Day 7 of 25 Days of Les Misérables: Fantine’s rescue
Easy
money
Lying
on a bed
Just
as well they never see
The
hate that's in your head
Don't
they know they're making love
To
one already dead!
Fantine sells her locket. Then she
sells her hair. In the book she also sells her two front teeth. At this point
all she has left to sell is her body. She reluctantly becomes a woman of the
night.
Even though her anger consumes her,
Fantine never gives any indication that she wishes she’d never had a daughter.
Like Valjean, she’s grown to hate the world as the world hates her, but the
child she must support remains her reason for continuing in that world.
We’re about to meet Javert again. The last time we
saw him he was giving Valjean his yellow parole ticket and reminding him that
he was a thief and would always be a thief. We see many evidences that Javert
doesn’t believe a person can change once they are evil. He also has a
stereotypical view of “sinners” and plays the vigilante who wishes to rid the streets of
them.
That’s why, when he comes across Fantine in a rough
part of town, he refuses to listen to her side of the story in a confrontation
with one of her customers. He calls the place where he finds her a “nest of
whores and vipers” and never stoops to ask her customer why he was even in that
area of town in the first place. Immediately he takes the side of the
well-to-do citizen and accuses Fantine of lying when she tries to use her
daughter as a way to beg for mercy.
Thankfully, Valjean witnesses this encounter with
Javert. Something must have stirred within him to see a woman in such desperate
circumstances being denied mercy. He knows Javert and has every reason to keep
a low profile, but his past must probe him to intercede on behalf of Fantine.
Fantine has had many “it’s the end” moments when she
thought she wasn’t going to be able to provide for Cosette. When she is facing
going to jail, she must have thought, “this really is the end.” Then out of
nowhere her former employer shows up to help her. In the midst of their
encounter, Fantine tells Valjean who she is and how he’s the reason she’s in
such dire circumstances. Repentant, Valjean vows to aid Fantine and make up for
his responsibility in her plight.
When the mayor of the town publicly reaches out to
help a prostitute, it peeks the interest of Javert. He’s already suspicious of
Valjean when Valjean gives him even more evidence to suspect him as an
ex-convict.
First performance: October 8?
1985
Composer: Claud-Michel Schönberg
Playwrights: Alain Boublil, Claud-Michel Schönberg
Lyricists: Herbert Kretsmer, Alain Boublil, Jean-Marc Natel
Quoted: Lovely
Ladies