take me to the world

The ensemble in Les Misérables constantly shifts between being seen as one, unified group and as a collection of individuals. As a group, they embody the collective voice of the miserable people of France, in the form of beggars and workers. They shift between groups as well, which are distinguishable by costumes and music. As a group, the ensemble is a lens for the audience to watch the action through. In this way, they are in charge of the focus and the pace of the narrative. They can isolate or embrace characters from their community, and they can grant authority to people. In contrast to their functioning as a group, the ensemble can also be seen as individuals. From the way that they have been written into the story, some ensemble characters have more space to express their individuality, while other parts are less set, giving more freedom to the performers to make their own characterisation. This freedom of interpretation is not guaranteed for big, corporate musicals. Other musicals are more strict in the way new actors perform the same roles. Within Les Misérables, individualisation comes from both the space that is made in the script and the freedom that actors get to interpret their own roles. Performers can take inspiration from Hugo’s novel too, which has the added benefit of certain audience members recognising the characters on stage, making it easier for them to be seen as individuals. This is less applicable for the women of the ensemble, as their parts generally do not have a counterpart in the book, which does give them more freedom over their own characterisation. While there is a lot of space for individualisation in the show, there is also a feeling of community among the cast. This is helped by most principal cast members having ensemble parts, making the performers feel that they are telling a story together, as one group.

Les Misérables has themes that relate to love, faith and sacrifice in particular, although the ensemble is mostly related to another theme, namely that of social injustice. This theme is prevalent throughout the narrative and affects all characters in one way or another, but it is the ensemble that really embodies it. They are themselves “the miserables.” They are both the people who fight against social injustice, in the form of the students, and the people who they are fighting for, as the poor, the convicts, the factory workers, and so on. While the principal characters represent the individual stories of people undergoing these hardships, the ensemble makes it clear that these are not isolated stories, only the stories that this particular narrative is focussing on. Having the ensemble be both a collective of miserable people, and having them be individuals in their own right, shows that there are numerous people who suffer under the same system and that they are worth fighting for. These are the people who Enjolras wanted to see rise, but also the people who did not join him in the end. While it is disappointing in the moment that the people do not rise, the audience has seen how difficult the actual individual people’s lives are. In “At the End of the Day” the factory workers have already made clear that “the children have got to be fed.” Still, the students show the audience that there are people who will fight for a better tomorrow, for all these faceless people who are actually not that faceless anymore. At the same time, it is a call to action for the audience, to “join in the fight that will give you the right to be free.” That is what gives the audience hope, and that is what makes Les Misérables such a powerful story. It shows that there are people who need someone to fight for them and it shows that there are people who will, and it is the ensemble that embodies both of these people on the stage.

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A full performance analysis of Les Misérables needs to take into account the context of the show, the performers’ materiality, and the background of the audience member watching it. By focusing on the juxtaposition of the collective and the individual, it appears that the ensemble performers in this show differ in the amount of space and freedom they have for individualising their characters, while they are always a part of the collective group of “the miserables.” Every character in Les Misérables suffers under social injustice, most especially a lot of the ensemble parts, which makes this an important theme in the show. Through its narrative and through its ensemble performance, it shows that there are people who are worth fighting for, and people who are willing to fight for them. By presenting these people as individual characters through sung solos, costuming and silent acting – among other things – they are humanised and are no longer a faceless entity of miserable people. This makes the audience empathise with them, and possibly relate their own experiences to these characters.

Relating this to Millie Taylor’s theory of the ensemble musical as a depiction of a utopian future, Les Misérables becomes an embodied display of the realities of contemporary society. One might say that this is not possible, as it is situated in 19th century France, but the struggles that people face in Les Misérables because of social injustices are still true nowadays. Victor Hugo himself prefaced his original novel by saying that similar books will be needed, as long as there is still misery on earth. The musical is a reminder of that. Its popularity comes from its necessity in showing people that there is injustice in the world, while simultaneously giving them hope for a better tomorrow. The ensemble plays an important role in this message. If not for them, the world of Les Misérables would be barren and the collective people would not have a representative on the stage, which would, in turn, weaken the power of the show’s message. The ensemble is needed to give the ordinary people a face, separate from the extraordinary principal characters.

Roman History by Cassius Dio (link)

“Enjolras was a charming young man, who was capable of being terrible. He was angelically handsome. He was a savage Antinous.” (Les Mis 3.4.1)

This comparison to Antinous is one of the very first things we learn about Enjolras and it immediately implies several key things about him: Enjolras is young, beautiful, and the impact of his untimely death will eclipse all other details about his life. So, even before he appears on the page, we are being told that Enjolras is doomed to die (and, of course, he’s super hot). 

In short, Antinous was the Ancient Greek Emperor Hadrian’s lover who died pretty young and then was deified post-mortem. There’s not really that much contemporary writing about Antinous. I’ve chosen one of the longest descriptions of him written within a few decades of his death and it’s still only a single page. He’s way more famous for his looks because there were so many statues made of him. (Here’s one that was in the Louvre at the time!) Just statistically, if there’s talk about a Greek marble statue of a beautiful man, especially one with downcast eyes, there’s a decent chance it’s a reference to Antinous. And, not coincidentally, Enjolras is continuously compared to a Greek statue or marble throughout the book. It’s also worth noting that Antinous was a bit of a gay icon in the 19th century because of his relationship with Emperor Hadrian, see "The Most Famous Fairy in History" by Sarah Waters (link) for more info. And very soon after Victor Hugo makes this comparison, we’ll learn that Enjolras, like Antinous, is also uninterested in women and the subject of the cult-like fascination of another man. Hmmm. But more on that later.

