It is now 1827, and the dead Louis XVIII has been succeeded by the reactionary "ultra," Charles X.
Marius is about 18.
Marius secretly comes to admire both his dead father, whose grave he regularly visits, and Bonaparte, with Hugo's approval.
He shouts out a window, "Vive l'empereur!"
He orders a hundred cards bearing the name "Baron Marius Pontmercy."
He travels to Montfermeil to visit Thenardier, but the innkeeper has failed, the inn is closed, and the man has gone off no one knows where.
His grandfather, M. Gillenormand, the Voltairian bourgeois and royalist supporter of the Bourbon Restoration, discovers the cards.
There is a scene, the old man shouts, "You are no more a baron than my slipper!"
And he throws Marius out of the house.
He orders his daughter, an old maid who lives with him, to send the lad 60 pistoles every six months.
That's 600 francs, in gold.
Les Miserables.
No comments:
Post a Comment