Les Misérables · Chapter
XIII: The Solution of Some Questions Connected with the Municipal Police explained
Javert arrests Fantine for assaulting a citizen, sentencing her to six months in prison.
What happens
Javert arrests Fantine for assaulting a citizen, sentencing her to six months in prison. Fantine pleads for mercy, explaining her desperate need to support her daughter Cosette. Mayor Madeleine intervenes, overrules Javert, and orders Fantine's release, offering to pay her debts and reunite her with Cosette. Fantine faints from the shock of this unexpected kindness.
Themes in this chapter
Justice vs. Law
Javert represents rigid legalism, while Madeleine appeals to a higher moral conscience.
Mercy and Forgiveness
Madeleine shows mercy to Fantine, offering her a chance at a new life despite her crime.
Social Injustice and Poverty
Fantine's desperation and the harsh treatment of the poor highlight systemic injustice.
Characters to notice
- Javert
Arrests Fantine and sentences her to six months in prison, but is overruled by Mayor Madeleine.
- Fantine
Arrested for assaulting a citizen; pleads for mercy for the sake of her daughter Cosette.
- Jean Valjean
As Mayor Madeleine, intervenes to free Fantine, offers to pay her debts and care for her and Cosette.
Key passages
“The highest law is conscience.”
The ultimate authority is one's moral sense, not written statutes.
Madeleine asserts that conscience overrides legal technicalities.
“I will pay your debts, I will send for your child, or you shall go to her. You shall live here, in Paris, or where you please. I undertake the care of your child and yourself.”
I will settle your financial obligations, reunite you with your daughter, and support you both wherever you choose to live.
Madeleine offers Fantine a complete rescue from her plight.