Fantine
Fantine | |
---|---|
Félix Tholomyès | |
Children | Cosette (daughter) |
Relatives | Marius Pontmercy (son-in-law) |
Nationality | French |
Fantine (French pronunciation:
She was first played in the musical by Rose Laurens in France, and when the musical came to England, Patti LuPone played Fantine in the West End. Fantine has since been played by numerous actresses.
Fantine became an archetype of
In the novel
Description
Hugo introduces Fantine as one of four fair girls attached to young, wealthy students. "She was called Fantine because she had never been known by any other name..." She is described as having, "gold and pearls for her dowry; but the gold was on her head and the pearls in her mouth." Hugo elaborates: "Fantine was fair, without being too conscious of it. She was fair in the two ways—style and rhythm. Style is the form of the ideal, rhythm is its movement."[1]
Tholomyès and Cosette
Fantine is passionately in love with
The Thénardiers
By the time Cosette is approximately three, Fantine arrives at Montfermeil and meets the Thénardiers who are owners of an inn. She asks them to care for Cosette when she sees their daughters Éponine and Azelma playing outside. They agree to do so as long as she sends them money to provide for her. Fantine's only will to live is keeping Cosette alive. She becomes a worker in Mayor Madeleine's (a.k.a. Jean Valjean's) factory in her hometown of Montreuil-sur-Mer, and has a public letter-writer compose her letters to the Thénardiers for her because she is illiterate. However, she is unaware that the Thénardiers severely abuse Cosette and have forced her to be a slave for their inn. She is also unaware that the letters they send to her requesting financial help for Cosette are their own fraudulent way to extort money from her for themselves.
Loss of work
Fantine is fired by a meddlesome supervisor, Madame Victurnien, without the knowledge of the mayor, when she finds out that Fantine is an
The Thénardiers then send a letter stating they need ten francs so they can "buy" a woolen skirt for Cosette. To buy the skirt herself, Fantine has her hair cut off and sold. She then says to herself "My child is no longer cold, I have clothed her with my hair." However, she soon begins to despise the mayor for her misfortunes. She later takes on a lover, only for him to beat her and then abandon her. The Thénardiers send another letter saying they need forty francs to buy medicine for Cosette who has become "ill." Desperate for the money, Fantine has her two front teeth removed and sells them.
Prostitution
Meanwhile, Fantine's health and her own lodging debts worsen while the Thénardiers' letters continue to grow and their financial demands become more costly. In order to continue to earn money for Cosette, Fantine becomes a
Death
After Valjean reveals his true identity at
Character
Fantine has been interpreted as a holy prostitute figure who becomes a quintessential mother by sacrificing her own body and dignity for the purpose of securing the life of her child. She is an example of what has been called "the cliché of the saved and saintly prostitute that pervades nineteenth-century fiction",
John Andrew Frey argues that the character has a political significance. Fantine is "an example of how women of the proletariat were brutalized in nineteenth-century France...Fantine represents Hugo's deep compassion for human suffering, especially for women born into low estate".[5] Mario Vargas Llosa takes a less positive view, arguing that Hugo in effect punishes Fantine for her sexual transgression by making her suffer so horribly. "What disasters follow from a sin of the flesh! On the matter of sex, the morality of Les Misérables melds perfectly with the most intolerant and puritanical interpretation of Catholic morality."[6]
Fantine's image as a saint-like symbol of female victimhood appears in the writings of the union leader Eugene V. Debs, founder of the Industrial Workers of the World. In 1916 he wrote the essay Fantine in our Day, in which he compared the sufferings of Fantine to abandoned women of his own day:
The very name of Fantine, the gay, guileless, trusting girl, the innocent, betrayed, self-immolating young mother, the despoiled, bedraggled, hunted and holy martyr to motherhood, to the infinite love of her child, touches to tears and haunts the memory like a melancholy dream....Fantine—child of poverty and starvation—the ruined girl, the abandoned mother, the hounded prostitute, remained to the very hour of her tragic death chaste as a virgin, spotless as a saint in the holy sanctuary of her own pure and undefiled soul. The brief, bitter, blasted life of Fantine epitomizes the ghastly story of the persecuted, perishing Fantines of modern society in every land in Christendom.[7]
In the musical
In the stage musical of the same name, Fantine is one of the central characters. Hers is considered an alto or mezzo-soprano role.
Differences in the musical
- Fantine's relationship with Cosette's father lasts a matter of months ("He slept a summer by my side...He filled my days with endless wonder...He took my childhood in his stride...But he was gone when autumn came"). In the novel, they are together for three years, and Cosette is already two years old when Fantine is abandoned.
- Rather than being fired by a female supervisor for being an unwed mother, a fellow female worker steals her letter from the Thénardiers claiming another need for money; the worker presumes that she is a prostitute to cover her debts with the low wages. Valjean sees this, but leaves this to his foreman; the foreman, his advances having been rejected by Fantine, fires her.
- Fantine is not illiterate and does not sell her teeth, but she does sell two of her back teeth in the film adaptation of the musical, as in the novel.
- Bamatabois wants to buy Fantine's services and is angered when she rejects his advances. In the novel, he is a young layabout who humiliates her by putting snow down her dress as if she is an object of fun. In the film adaptation, he appears as a mix between the two, seeking to buy her services and then putting snow down her dress after she refuses.
- Fantine dies peacefully in hospital with Valjean at her side after entrusting him with Cosette. Javert never reveals Valjean's true identity to her, as he arrives after her death.
- Fantine appears as a ghost to accompany Valjean to Heaven. In the novel, by contrast, Valjean describes her to Cosette on his deathbed.
Adaptations
Since the original publication of Les Misérables in 1862, the character of Fantine has been in a large number of adaptations in numerous types of media based on the novel, including books, films,[8] musicals, plays, and games. Anne Hathaway won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for portraying Fantine in the 2012 film adaptation of Les Misérables.
References
- ISBN 978-0451419439.
- ISBN 978-0313229435.
- ^ Wilde, Oscar (1905). "The Critic as Artist". Intentions: The Decay of Lying, Pen, Pencil and Poison, the Critic as Artist, the Truth of Masks. New York City: Brentano']. p. 167.
- ISBN 978-0809318896.
- ISBN 978-0313298967.
- ISBN 978-0691131115.
- ASIN B007T2MF0U.
- Internet Movie Database
External links
- Les Misérables at Project Gutenberg – English translation.
- Search for Fantine at the Internet Broadway Database