On the Principles of Political Morality by Maximilien Robespierre (English)

Discours sur l’organisation des Gardes nationales by Maximilien Robespierre (French)

Virtue and Terror speeches by Maximilien Robespierre, translated by Slavoj Žižek (English, English)

“Enjolras gave expression to its [the Revolution’s] divine right and Combeferre its natural right. The former aligned himself with Robespierre, the latter stood close to Condorcet.” (Les Mis 3.4.1) “[Graintaire, trying to impress Enjolras:] ‘I’ll talk to them about Robespierre, of course! And about Danton. About principles.’" (Les Mis 4.1.6) “[Grantaire] had gone home to put on a Robespierre-style waistcoat. ‘Red,’ he said as he came in, gazing intently at Enjolras.” (Les Mis 4.1.6) “[Enjolras:] ‘This sovereignty of the self over the self is called Liberty. (...) This uniformity of the concession each individual makes to all is called Equality. (...) This protection of all over each individual is called Fraternity.’” (Les Mis 5.1.5) “As for the direct means to achieve it [progress], given a violent situation, [Enjolras] chose violence. In that, he never varied. And he was still of that epic and fearsome school encapsulated in this word: ‘ninety-three’.” (Les Mis 5.1.5)

Another one of the first things we learn about Enjolras, still before we’ve actually met the guy, is that he really, really likes Robespierre. Enjolras is frequently compared by Hugo and other characters to Robespierre. Enjolras also quotes Robespierre and describes himself as part of Robespierre’s school of thought. Grantaire tries to impress Enjolras twice by referencing Robespierre to him - he even runs home to dress up in his Robespierre-style waistcoat to look cool in front of Enjolras. (We’ll circle back to that.) Basically, Enjolras idolizes Robespierre and Victor Hugo wants to make absolutely sure you know it. 

This comparison gives us an early heads up about Enjolras’s character that we’ll see as time goes on. Both Enjolras and Robespierre have politics that are really radical and uncompromising. Robespierre is referenced by many other characters as being emblematic of The Reign of Terror and extreme devotion to the Republic, which is totally Enjolras’s vibe too. He is characterized by a willingness to do acts of violence out of love for his country and, much like Robespierre, he’s going to die for it.

Robespierre gave and wrote hundreds of speeches, many of which he transcribed and sent out to be published in the papers or distributed as pamphlets, so there’s a lot to choose from. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a proper oeuvre published until after Enjolras died and we’re not given too many specific references in Les Mis to help us narrow down which particular speeches Enjolras loved the most. In the end, I did my best and just picked two speeches that got sort of indirectly referenced during the barricade segment of the book. First, we’ve got On the Principles of Public Morality, Robespierre’s 1794 speech in defense of the Reign of Terror. We’re told pretty explicitly that Enjolras is “of that epic and fearsome school encapsulated in this word: ‘ninety-three’” (aka The Terror) and doesn’t hesitate to use violence as an answer to problems, so I think Robespierre’s speech about terror as a tool for revolutionary politics is pretty apt. This speech was officially published by the National Convention and distributed to societies to be read aloud, so it was a pretty big deal and wouldn’t be that hard to find. Second, there’s a reference that Enjolras makes to a phrase that was originally popularized by Robespierre. “Liberté, égalité, fraternité” is the official motto of France now, but it wasn’t technically adopted until after the revolution of 1848. In the years preceding, there were many different versions of the phrase floating around, most including liberty and equality but not necessarily fraternity. This final version, and the version that Enjolras quotes on the barricade in 1832, was supposedly popularized by our good friend Robespierre in a 1790 speech to the Convention, Discours sur l’organisation des Gardes nationales, though he admittedly wasn’t the first one to say it. Robespierre later had the phrase “Liberté, Equality, Fraternité ou la mort” inscribed on public buildings in the city during the Reign of Terror, but I guess the “or death” part didn’t really catch on. I’m actually surprised Enjolras doesn’t quote that version, but he shows some uncharacteristic restraint here re:bloodthirstiness. Good for him.

If you’re looking for a good English translation of more Robespierre speeches, I’d recommend checking out Slavoj Žižek’s collection in translation Virtue and Terror because it was really good and appropriately pro-Robespierre for Enjolras.

The French Constitution of 1793 (English)

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1793 (English)

Fragments sur les institutions républicaines (Republican Institutes) excerpts by Louis Antoine de Saint-Just (English)

Convention debate over the fate of Louis XVI in 1792 speeches by Louis Antoine de Saint-Just (English, English)

“in the Convention, he would have been Saint-Just.” (Les Mis 3.4.1) “Enjolras had within him the plenitude of the revolution. He was incomplete, however, in so far as the absolute can be. He was too much like Saint-Just, and not enough like Anacharsis Cloots.” (Les Mis 5.1.5)

Similar to Robespierre, comparing Enjolras to Saint-Just serves to emphasize the violent righteousness of Enjolras’s revolutionary ideals and his admiration of the politics behind The Terror. Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, known as the “Archangel of Terror,” was a radical leftist and one of Robespierre’s close friends. Known for being bold, ruthless, and young - he died in his 20’s for his uncompromising political beliefs, much like a certain someone else we know. Saint-Just has so many funny quotes about being cursed by his own youth during such a pivotal moment in French history, what a mood. He also wrote a lot before he got involved with the Revolution, including some poetry he published when he was 20 that got attention for its pornographic passages. The title of this 8,000 line poem is Organt and it’s so extremely self-indulgent and there’s a bunch of characters who are political allegories but also a bunch that are just his friends inserted into the plot. (RIP Saint-Just, you would have loved ao3.) His preface to it was literally “I'm twenty; I've done badly; I could do better.” Anyway, this isn’t relevant to Enjolras, but it’s honestly iconic so I wanted to mention it.

