marianoelle
Below you will find an interactive version of my critical analysis. Underlined words are connected to external links.
As I Stare Into the Void: A Literary Analysis of Light and Darkness in the Musical Les Misérables
Les Misérables is a 1987 Broadway musical by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg based on the Victor Hugo novel of the same name. Both stories follow the life of Jean Valjean, an ex-convict whose interaction with grace gives him a new identity. From the redemption arc of Valjean to the legalistic pursuits of Javert, the story of Les Mis is rich in Biblical themes. The concept of light versus darkness is one of these recurrent Biblical themes found in Les Mis. The similarities between light and darkness in the Bible and in Les Mis make readers question if the intention behind these themes are also the same. Like the Bible, Les Mis uses light and darkness to convey spiritual state.
Before examining how light and darkness is used in the musical Les Mis, it is important to have an understanding of the role these themes play in the original novel by Victor Hugo as well as the Bible. Victor Hugo, born in Besançon, France in 1802, was a writer, novelist, and an accomplished painter. Both his works—written and painted—expressed his belief in God. Unlike most of France at the time, Hugo was not Catholic and openly expressed his contempt for the Church. Robb (1997) states that Hugo was anti-clerical and “did not believe in a church-going God” (p. 96). Rather, as Porter (1999) further explains, Hugo believed in “a hidden God revealed…through nature and the human heart” (p. ix). He echoes this idea often in his writings through the use of light and darkness.
The theme of light and darkness is heavily woven into the Biblical narrative, especially in the writings of John the Apostle. In his examination of John’s writings, Biblical scholar George L. Parsenios (2014) found that Jesus and God were often depicted in reference to light and Spirit; contrarily, sin and evil were usually connected with darkness and the flesh. Hugo seems to share Parsenios’s findings in his own writing. In Book V of Volume IV (Saint-Denis) of the novel, the narrator of the chapter “A Heart Beneath a Stone” reflects on God’s love:
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“A Heart Beneath a Stone” addresses God’s nature and frames it as a form of love. The selected quotes from the chapter, as well as the chapter itself, suggest that Hugo viewed humanity as black—or sinful, as Parsenios (2014) would suggest—and God as a being of light. Even despite the overt religious tones in Les Mis, few scholars have touched on the role light and darkness play in the musical. Kristen M. Ion (2021) mentions how certain characters, namely Valjean, represent light or darkness at various points in the show, yet still there is a gap of understanding of how light and darkness function in the musical. To conduct my research, I will be doing a primary textual analysis of the libretto of Les Misérables to determine how the musical depicts light and darkness.
God is behind everything, but everything hides God. Things are black, creatures are opaque. To love a being is to render that being transparent. [...] All the works of God are made to serve love. [...] What love commences can be finished by God alone. (Hugo, 1887, vol. 4, book 5, ch. 4)
To begin my analysis of the libretto of Les Misérables, I first identified specific characters that, through the reading of existing scholarship on the musical, I deduced were critical in understanding recurrent themes in the show. I chose to focus on Jean Valjean and Javert, the protagonist and antagonist, respectively. The story of Les Misérables is ultimately the chronological story of Valjean’s life and Javert’s pursuit of him. The musical also spends a lot of time laying out both Valjean’s and Javert’s religious worldviews through dialogue and soliloquy. Therefore, these two characters act as key elements in my research.
Once my two characters had been established, I then set parameters for what would be included in my data set. I searched for any instance of light and darkness spoken by Valjean or Javert in the libretto, including terms such as “night,” “day,” and “shadow.” I repeated this process several times to ensure every instance of these terms had been accounted for. The result was 53 entries. I then established my process for coding the data set.
First, I did a read-through of my data set without marking any patterns or significant pieces of information. Then, I conducted a second read-through, this time using colored pens and highlighters to annotate and leave comments on the common elements throughout the data set. I also made notes of anomalies to the patterns, my thoughts about certain passages, and informative or interpretative questions I had. After leaving notes, I read through the comments and annotations I made, identifying patterns and recurring elements. I used different colored pens to identify the different patterns.
