1. Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables
An Introduction

2. The History
France, 1700’s- Commoners resented the privileges of nobles and clergy.
1789- The Bastille was stormed starting the French Revolution.
Declaration of the Rights of Man

3. 1848- Revolution installs Louis Napoleon as President.
1799- Napoleon Bonaparte entered Paris. He was crowned First Consul ending the revolution.
1804- Emperor Napoleon I crowned.
1848- Revolution installs Louis Napoleon as President.

4. 1851- Louis Napoleon declared emperor Napoleon III.
1871- Napoleon III exiled by Germans in Franco-Prussian War.
End of monarchy in France

5. The Author 2/26/1802- Victor Hugo was born.
Father was a general in Napoleon's army.
1821- His mother dies. Hugo refuses his father’s $ and lives in poverty.

6. 1830- Hugo’s play Hernani makes him wealthy and divides the public.
Following the Revolution of 1848, Hugo is elected deputy to the Constitutional Assembly.
1851- Louis Napoleon reestablished the empire. Hugo opposed it and fled to Brussells.

7. 1862- Les Miserables was published
1862- Les Miserables was published. It was a hit with the public and banned by the French government.
1870- The empire fell and Hugo returned triumphantly to France.

8. 1885- Hugo died. Three million mourners attended his funeral.

9. Themes Love Redemption Legal vs. Moral Justice Social Injustice
Destiny
Power of Religion