Both references to Saint-Just point to his time in the French National Convention, so I wanted to find some of his work from that era for the booklist. He gave so, so many speeches in the Convention and was one of the primary forces behind writing the French Constitution of 1793 and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1793, so I’ve included a sample of those here! Unfortunately, no proper collections of Saint-Just’s speeches would be published until after the 1830’s, so most of what would have been available to Enjolras would be the transcripts of his speeches published in old editions of Le Moniteur or old pamphlets. Since that kind of ephemera is a little harder to track down, I did my best to just include some of the highlights here. I included some translated excerpts from his first big speech in the National Convention in 1792, where he encouraged the Convention to condemn Louis XVI. He argued that there’s no such thing as an innocent  monarch because their very existence compromises the rights of the people and compared the king to Julius Caesar from Voltaire’s version of that play. There’s another speech by Saint-Just that people make reference to a lot where he purportedly says that “the vessel of the Revolution can arrive in port only on a sea reddened with torrents of blood” but I’m going to be real I was having a really hard time hunting that speech down and the source that everyone keeps pointing to (Stanley Loomis) is highly sus to me because the author really, really hates Saint-Just and is obviously keen to paint him in the worst light possible. So if anyone has the origin of that quote, please let me know. 

And, like many other references, this one is working double-time because it’s also telling us (once again) that Enjolras is really hot in a really feminine way, just like Saint-Just. So, people who actually knew Saint-Just mostly described him as a young, moderately attractive guy with good fashion sense, but over time accounts of his effeminate, ethereal beauty started to gain popularity, which is mostly how he’s remembered now. Bernard Vinot’s biography has some pretty good stuff on this shift (French link) and there’s a really good tumblr post by @obscurehistoricalinterests that translates some excerpts on the subject (link). Several pretty big historians (including Victor Hugo’s friends) really go all out describing Saint-Just in very similar ways to how Victor Hugo describes Enjolras’s androgynous beauty, so I feel like this is an intentional comparison. The funny, meta thing to me about comparing Enjolras to Saint-Just is that, from his writing, Saint-Just seems like a guy who really wanted to be remembered for his politics and yet people keep writing about how pretty he was instead. That’s so Enjolras.

What is the Third Estate? by Emmanuel Sieyès (1789) (English)

Rights of Man by Thomas Paine (1791) (English)

Considerations on the French Revolution by Germaine de Staël (1818) (English)

History of the French Revolution by François Mignet (1824) (English)

The History of the French Revolution by Adolph Thiers (1823-27) (English)

“Seeing the pensiveness reflected in his gaze, you would have thought he had already lived through the revolutionary apocalypse in some previous existence. That tradition was part of him, as of someone who had experienced it. He knew every little detail about that great cataclysm.” (Les Mis 3.4.1) “‘Who goes there?’ (...) Enjolras replied in a haughty and vibrating tone:⁠— ‘The French Revolution!’” (Les Mis 4.14.1) “‘What men those regicides were!’ said Enjolras.” (Les Mis 4.14.2)

Enjolras loves the French Revolution! We are told he knows every little detail about it, he speaks very highly of the regicides, and he has that silly knock-knock joke in LM 4.14.1 about it. Since he wasn’t alive for it, he probably had to do a fair amount of reading on the subject to get this level of knowledge, so I figured it qualified for the booklist.

There’s no specific allusion made for this one, so I’ve just included a few significant documents from the Revolution and a handful of published accounts from just after the Revolution that were apparently popular in Paris during the 1820’s. Contemporary writings on the Revolution weren’t even trying to be impartial; they were very divided between conservative and liberal historians condemning or praising it. I picked the ones that were reportedly more trendy with young Parisian liberals (aka, Enjolras and the boys), but to be honest they’d probably also enjoy ripping apart more conservative takes like Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France too. These sources are also mostly narrative histories of people’s own experiences during the Revolution because it wasn't until the mid-1800’s that more comprehensive, scholarly histories began to appear. But, unfortunately, Enjolras wouldn’t be alive to read those.

“Gaius Gracchus” Parallel Lives by Plutarch (English)

History of the Roman Republic by Jules Michelet (English)

“On the Aventine Hill he would have been Gracchus” (Les Mis 3.4.1)

Gaius Gracchus was a radical reformist Roman politician who made a stand against his political rivals at the Temple of Diana on Aventine Hill and was ultimately killed. He had a brother (Tiberius Gracchus) who also did political reform, but Victor Hugo has specifically compared Enjolras to the Gracchus who died in a violent political clash. Enjolras is all about violent, direct action, and Victor Hugo draws attention to that every chance he can get.

It seems like the Gracchus brothers were pretty topical in revolutionary France because there was a radical revolutionary journalist in the 1790’s, François-Noël Babeuf, who was popularly known as Gracchus Babeuf because of his proto-anarchist/communist/socialist politics (link). He was reportedly barred from the Jacobin Club for being too bloodthirsty about class war, which is saying something because the Jacobins are best known for their Reign of Terror. He’s not the Gracchus in question here, but I feel like Enjolras would absolutely love him too, tbh.

History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides (English)

“Evadne’s bare breast would have moved him no more than it would have moved Aristogeiton. For him, as for Harmodius, the only thing flowers were good for was to conceal the sword.” (Les Mis 3.4.1)

Harmodius and Aristogeiton were two lovers known as the Tyrannicides who assassinated the brother of the Athenian tyrant Hippias in one of the founding myths of Athenian democracy. They were subsequently killed because of this act of rebellion, much like Enjolras will be after his own attempt to free his country from an oppressive government, so the foreshadowing of death continues. But this tyrannicide is all just flavor, because Victor Hugo is primarily making this comparison to tell us that Enjolras is as interested in romancing women as these two famous gay icons - that is, not at all. It’s truly so Enjolras that every conjecture about his sexuality is also secretly about radical revolutionary politics.