After I had completed those rounds of reading, I then focused on each identified pattern. I would select a pattern, read through the examples, and then go back through my data set finding more examples of this pattern. I then reviewed each of the examples I found and challenged if it truly belonged in that set. Once I had identified a pattern and had gathered all of the examples of the pattern from the data set, I gave the code a title and a clear description. I repeated these steps for each of the patterns I found until I had concrete codes of my data set. The product of this process was four codes. These codes were then analyzed and synthesized to form themes.
The first code, titled Light, refers to explicit references to “light,” in the libretto. Examples in this code may be used either literally, figuratively, or both at the same time. For example, Javert sings, “Stars in your multitudes,/ Scarce to be counted,/ Filling the darkness/ With order and light,” which exemplifies both literal and figurative meaning (Behr, 1989, p. 177). He is referring to the literal light produced by stars, but he also is referring to a moral light that the stars symbolize for him. An example of a figurative meaning is when Valjean tells Fantine that he will raise Cosette “to the light” (Behr, 1989, p. 172). Examples of Light in the data set are equally spoken by Valjean and Javert.
In relation to Light is my second code, Day. Items in this code also represent both literal and figurative meanings of the word “day,” and may also include terms such as “dawn,” or “morning.” Examples in the text are usually in reference to an anticipation of a new day to come, such as when Valjean sings, “One day more!/ Another day, another destiny” (Behr, 1989, p. 181). Although he is referring to the chronological day, there is also anticipation for some new beginning or something that is to come. Examples of Day in the data set are primarily spoken by Valjean and occur mostly in one song, titled “One Day More.”
Similarly to the Light and Day codes, examples of the following two codes, Darkness and Night, may also be used literally or figuratively. Darkness includes references to the actual term “dark” or “darkness” but also includes adjacent terms, such as “black,” “void,” and “shadows.” Examples of this code in the text include, “You see how dark it is./ I’m not some kind of dog,” spoken by Valjean (Behr, 1989, p. 166). In this piece, Valjean is using the term “dark,” literally in reference to the night. Another example, also spoken by Valjean, is “We must get away from the shadows/ That will never let us be” (Behr, 1989, p. 181). Valjean uses “shadows” figuratively in reference to people from his past chasing him and Cosette. The primary speaker in this code is Javert.
The final code, Night, includes explicit references to “night” or “nighttime” in the data set. These examples often were used both literally and figuratively simultaneously. For example, when Valjean says, “I got up in the night./ Took my silver,/ Took my flight!” shows the literal meaning “night” as Valjean describes when he left the Bishop’s house (Behr, 1989, p. 166). A figurative example can be observed when Valjean says, “I am reaching, but I fall,/ And the night is closing in” (Behr, 1989, p. 167). Although he may be speaking that lyric during the nighttime, he’s really referring to a more nuanced idea of “darkness” that’s not in reference to the physical absence of light. The primary speaker in this code is Valjean.
While these codes are concrete and recurrent in the data set, these codes alone are not sufficient to derive significant meaning from. Further analysis and synthesis of these codes are necessary to answer our primary research question and to contribute to literary conversation surrounding Les Mis. After codes were finalized, I moved my codes through a process of synthesis: taking the information I had found through analysis and piecing them together to see how they work together. This process was a necessary step in order to move us toward conversation about our primary research question: how does the musical Les Mis use the concept of light versus darkness.
What I found during this process was that Les Mis echoed the use of light and darkness found in the Bible. Light in the Bible was used synonymously with Jesus and the Spirit, and darkness was connected with sin and evil (Parsenios, 2014). This connection is also observed in Les Mis, primarily with Valjean and Javert. When examining the codes Light and Day, I found that Valjean represented 69% of the data in this code, while Javert only represented 31%. Likewise, in Darkness and Night, Valjean represented 56% of the data and Javert represented 44%. When I looked at the content found in these codes, I found a stark contrast.
