Les Misérables · Chapter
VI: The Battle Begun explained
This chapter describes the burgeoning love between Marius and Cosette, sparked by a mutual glance in the Luxembourg garden.
What happens
This chapter describes the burgeoning love between Marius and Cosette, sparked by a mutual glance in the Luxembourg garden. Cosette, initially unaware of her feelings, begins to notice Marius's beauty and grace, while Marius is consumed by timidity. Their silent admiration grows into a profound, unspoken affection, with Cosette's innocence and ignorance of love intensifying her passion.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Compassion
The chapter focuses on the awakening of love between Marius and Cosette, portrayed as a powerful, transformative force that brings both joy and confusion.
The Human Condition and Fate
The narrative emphasizes destiny's role in bringing the two souls together, comparing their attraction to clouds laden with lightning, suggesting an inevitable, fated union.
Characters to notice
- Cosette
Cosette becomes aware of Marius's attention and begins to feel a confused, profound melancholy as love awakens in her. She is described as beautiful, loving, and coquettish through ignorance.
- Marius Pontmercy
Marius is troubled by his feelings for Cosette, experiencing hesitations, palpitations, and terrors. His glance sets Cosette trembling, and he is described as noble, gentle, simple, and proud.
- Jean Valjean
Jean Valjean accompanies Cosette on their walks to the Luxembourg garden, though he remains unaware of the romantic undercurrents between her and Marius.
Key passages
“The glance has been so much abused in love romances that it has finally fallen into disrepute. One hardly dares to say, nowadays, that two beings fell in love because they looked at each other. That is the way people do fall in love, nevertheless, and the only way.”
Though the idea of love at first sight is often dismissed as cliché, the author insists that a single exchanged glance is the true and only way two people can fall in love.
This passage defends the power of a glance as the authentic origin of love, despite its overuse in romantic literature.
“The first symptom of true love in a young man is timidity; in a young girl it is boldness. This is surprising, and yet nothing is more simple. It is the two sexes tending to approach each other and assuming, each the other’s qualities.”
In early love, a young man is shy while a young girl is daring, as each takes on the other's typical traits to bridge the gap between them.
This observation highlights the reversal of conventional gender roles in the initial stages of romance.
“The whiteness of soul in young girls, which is composed of coldness and gayety, resembles snow. It melts in love, which is its sun.”
A young girl's innocent soul, a mix of reserve and cheerfulness, is like snow that melts under the warmth of love.
This metaphor illustrates how love transforms innocence into passion, using snow and sun as imagery.