The Bible, Book of Ezekiel (English)

“If any grisette from Place Cambrai or the Rue St-Jean-de-Beauvais, seeing that truant-schoolboy face, that pageboy neck, those long fair eyelashes, those blue eyes, that wind-tousled hair, those rosy cheeks, fresh lips, perfect teeth, had hankered after all this youthfulness in its prime and come to try her charms on Enjolras, a shocking, dreadful glance would have abruptly revealed the abyss to her and taught her not to confuse Ezekiel’s awesome cherub with Beaumarchais’s gallant Cherubino.” (Les Mis 3.4.1) “Enjolras was standing on the cobblestone staircase, with one of his elbows resting on the barrel of his gun. He was thinking. He shuddered, as if at passing emanations; places of death have these oracular effects. In that inward-turned gaze was smouldering fires. All at once he raised his head; with his blond hair swept back like that of the angel on the dark chariot of stars, it had the look of a lion’s mane fanned out in a flaming aureole.” (Les Mis 5.1.5)

Victor Hugo doubles down in the same paragraph as his joke about the Tyrranicides with a pun comparing the Marriage of Figaro to the Bible, emphasizing again just how little Enjolras cares about love or sex. Enjolras talks a fair amount about Satan and divinity throughout Les Mis, so it’s safe to assume he’s generally familiar with the Bible. However, Victor Hugo tends to be very intentional about which parts of the Bible he’s referencing. For Enjolras, that’s specifically the Book of Ezekiel. In fact, most of the members of Les Amis have one particular book from the Bible they always refer to that’s used to characterize them. A lot of the specific meaning of those references were lost on me, so I phoned a friend who went to Catholic school to give me a more detailed rundown of the Victor Hugo-assigned Bible passages. (Thanks Jared!) Basically, the Book of Ezekiel is a pretty violent Biblical passage. It’s all fire and brimstone, with God as the punisher and salvation being achieved through blood. This aligns pretty perfectly with everything else we’ve been told about Enjolras and his love of The Terror and political violence. Enjolras is angry and righteous above all other things.The Book of Ezekiel is also one of the main sources of what people refer to as “biblically accurate angels.” When they show up to Ezekiel in chapters 1 and 10, there is a lot of flame imagery, a chariot made of heavenly beings, and a description that one of the heads of the angels is that of a lion. Which is, coincidentally, the same exact way that Victor Hugo describes Enjolras in LM 5.1.5, as Enjolras is processing the failure of his revolution and his upcoming death. In the Book of Ezekiel, their appearance heralds Ezekiel getting a vision from God, and in Les Mis, this moment precedes Enjolras telling everyone about his utopian visions for the twentieth century. He is, like Ezekiel, relaying a divine vision. Even though the people of Paris didn’t show up to the barricade, he and his friends can still save/inspire them by dying here and heralding a happier future.

The Marriage of Figaro (La Folle Journée, ou Le Mariage de Figaro) by Pierre Beaumarchais (English)

“If any grisette from Place Cambrai or the Rue St-Jean-de-Beauvais, seeing that truant-schoolboy face, that pageboy neck, those long fair eyelashes, those blue eyes, that wind-tousled hair, those rosy cheeks, fresh lips, perfect teeth, had hankered after all this youthfulness in its prime and come to try her charms on Enjolras, a shocking, dreadful glance would have abruptly revealed the abyss to her and taught her not to confuse Ezekiel’s awesome cherub with Beaumarchais’s gallant Cherubino.” (Les Mis 3.4.1)

Here’s the other half of the pun! Specifically Victor Hugo is referring to the original French stage play, which is more political than Mozart’s opera of the same name. Usually I only include the references that Enjolras is likened to, not the ones he’s said to be unlike. But fun fact, The Marriage of Figaro was banned at Versailles in 1783 because it mocked the aristocracy. Reportedly, upon banning it, King Louis XVI said: “La représentation ne pourrait qu'être une inconséquence fâcheuse, sauf si la Bastille était détruite.” or “The performance can’t be more than a nuisance as long as the Bastille isn’t destroyed.” as a sick burn to call the play’s criticism unimportant because nothing would ever happen to the Bastille... But you’ll never guess what happened just a few years later, oops!

Enjolras definitely wouldn’t care at all about the romantic intrigue in this one, but I think it’s telling that even when Victor Hugo is just making a silly little reference to tell you how much Enjolras doesn’t care about something, he still chooses to reference a politically bent work that makes fun of the aristocracy and pisses off the king so bad he bans it. It’s basically impossible to separate Enjolras from his political ideals.

The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (English)

"And Enjolras rebuked Courfeyrac. ‘Not a word against Jean-Jacques! He’s a man I admire. Even if he did disown his children, he adopted the people as his own.’" (Les Mis 3.4.3) “[Graintaire, trying to impress Enjolras:] ‘Yes, me. But I’m not being given the credit I deserve. When I put my mind to it, I’m terrific. I’ve read Prudhomme, I’m familiar with the Social Contract, I know by heart my constitution of the year II.’” (Les Mis 4.1.6)“[Enjolras:] ‘Hence what is called “the social bond”. Some say “social contract”, which is the same thing, the word “contract” being etymologically formed from the notion of binding.’” (Les Mis 5.1.5)

Rousseau is a huge influence on the politics of Les Amis and is referenced several times throughout their chapters. Mostly by Enjolras. Rousseau was the guy who coined the term “eat the rich” during the French Revolution, so it’s no surprise that Enjolras especially goes to bat for this guy and says a hilarious line defending him against the haters (Courfeyrac) in LM 3.4.3. He even talks as if he’s on first name basis with Jean-Jacques. This scene absolutely kills me. It’s no wonder Grantaire tries to impress him by referencing the Social Contract a few chapters later. Then, on the barricade, Enjolras literally stops everything and gives a spontaneous The Social Contract 101 lecture. So I think it’s safe to say he loves Rousseau. A lot.

Fables by Jean de La Fontaine (English)

“The Heifer, Goat, Sheep, and Lion” by Phaedrus (English)

“Enjolras, whose blue gaze was not fixed on anyone and who seemed to be staring into space, without glancing at Marius replied, ‘France needs no Corsica to be great. France is great by virtue of being France. Quia nominor leo.’” (Les Mis 3.4.5) “There’ll be no reason then to fear, as we do today, conquest, invasion, usurpation, rivalry between armed nations, civilization interrupted by a marriage of kings, a birth within the hereditary tyrannies, a partition of peoples by congress, dismemberment brought about by the collapse of a dynasty, a conflict between two religions coming up against each other like two goats of darkness on the bridge of infinity.” (Les Mis 5.1.5)

During Marius’s cringe Napoleon stan rant in LM 3.4.5, Enjolras makes a reference to the fable “The Heifer, Goat, Sheep, and Lion” by quoting a line in Latin that means “because my name is a lion.” While he’s literally using the quote to reiterate his point that France is great because it’s France, due to the subject matter of the fable he might also be sneaking in a sick burn about Marius’s problematic Napoleon beliefs by making a comparison to the lion in the story. Like, if you align yourself with strongmen they will betray you just because they can. At least, that’s how I interpret it.

