Hugo's "Les Misérables ㈢ Part III Marijus" Summary and Synopsis
Les Miserables.is Victor Hugo's masterpiece, published in 1862.
This time I read the Shinchosha edition of "Les Miserables" translated by Saku Sato.
In this issue, we will introduce the third volume of the five-volume "Les Misérables.
We will look at the synopsis on the back cover as soon as possible.
Part III: "Marijus". Marijus, who began to live alone in a boarding house in defiance of his stubborn grandfather, gradually became devoted to republicanism in the midst of his life of poverty. In those days, he met a father and daughter in the park where he went for his daily stroll. Marijus, a proud and innocent young man, is captured by the innocent gaze of this unknown girl and longs to see her dainty appearance. The daughter was Cosette, who was being raised by Jean Valjean.
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The third part, "Marijus," tells the story of a young man named Marijus, the second most important character after Jean Valjean and Cosette.
Marijus is staying with his grandfather Gilles Normand, a rich but hardcore stubborn man.
He lost his mother early in life and barely knew his father.
This is because Mr. Girnormand disliked Napoleon anyway, and Marijus' father was an officer in Napoleon's army, so he was kept away from him.
Mr. Gilles Normand was bitter that his daughter would marry a Napoleonic soldier.
So when his daughter died, Marijus' father forbade her to see him.
Marijus was also influenced by his grandfather at first, but he suddenly learns that his father does not come to see him because he loves him.
He is upset to learn that this is not what he had been told by his grandfather.
From there, he fell out with his grandfather and became fascinated with Napoleon himself.
The conflict became so critical that Marijus left home and continued to study law while living in poverty.
From here the wheels of destiny are set in motion as he encounters Parisian youth activists and meets Jean Valjean and Cosette, even though he does not yet know who they are.
The third volume of "Les Miserables" is a volume with little narrative movement itself.
However, the indispensable background for the grand finale of Volumes IV and V is described here.
Thoughts - From a Dostoevskyian Perspective
In this volume, the young man Mariyus' upbringing and his character will be depicted over the course of almost an entire book.
As usual, this volume begins with a story about a vagrant child in Paris, followed by a series of stories seemingly unrelated to the story.
But if you have read this far, you will no longer be surprised by this development. This is a story that will come into its own later on.
Now, Marijus is the son of an officer in Napoleon's army.
However, due to his Napoleon-hating grandfather, he never met his father, and in fact, he even hated him for abandoning him.
However, he suddenly learns that his father, out of love for him, has stepped aside and watched over him from afar.
We also learn that he was a fine soldier and that he fought bravely in the battle of Waterloo.
This is where the Battle of Waterloo, discussed at length at the beginning of Volume II, comes into play. Hugo did not linger on that story for nothing.
This is where the Waterloo story leads to Marijus, and even more later to Thénardier. Hugo's foreshadowing, you must be afraid of it.
Now, in the musical version of the film, the story of who Marijus is and how he meets and falls in love with Cosette is cut quite short due to time constraints.
In the movie, they run into each other by chance, fall in love at first sight, and soon meet again and begin to fall in love, but in the original story, the love is surprisingly platonic and never develops.
As mentioned in the synopsis, a father and daughter are always present on Mariyus' walk. Mariyus is fascinated by the daughter and looks forward to that daily walk, and does his best to watch her from afar.
And in the end, we do not even get to know her name in this third volume, and we have to wait until page 190 of the fourth volume for Mariyus to learn her name and for their love to be fulfilled.
A love that is fulfilled in about 10 minutes in a movie, and a love that is described in so many words that it takes more than a whole book and days to read.
Of course I understand the excellence of the film version, but I am still more inclined to give the original version the edge.
Keep digging and digging and digging about one person.
This is the advantage of a full-length novel, which gives us a thorough insight into the character's mind and his or her background.
This may have the disadvantage of slowing down the development of the story itself and preventing the story from progressing, but the effect of this is always apparent if you read the book.
As we continue to delve into a character at length, the reader becomes keenly aware of who each character is and what background they are living under in their respective circumstances.
In other words, you will be more deeply immersed in the world of the story.
That is why each character comes alive more like a real person. It is a world of fiction, but it feels as if it is real.
It was Hugo who was by far the most skillful at this, and "Les Miserables" is probably his masterpiece.
The third volume ends with a hand-to-hand confrontation between the Thénardier family, Jean Valjean, and Javert. This is also not to be missed.
We, the readers, witness the scene through the eyes of Mariyus, who peeks through a hole in the wall to see what happened.
This scene is really great as well. Amazing sense of realism!
One can only tip one's hat to Hugo's ability to describe such a scene using only words.
I could not write my impressions from a "Dostoevskyian perspective" in this article, but I am sure that Dostoevsky read this book with the same enthusiasm as I did.
In his case, he read the book right after it was released and during his first trip to Europe, which must have made it all the more moving and enthusiastic.
The above is a synopsis of "Les Miserables ㈢ Part III: Marijus" - the key player in the story, Marijus.
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