Les Misérables · Chapter
A Double Quartette explained
This chapter introduces four young students—Tholomyès, Listolier, Fameuil, and Blachevelle—and their respective mistresses: Fantine, Dahlia, Zéphine, and Favorite.
What happens
This chapter introduces four young students—Tholomyès, Listolier, Fameuil, and Blachevelle—and their respective mistresses: Fantine, Dahlia, Zéphine, and Favorite. It focuses on Fantine's pure and faithful love for Tholomyès, contrasting her goodness with the more worldly and philosophical attitudes of the other three women. The chapter ends with Tholomyès proposing a surprise outing, which the group eagerly plans.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Compassion
Fantine's first, sole, and faithful love for Tholomyès is contrasted with the more casual attachments of the other women, highlighting the theme of pure love.
Social Injustice and Poverty
Fantine's origins from the 'dregs of the people' and her lack of family name or baptismal name illustrate the social shadow and poverty from which she emerged.
Characters to notice
- Fantine
Introduced as a beautiful blonde, pure and faithful in her love for Tholomyès; she is the only one of the four women not addressed informally by her lover.
- Tholomyès
The witty, aging student leader of the group, with an income of four thousand francs; he proposes a surprise outing for the women.
- Favorite
One of the four mistresses, named for having been in England; she is more experienced and worldly, with a complicated family background.
- Dahlia
A mistress of Listolier, known for her pretty nails and drawn to idleness.
- Zéphine
A mistress of Fameuil, who won him over with her roguish and caressing manner.
- Listolier
One of the four students, from Cahors, who adores Dahlia.
Key passages
“She alone, of all the four, was not called 'thou' by a single one of them.”
Fantine was the only one among the four women who was not addressed informally by her lover.
Emphasizes Fantine's purity and the respectful distance in her relationship with Tholomyès.
“She had gold and pearls for her dowry; but her gold was on her head, and her pearls were in her mouth.”
Fantine's only wealth was her beautiful blonde hair and her fine teeth.
Metaphorically describes Fantine's physical beauty as her only dowry.