The Character Of Eponine In Victor Hugo's Les Miserables

Eponine showed the readers how alone she was while fighting the battle of changing her destiny. Somehow she does not escape the reality of being neglected even after all the good she did throughout the story Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. The characters of the story were unwilling to look beyond her stereotype and the reputation her family pressed on her. It is evident, in both the musical movie and the novel, that Eponine Thenardier is the most resilient and sacrificial character, while also being the most overlooked. Victor Hugo uses symbolic light references like shadows to emphasize how overlooked and misjudged Eponine tends to be throughout the novel. At first it seems that Eponine is following in her parent’s path, as she is a spy for her father, but in reality she is just a “Rose in Misery” (Hugo 172). As Eponine enters the room to deliver a letter from her mother to Marius, Hugo uses specific light references to show her presence. He writes that, “the light found its way into the garret was exactly opposite the

Although Eponine may have wanted to keep Cosette’s letter from Marius, she knows this is not right to do and she must deliver the letter to him. However, “He was impatient to read it. The heart of man is thus made; the unfortunate child had hardly closed her eyes when Marius thought to unfold the paper” (Hugo 244). After shielding Marius with her own body and being shot, Eponine is in Marius’ arms dying, expressing her love for him that she never quite could say; and what is Marius doing? Waiting impatiently for “the unfortunate child” to die. It is quite sad that Marius could never open his eyes to Eponine’s love which was right in front of him the entire time. All these selfless acts and it still was not enough, Eponine continued to be the most overlooked character in the