So! The Conventionalist was a member of the National Convention--the third of France's revolutionary legislatures, and the one that was a republic from the start.
This is the body that was in charge during the Terror, the bloodiest period of the revolution, and that tried and executed Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette for treason. (Which they had done. One can argue--people did argue! a lot!--over the proper response, but they had 100% conspired with foreign powers to invade France.) Conventionalist G was not a regicide--he did not vote for the death of the king--but he was still in the body that signed off on a lot of war crimes.
I'm going to give a little more historical context at the end of this post, but what all the context means for Myriel is that the Conventionalist represents parts of the revolution which dealt significant harm to Myriel and people he cared about. Economic harm, at minimum--Myriel was an emigrΓ©, and whatever property he left behind in France would have been confiscated by the state--and in the conversation at dinner with Jean Valjean, we learn enough to know that some of their relatives who stayed certainly ended up poor and may have been in hiding in fear for their lives. Given the circles he moved in, it's very likely he knew people who were executed. That probably underlies some of his uneasiness around the guillotine--he probably has some survivor's guilt.
In this conversation, he comes to understand the Revolution as a moral project--something undertaken to find larger and more lasting answers to the same problems that he can only address one person at a time. He comes to see the harms of the Revolution within that framework-- "you condemn the thunderbolt." He comes to understand the Conventionalist as a deeply moral man, from whom he could have learned a lot, if he had only been willing to lay aside his prejudices long enough to do his duty as a priest and reach out to him.
(His asking the Conventionalist for his blessing was HUGELY controversial at the time, btw. It was one of the reasons the Catholic Church placed the book on the Index for decades. The book comes down heavily on the side of the Revolution being Correct and True, and the bishop's acceptance of this fact as the last step of his moral arc.)
So, additional historical context--the opening chapter establishes a couple important facts about where Myriel was coming from:
1.) He was part of the noblesse de la robe. These were nobles with newly-created titles, who held those titles in consequence of a civil service position; as opposed to the old noblesse de l'epΓ©e, whose titles came from long-ago military service. These titles were purchased; this whole class of nobility was new money, who had used that money to buy into the aristocracy. And in consequence they tended to be deeply invested in maintaining the class system that they had staked everything to claim a part in.
2.) And Myriel was exactly that, because he emigrated to Italy in 1789. This means he was part of the very first wave of emigrations--he left the country at the same time as the Comte d'Artois (the future King Charles X). These first emigrΓ©s were not leaving out of immediate fear for their lives, but out of absolute refusal to engage with any aspect of the revolution. They were ultraconservative.
So before he became a priest, Myriel wasn't just an aristocrat, and rich, and a playboy--he identified strongly enough with the system that let him be those things that he saw any challenge to it as an existential threat.
(Side note--there were liberal nobles who supported the Revolution! They were an important part of the Revolution, especially in its early stages--people like the Comte de Mirabeau and the Marquis de Lafayette. They were a driving force behind the abolition of feudal privilege--giving up privileges they themselves enjoyed. But they almost all came from the old money noblesse de l'epΓ©e. These were people whose fortunes were secure enough that they were willing to exchange tax exemption and significant personal power for living in a modern country with a functional government.)
...and I feel like an explainer on the Terror would probably also be useful here but this is already very long, so I'm going to stop here, but I can come back with a French Revolution 101 post later if you want!
(Or someone else is welcome to pick up from here; I know some of my followers probably have a basic FRev explainer on tap.)
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