Enjolras is quoting the original Roman version by Phaedrus, because of course he is, but La Fontaine’s Fables were (and continue to be) super prevalent in France, and likely where he would have first heard the story. Enjolras makes another reference to La Fontaine’s Fables later. Specifically, “The Two Goats,” a story about two goats that meet each other on a narrow bridge and neither will move, so they both get stuck there and eventually fall to their deaths. Tbh, there are probably more that I’m not as good at catching, but I think it’s safe to say Enjolras has read La Fontaine’s Fables.

Speeches of Georges Jacques Danton (English)

“[Graintaire, trying to impress Enjolras:] ‘I’ll talk to them about Robespierre, of course! And about Danton. About principles.’" (Les Mis 4.1.6)

Enjolras doesn’t reference Danton directly, but Grantaire thinks Enjolras likes him and I’m tempted to agree. In LM 4.1.6, Grantaire lists a bunch of politicians and publications to Enjolras that he claims to be familiar with in an attempt to impress Enjolras, and I’m opting to include those here on Enjolras’s booklist because I think it’s less informative about Grantaire’s own taste than what he thinks of Enjolras’s. Case in point, literally the first thing we learn about Grantaire is a list of philosophies and people that he thinks are stupid, and lots of those are ones he lists to Enjolras here! He’s absolutely trying to look cool to Enjolras by flexing his knowledge of things he thinks Enjolras likes. I fully believe he even bought that Robespierre-style waistcoat just to impress Enjolras because Grantaire is specifically described as thinking Robespierre (or at least his brother) is stupid. Then he runs home to put it on, runs back to the Cafe for no reason just to make intense eye contact with Enjolras while he tries to draw attention to the waistcoat, and then leaves again immediately?? There’s no other reason for him to do all that. How embarrassing. But I’m getting off topic.

Danton is another one of the main revolutionaries associated with Robespierre and The Terror. This is a bit of an easy guess for Grantaire, because everyone knows Enjolras likes The Terror. I do think it’s fun that when Enjolras mentions The Terror he talks about the scholarly, beautiful, bloodthirsty guy involved with Robespierre and when Grantaire mentions The Terror he talks about the brash, personable, kind of ugly guy involved with Robespierre. Unlike Robespierre and Saint-Just, Danton never gave manuscripts to journalists and most of his speeches were extemporaneous, so despite being very present for so much of history during this era, he doesn’t have as much published work to point to for this reference. Because of that and because this is such a minor reference, I decided not to look too hard and just included a collection of speeches compiled in 1910. Obviously that’s way after Enjolras and Grantaire would be dead, but the same speeches would’ve been available in their time, just printed in various other places like Le Moniteur or whatever. Speaking of anachronistic Danton references, there’s a whole Hark! A Vagrant episode (321) about Danton, and in the description Kate Beaton also laments how the guy didn’t write anything down. You and me both, queen.

Révolutions de Paris edited by Louis-Marie Prudhomme - Several articles in translation (English)

"On the Influence of the Revolution on Women" by Louis-Marie Prudhomme (English)

“[Graintaire, trying to impress Enjolras:] ‘Yes, me. But I’m not being given the credit I deserve. When I put my mind to it, I’m terrific. I’ve read Prudhomme, I’m familiar with the Social Contract, I know by heart my constitution of the year II.’” (Les Mis 4.1.6)

This is another one that Grantaire thinks Enjolras likes. Prudhomme ran one of the best-known revolutionary newspapers and a few books about the revolutionary period and The Terror. This is most likely the Prudhomme that Victor Hugo references several times throughout Les Mis. He’s got some good takes, but he’s notably really sexist. I feel like I need to call him out for this because Enjolras also doesn’t include women in his revolution. Love him, but he is not a feminist so he needs to be shamed a little.

Le Père Duchesne edited by Jacques René Hébert - Several articles in translation (English)

“The Père Duchesne Supports the Terror,” Le Père Duchesne, no. 234 (English)

“[Graintaire, trying to impress Enjolras:] ‘The rights of man, the sovereignty of the people, for God’s sake!  I am even a bit of a Hébertist. I can keep coming out with some wonderful things, watch in hand, for a whole six hours by the clock.’” (Les Mis 4.1.6)

This one is an absolute delight to read and hysterical if this is the kind of rhetoric that Grantaire thinks will impress Enjolras. Genuinely lmao. The Hébertists were a political group associated with journalist Jacques René Hébert, the founder and editor of the irreverent radical newspaper Le Père Duchesne. They were proponents of extreme revolutionary ideas during the Reign of Terror, but their leadership was ultimately executed in 1794. Yet again, we have no concrete proof that Enjolras actually read Hébertist literature, but Grantaire certainly thinks this is the kind of thing that would be impressive to Enjolras.