Valjean's Journey
Valjean’s lyrics display the choice to live in the light after a life of darkness. The first indication of Valjean’s awareness of his moral state is found in “Prologue,” right as he is stealing the silver from the Bishop. Valjean sings, “But when the house was still,/ I got up in the night./ Took the silver,/ Took my flight!” (Behr, 1989, p. 166). This is an instance where Valjean is not only saying what time of the day it is to give context, but he is also revealing that his heart is in darkness. This same example is found in John’s Gospel, which Parsenios points out: “Numerous other passages apply the imagery of light to Jesus (3:19; 5:35; 8:12), which makes it all the more striking that when Judas leaves the table to betray Jesus, we are immediately told by the Evangelist, ‘It was night’ (13:30)” (2014, p. 57). Not only is John telling readers that it was nighttime, but he’s making the connection between Judas’s betrayal to the nighttime, which is exactly what the writers of Les Mis do with Valjean. He is either consciously or unconsciously connecting his betrayal of the Bishop with night and darkness. Valjean identifies this connection several more times before his conversion.
Valjean continues to reference darkness in regards to his sin throughout the rest of “Prologue;” however, he seems to have a clear understanding of the connection between darkness (night) and evil. In a later part of “Prologue,” Valjean again solidifies his understanding of his own place on the light versus darkness spectrum. He sings,
VALJEAN What have I done?
Sweet Jesus, what have I done?
Become a thief in the night!
Become a dog on the run!
And have I fallen so far,
And is the hour so late
That nothing remains but the cry of my hate,
The cries in the dark that nobody hears (Behr, 1989, p. 166; my own emphasis)
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At this moment, Valjean begins to recognize the evil he’s committed against the bishop. He continues to reflect on the wrong he’s done and the grace of the Bishop, and he says, “I am reaching, but I fall/ And the night is closing in,/ And I stare into the void—/ To the whirlpool of my sin” (Behr, 1989, p. 167; my own emphasis). Valjean realizes the sin his soul has fallen into, and, similarly to John’s Gospel, makes the connection between sin and darkness. At this point, he has clearly recognized that he has been living in darkness. Now, he is forced to make a decision.
Parsenios (2014) emphasized the importance of choosing between living in light (Spirit) or darkness (sin). At the end of “Prologue,” also called “Valjean’s Soliloquy,” Valjean faces this choice. He’s confronted the darkness he’s been living in and must choose. His next lyrics solidify his decision: “I’ll escape now from the world/ From the world of Jean Valjean./ Jean Valjean is nothing now./ Another story must begin./ (VALJEAN tears up yellow ticket of leave)” (Behr, 1989, p. 167). After he establishes that he is going to start a new life, he never again touches the topic of darkness or night, not even in reference to the time of day. Instead, his speech implies a shift to light. He promises Fantine that he will raise Cosette “to the light” (Behr, 1989, p. 28). Valjean’s speech through Les Mis illustrates his journey from sin to Spirit by using the darkness and light imagery found in the Bible. However, this is only one example of this journey.
Javert's Fate
When confronted with his own darkness, Javert cannot accept the truth of the matter and is unable to change his ways. Javert makes his perception of his sin—or lack thereof—in “Stars,” which is the first time he mentions either light or darkness. He sings about Valjean: “There, out in the darkness,/ A fugitive running,/ Fallen from grace./ …He knows his way in the dark./ Mine is the way of the Lord (Behr, 1989, p. 177). Again, the idea that darkness is connected to separation from God is reiterated in this passage. However, unlike how Valjean recognizes his own sin, Javert is much more blinded by his sin. He is only able to recognize the darkness in others’ lives but not his own. He admits this, although unknowingly. Javert sings:
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Stars in your multitudes,
Scarce to be counted,
Filling the darkness
With order and light.
You are the sentinels,
Silent and sure.
