Gillenormand
Daughter
of M. Gillenormand, with whom she lives.
Magloire, Madame
Domestic
servant to Bishop Myriel and his sister.
Magnon
Former
servant of M. Gillenormand and friend of the Thénardiers.
Monsieur Gillenormand
Marius'
grandfather. A monarchist, he disagrees sharply with Marius on political
issues, and they have several arguments.
Mother Innocente
(a.k.a.
Marguerite de Blemeur)
The
prioress of the Petit-Picpus convent.
Patron-Minette
A
quartet of bandits who assist in the Thénardiers' ambush of Valjean at Gorbeau
House and the attempted robbery at the Rue Plumet.
Petit Gervais
A
travelling Savoyard boy who drops a coin.
Sister Simplice
A
famously truthful nun who cares for Fantine on her sickbed and lies to Javert
to protect Valjean.
Félix Tholomyès
Fantine's
lover and Cosette's biological father.
Toussaint
Valjean
and Cosette's servant in Paris.
Two little boys
The
two unnamed youngest sons of the Thénardiers, whom they send to Magnon to
replace her two dead sons.