Histories by Herodotus (English)

Leonidas, A Poem by Richard Glover (English)

“The Isles of Greece” by Lord Byron (English)

Le Passage de Thermopyles by Pierre Villiers

Léonidas by Michel Pichat

Le Songe, ou les Thermopyles by Élisa Mercoeur (English)

“As we know, there was something of the Spartan and the Puritan in Enjolras. He would have perished at Thermopylae with Leonidas and burned down Drogheda with Cromwell.” (Les Mis 4.12.3) “[Enjolras:] ‘The amphictyons held two sittings a year, one at Delphi, site of the gods, the other at Thermopylae, site of heroes.’” (Les Mis 5.1.5) “Enjolras ruled over it [the barricade] gravely, in the attitude of a young Spartan dedicating his naked sword to the sombre spirit of Epidotes.” (Les Mis 5.1.17)“And if need be, they will die like the three hundred Spartans. They think not of Don Quixote, but of Leonidas. And they forge on, and once committed there is no going back, and they press forward, heads down, in hope of an unprecedented victory, the fulfilment of the revolution, progress once again set free, the advancement of the human race, universal deliverance, and if the worse comes to worst, Thermopylae.” (Les Mis 5.1.20)

There are lots of comparisons between the Spartan 300 and the students of the June Rebellion through the book. Enjolras, especially, is repeatedly described as Spartan in nature, and he references Thermopylae himself during a speech at the barricades, calling it a “site of heroes.” RIP Enjolras, you would have loved Zack Snyder’s 300. 

There are also lots of potential sources for this story that were popular at the time. One of the principal classical sources covering the battle is Herodotus’ Histories, which portrays the Greco-Persian War as a battle between slavery and freedom. That’s definitely the vibe that Victor Hugo is channeling as well. Centuries later, in Lord Byron’s Don Juan, he wrote a poem called “The Isles of Greece” which celebrates Thermopylae as a symbol of Greek resistance. Victor Hugo definitely loved it because he mentioned it specifically in his obituary for Lord Byron (link): “He has proved to Europe that the poets of the new school, although they no longer adore the gods of pagan Greece, always admire its heroes; and that, if they have deserted Olympus, they have at least never said adieu to Thermopylae.” Glover’s epic poem Leonidas was also massively popular throughout the 18th century, including its French translation, and would inspire a bunch of contemporary interest in the subject. 

Additionally, there was a whole wave of poetry and plays about Thermopylae in France during the Revolutionary era. There are truly an overwhelming number of them. It’s like the isekai genre of Revolutionary era France. Check out “Loyalty and Liberty: Thermopylae in the Western Imagination” by Emma Clough (link) for more info. Enjolras and his boys wouldn’t have been alive early enough to catch a lot of these shows, but don’t worry because after the release of Jacques Louis David’s painting Leonidas at Thermopylae in 1815 (link), there were was another wave of MORE PLAYS about these doomed Spartans. Pierre Villiers’ Le Passage de Thermopyles was inspired by the painting and released in 1823 and Michel Pichat’s Léonidas was released in 1825. Plus in 1827, Élisa Mercoeur released her poem: Le Songe, ou les Thermopyles. I could go on!

Lastly, this is not something that Enjolras would have been able to read himself, but the 25 April 1836 edition of the Gazette des Tribunaux compared the actual real republican insurrection of 1832 to the Spartan 300 at the Battle of Thermopylae as well! (French link, English translation of quote link) Just goes to show how topical Thermopylae was at the time. 

Cromwell by Victor Hugo (English)

“As we know, there was something of the Spartan and the Puritan in Enjolras. He would have perished at Thermopylae with Leonidas and burned down Drogheda with Cromwell.” (Les Mis 4.12.3)

Oliver Cromwell comes up several times in Les Mis. Victor Hugo is obviously fascinated with this guy and the English Civil War, but he specifically calls out one of Cromwell’s most extreme and controversial moments of violence as a parallel to Enjolras. This is definitely part of a pattern for his characterization of Enjolras. (I personally don’t think Enjolras would like killing thousands of innocent Irish civilians, but idk maybe that’s just me.) In general, Cromwell is characterized by his ruthlessness and his role in beheading King Charles I, which are very on brand for Enjolras comparisons. And as a Puritan leader, Cromwell banned many forms of private and public entertainment, kind of like how Enjolras bans the men at the barricade from drinking alcohol.

Victor Hugo himself wrote a play about Oliver Cromwell in 1827, so I had to include it here even though it wasn’t actually performed until the 1950’s (due in part to its SEVEN HOUR runtime, jfc) and there was little chance Enjolras would have actually read it. But technically he could have! And Victor Hugo definitely did since he wrote the thing, so this is informative as to what he thinks of Cromwell when he makes that comparison to Enjolras anyway.

Multiple Sources

“Pale and disheveled, his throat bared, Enjolras, with his womanly face, had at that moment something of the ancient Themis about him. His flaring nostrils, his downcast eyes, gave to his implacable Greek profile that expression of wrath and that expression of chastity that for the ancient world are appropriate to justice.” (Les Mis 4.12.8)

Not too much to say about this one. It’s another allusion highlighting Enjolras’s feminine appearance, asexuality/virginity, and strong sense of justice. Themis is the Greek goddess of divine justice and, in some Greek myths, the originator of human political assemblies. That’s cool! She’s the Greek equivalent to Lady Justice, so there’s certainly a lot of statues invoking her imagery (holding scales, often blindfolded, stoic), but not one particular piece of iconic art as far as I know. She also doesn’t have one major myth to point to as an obvious reference here. Themis is mentioned briefly in several plays, including both the Iliad and the Odyssey plus a few of Aeschylus’ plays where she appears as a goddess of assemblies and justice. Notably, she is Prometheus’ mother in Prometheus Bound which Enjolras has definitely read and references later. It’s apt that Victor Hugo is basically saying “he’s like Prometheus if Prometheus was a girl.” Anyway, this is mostly just invoking the imagery of Justice so just pretend this is a footnote later when Prometheus Bound comes up in more detail.