Keeping watch in the night (Behr, 1989, p. 177)
Stars are sources of light only visible during the nighttime and not strong enough to turn night into day; they are simply small balls of light amidst a sky of darkness. Javert equates himself to these stars—a being bringing order and goodness to a world of evil. He looks upon the stars with pride knowing that they and he are righteous. In reality, Javert is unknowingly revealing that he is the one in darkness. He is not completely surrounded by this darkness yet, but ultimately, he can only catch small glimpses of distant light. He becomes distracted by and obsessed with this faint light, and he inadvertently blinds himself to seeing the darkness around him. However, the imbalance of light and darkness in Javert’s life shows that he is not fully living in sin and darkness.
Other scenes in the show establish that Javert is a Christian and takes his faith seriously, but he also views God as a strict, judgeful deity in comparison to the graceful father depicted by Valjean. This idea that God is a law-above-all-else god distorts Javert’s perspective of himself, and it eventually hurts him, which is evident in “Javert’s Suicide.” Valjean has just freed Javert instead of killing him, and Javert is shocked by this action. He sings:
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My heart is stone and still it trembles.
The world I have known is lost in shadow.
Is he from heaven or from hell?
And does he know
That, granting me my life today
This man has killed me even so?
I am reaching but I fall
And the stars are black and cold,
As I stare into the void
Of a world that cannot hold (Behr, 1989, p. 188)
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This passage reads very similarly to the moment Valjean confronts his own sin; the two pieces even share the same melody. In this scene, Javert has been confronted with his wrongdoing. Valjean has shown him grace, and Javert is shocked. The world he has known has been changed. He stares into the night sky hoping to see the stars—the balls of light in the darkness— that used to give him so much hope and reassurance, but instead, “the stars are black and cold.” The light he once had a faint vision of has abandoned him. He has been enveloped in a world of darkness and is forced to make a choice between darkness and light, just as Valjean had to do at the beginning of the show.
Unfortunately, Javert does not follow in Valjean’s steps. Javert continues, “I’ll escape now from the world,/ From the world of Jean Valjean./ There is nowhere I can go./ There is no way to go on…/(He throws himself into the swollen river)” (Behr, 1989, p. 188). Valjean is a dynamic character, meaning he is able to change throughout the course of the show, while Javert is a static character—unable to go through any character changes. However, when he is confronted with his sin, he is forced to make a decision between light and darkness. In this moment, he has the opportunity to be a dynamic character, but his understanding of God prohibits him from repenting and changing his ways. Therefore, he is stuck as a static character and cannot convert from darkness to light. Because of this, he can either continue living in darkness or he cannot live at all. Shocked by the astounding darkness of his life and unable to make a change, Javert commits suicide.
The theme of light versus darkness which appears numerous times throughout the Christian Bible holds its same shape in Les Mis. Both Valjean and Javert make clear connections between light/God and darkness/sin. Both characters use words related to light and darkness to communicate the state of their soul, and as seen with Javert, they are more than likely communicating this unknowingly. With Valjean, his full journey from darkness to light, including the moment he is forced to decide between the two, is made evident. On the contrary, Javert’s journey shows his incorrect assurance that he is living in light although he is ultimately surrounded by darkness. Audiences also witness Javert’s confrontation with his sin and the moment he makes his final decision. These themes which have been realized through a process of analysis and synthesis give audiences more insight into how light and darkness is used in Les Mis.
References
Behr, E. (1989). The Complete Book of Les Misérables. Arcade Publishing.
Hugo, V. (1887). Les Misérables. (I. F. Hapgood, Trans.). Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. (Original work published 1862). https://www.gutenberg.org/files/135/135-h/135-h.htm
Ion, K. M. (2021). Duality, Decisions, and a Faith-Based Life: A Comparative Thesis of the Protagonists and Antagonists in the Contemporary Musical Adaptations Les Misérables and Jekyll and Hyde (11416) [Master’s Thesis, Regent University]. ProQuest.
Parsenios, G. L. (2014). First, Second, and Third John. Baker Academic. p. 18-19, 57.
Porter, L. M. (1999). Victor Hugo. (D. O’Connell, Ed.). Twayne Publishers. p. ix-5.
Robb, G. (1997). Victor Hugo. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 55, 96, 499.