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare (English)

Le Mort de César by Voltaire (French)

"'The face of an old buffer and the courage of Brutus,' replied Enjolras.” (Les Mis 4.14.2)

Lots of the members of Les Amis make reference to Brutus. Grantaire and Combeferre are more hesitant to fully celebrate Brutus, but Enjolras will always stan a violent revolution against a tyrant so obviously he uncritically loves this guy. Enjolras even uses a comparison to Brutus as a compliment on the barricade. Information about Brutus appears in Plutarch’s Parallel Lives (link) and Jules Michelet’s History of the Roman Republic (link) that were cited earlier, but I think the more significant source is the Shakespeare play. Shakespeare was a big influence on the Romantic movement, Victor Hugo makes a lot of references to Shakespeare throughout Les Mis, and Hugo even wrote a novella-length essay called William Shakespeare (which is kind of a misleading title because it’s only partially about Shakespeare). The very first translation of Shakespeare’s works into French was a version of Julius Caesar by Voltaire, La Mort de César, in 1731. This was not a direct translation, Voltaire takes some big liberties with the plot to make it fit the confines of French theater at the time and he openly thought that Shakespeare was kind of tasteless, which really influenced subsequent translations (link). In Voltaire’s version, he reveals a plot twist that Caesar is Brutus’s father to shift the focus of the story onto Brutus’s struggle between his patriotism as a republican and his loyalty to his family. The play also cuts almost everything after the assassination, so instead of showing Brutus’ slow decline he’s made into more of a martyr hero. I’ve seen a lot of articles say this wasn’t one of Voltaire’s more popular plays, but without even looking that hard I ran into multiple topical references to Voltaire’s version. In Charlotte Corday’s address explaining her assassination of Marat she likens herself to Brutus from La Mort de César (link) and Saint-Just references Brutus from La Mort de César as well. If nothing else, I think Enjolras would have more loyalty to the version from France so it’s worth putting on his book list.

Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus (English)

“[Enjolras:] ‘The day when this Promethean work is done and man has finally harnessed to his will the threefold chimera of antiquity — hydra, dragon, and griffin — he will be master of water, fire, and air, and he will be to the rest of living creation what the ancient gods once were to him.’” (Les Mis 5.1.5)

During the Romantic movement, Prometheus was widely adopted as a symbol of rebellion against institutional tyranny, so it’s no surprise he makes an appearance here. Victor Hugo references Prometheus as a revolutionary figure several times, and Enjolras himself describes their stand at the barricade as “Promethean” during one of his speeches. Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus is the best known classical source of the Prometheus myth, and it’s extremely popular with several of the characters in Les Mis as well. Aeschylus is one of Jean Prouvaire’s favorite poets and Marius also references Aeschylus’s Prometheus Bound explicitly during his pre-barricade, pre-death political breakthrough so I think there’s a solid chance that’s the version that Enjolras is also referencing. I think it’s also fitting for Enjolras to reference because it ends tragically, with Prometheus bringing the mortal’s fire only at great personal cost. It was supposed to be part of a greater trilogy by Aeschylus which would cover the time when Prometheus became unbound, but there is a nice mirror to Enjolras’s sacrifice within just the surviving play.

There are a few other versions I want to give a quick honorable mention here as well. Goethe’s epic poem Prometheus (link) is one of the first appearances of the Prometheus myth in the literary Romantic movement. And Prometheus Unbound by Percy Shelley (link) was directly inspired by the French Revolution, imagining a way that a revolution might break free of the cycle of creating new tyrants and exist in an anarchist utopia. Since they were written in 1785 and 1820, respectively, Enjolras technically could’ve read either of these as well! He doesn’t read a lot of fiction, but he does love a politically-motivated tale about righteous rebellion, so who can say.

Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (French, French)

“[Enjolras:] ‘The amphictyons held two sittings a year, one at Delphi, site of the gods, the other at Thermopylae, site of heroes. Europe will have her amphictyons, the globe will have its amphictyons. France carries in its womb this sublime future. This is the gestation of the nineteenth century. What Greece began is worthy of being completed by France.’” (Les Mis 5.1.5)

Basically, an amphictyony was an association of neighboring tribes in Ancient Greece that would meet at common religious centers and vote on things. Enjolras loves the idea of people voting on things, so he makes a reference to the Delphic Amphictyony during a speech he gives at the barricade. Ancient sources with details about the Delphic Amphictyony are pretty limited, as far as I can tell. Herodotus’s Histories that I cited earlier mention the amphictyons in Thermopylae (link), and there is a tablet of the Amphictyonic Law of Delphi that’s now in the Louvre, though I’m unclear when it was added to the collection (link). Otherwise, the best source I could find that would’ve been widely accessible in Enjolras’s time was the Encyclopédie entry about amphictyons. It’s not the most riveting book on this list and it’s kind of a stretch, but the encyclopedia represented a big project to democratize information in France at the time, and it’s something Combeferre is noted to be passionate about, so Enjolras has probably referenced it at some point.

Iphigenia Among the Taurians by Euripides (English)

Iphigénie en Tauride by Christopher Willibald Gluck (English)

“You might just as well say O and P as Orestes and Pylades. A true satellite of Enjolras, Grantaire lived within this circle of young men. He dwelt among them, only with them was he happy, he followed them everywhere. His pleasure was to watch these figures come and go in a wine-induced haze. They put up with him because of his good humor. In his belief, Enjolras looked down on this sceptic; and in his sobriety, on this drunkard. He spared him a little lordly pity. Grantaire was an unwanted Pylades.” (Les Mis 3.4.1) "Chapter 23: Orestes Fasting and Pylades Drunk" (Les Mis 5.1.23)

So, in his introduction, Grantaire is compared to a list of guys known for being a counterpart to another, the “reverse of Enjolras,” though in his case this bond is unreciprocated. For the most part, these characterize Grantaire more than Enjolras, and Enjolras isn’t explicitly compared to any of them… except one. But it’s a big one!

Grantaire’s character and his role as a foil to Enjolras is bookended by comparisons to Orestes and Pylades. In his introduction, Grantaire is “an unwanted Pylades,” and Enjolras pointedly does not fill the role of Orestes out of disdain for Grantaire and his lack of belief. But the chapter where they both die is named “Orestes Fasting and Pylades Drunk,” finally making the comparison to the both of them together. At a glance there’s not much that Enjolras has in common with the myth of Orestes. He’s not a matricide, he’s not haunted by Furies or driven to madness, he’s not on trial, and he’s specifically an only child. However, his death scene is a mirror to a particular scene in Iphigenia Among the Taurians and Iphigénie en Tauride. Tldr, Orestes and Pylades get stranded and caught on an island that sacrifices all outsiders and are sentenced to die, but Iphigenia offers them a deal that one of them can live if they agree to deliver a letter to her brother for her. Orestes offers up Pylades as the messenger so that his friend won’t die for his crimes. But Pylades wants Orestes to be the messenger so that he won’t have to live without him — “It would be shameful for me to go on living while you do not. I sailed with you and I must die with you.” — and so the two keep offering to die for each other or die together, which is only averted by Iphigenia’s discovery that Orestes is the brother she was trying to contact so they all plot to escape together. In Les Mis, Grantaire is unnoticed by the firing squad that’s about to kill Enjolras, and he could escape if he stays quiet but he chooses instead to announce his presence to them and asks Enjolras for permission to die with him. Now that he finally is willing to die for something, Enjolras accepts him. Grantaire is no longer an “unwanted Pylades,” he’s welcomed to die together as a duo with a smile. 

I think it’s interesting that, of all the stories starring Orestes and Pylades, the reference here is not to the most famous version by Aeschylus. His Oresteia is one of the founding myths of democracy and fair public trials in Athens. It’s political, it glorifies democracy, it’s by an author Enjolras has already referenced, and Enjolras is friends with a bunch of lawyers. But in the end, as Enjolras is dying, the scene Hugo references is from the one play at the end of Orestes’ long tragic saga where he gets a surprise happy ending. One that focuses on companionship and healing over righteous violence at the end of the day. Even though our Orestes and Pylades die for real in the Les Mis version, there is a definite optimism in this send off. This story was so extremely popular in France at the time. You can’t dig through newspapers from the era for very long without finding some reference to these two, usually to imply some kind of epic friendship or partnership. And, honestly, if you’ve been on tumblr for any length of time, you too have probably heard of Orestes and Pylades. They’re the “it’s rotten work” guys from Anne Carson’s An Oresteia (link). Wow, Victor Hugo, truly a tumblrina before his time.

Eumenides by Aeschylus (English) 

Apollo Belvedere (link)

"His beauty, at that moment enhanced by pride, was resplendent, and as if it were no more possible for him to be tired than to be wounded after the dreadful twenty-four hours that had just elapsed, he was pink and rosy. It might have been of him that the witness was speaking who later told the court martial, ‘There was one insurgent I heard referred to as Apollo.’” (Les Mis 5.1.23)

Last but not least, we’ve got this line comparing Enjolras’s beauty to Apollo. Very literally this is probably just a reference to the Apollo Belvedere and therefore not a literary reference per se, but bear with me. 

First off, let’s cover the statue. The Apollo Belvedere was massively popular in the 18th/19th century, in large part due to the og art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann really hyping up how “the highest conception of ideal male beauty is especially expressed in the Apollo” (link) which made a big impact on neoclassicists. I didn’t read Winckelmann’s whole book, but the chapters I read were a good time. This guy isn’t even pretending to be impartial, he is stating as a fact which statues are beautiful and which aren’t. He also breaks it down by things like best feet, best boobs, etc. And he’s really openly gay about it. What an icon. Anyway, the other reason the Apollo Belvedere was really popping off in 18th/19th century France is because Napoleon stole it and took it back to France for a while. Napoleon looted a lot of art, but apparently he was particularly proud of stealing the Apollo Belvedere. There’s etchings of him showing it off (link), it was a whole thing. Apollo in general had been a really popular aspirational figure in France for a long time (I mean, look at Louis the Sun King) but in Napoleonic France, especially within the Romantic movement, the most celebrated iconography of Apollo would be the Belvedere. So, yeah, this quote is probably evoking the statue because Apollo is, in appearance, very similar to Enjolras. So, on the surface, most of what we’re getting out of this quote is one last reminder that he’s hot, he’s blond, and he’s god-like. But, wait, there’s more!

Apollo is also a significant character in the Orestes myths, and this reference is made during the chapter “Orestes Fasting and Pylades Drunk” so I think that’s very relevant. It puts Apollo into the context of this myth about violence, duty, and political process specifically. In the Oresteia, Apollo is the god who tasks Orestes with killing his mom and then shows up as a deus ex machina at the end to save him. He actually sort of bookends the entire last play, Eumenides, and Orestes’ story ends with a question to Apollo (“O bright Apollo, what shall be the end?”) before they depart so Athena can close out the play with a lecture on public trials and democracy. In the Euripides version, Apollo still gives Orestes the prophecy that sets his quest into motion and bails him out at the end, even though the characters are generally more critical of their government and the gods. There’s this big conversation happening in the background of Orestes about dissatisfaction with a country in turmoil that feels very relevant to Enjolras and his failed revolution. Anyway, all this to say that the Orestes story almost always ends with a deus ex machina by Apollo. And the last thing we hear about Enjolras in his Orestes chapter is a reference to Apollo. Even if it’s not intentional, this little parallel to the structure of Greek tragedy always ending with a deus ex machina (an appearance of some god) is so juicy. By dying, Enjolras has literally become part of a mythic story. Except in this version, he’s kind of also in the role of Apollo. Which also ties together a couple references that have been made earlier. Enjolras was also compared to the divine prophet Ezekiel, and you know who’s the god of prophecy? Apollo. One of the very first sentences about Enjolras told us that he was an Antinous, a man who was deified after his death, and then immediately after Enjolras dies he is referred to as a god. @motions1ckn3ss makes a case in her dissertation about classical allusion in Les Mis (link) that this whole chapter, and the Apollo line in particular, also draws a neat parallel to the concept of the Apollonian and the Dionysian in Enjolras and Grantaire, which I don't have time to get into here. This throwaway quote doesn’t even happen while Enjolras is alive and technically doesn’t even confirm whether it’s really about Enjolras, but it ties together so much!

Plus, of course, Victor Hugo wants to spend one last moment telling the audience just how hot Enjolras was. RIP king.