Put Victor Frankenstein, Henry Jekyll And Dorian Gray In A Room Together, Who Comes Out Crying First

put victor frankenstein, henry jekyll and dorian gray in a room together, who comes out crying first

To be honest, I kind of like that Valjean isn't that mentioned in the concept album, not because I don't like him (Actually I love him, he's my favorite character). Just because it’s closer to the book that way. Because Valjean is mentioned in the book but we usually see the stories of other characters more often that his history from his own perspective.

Reasons to love the Original Concept Album

Fantine gets a song about misery that basically summarizes the political views of the book.

Gavroche has two full songs and multiple cameos!

Fantine is angry.

Gavroche is overtly political. Actually, everyone is more political.

Rose Laurens and Michel Sardou (my beloved).

Disco Enjolras!

The less talked-of Rock Javert.

"Master of the House" has much better puns.

Seriously, the lyrics of this album fuck severely.

Gavroche's death songggg. :((

It uses the lyrics of the songs from the book verbatim.

Marius is destitute.

No weird religious undertones.

Reasons to maybe not like the Original Concept Album as much

If you don't know the story already you're going to be lossssst.

Jean Valjean? Who? Oh, you mean the guy who gets mentioned a couple of times in passing?

Cosette calls both Valjean and Marius "my prince". Gross.

The Amis don't even get a death mention...

Marius and his grandfather make up.

Enjolras calls Marius "my best friend" (???).

Requirements to be a REAL Enjolras fan:

be Grantaire

see above

He didn't like enjolras

And I was grantaire

He didn't like France

And I was Enjolras

(I know this wasn't the original idea of ​​the post but I couldn't hold myself)

X

Jean Valjean, inspired by this line from his introduction chapter:

It was, moreover, a firm, energetic, and melancholy profile. This physiognomy was strangely composed; it began by seeming humble, and ended by seeming severe. The eye shone beneath its lashes like a fire beneath brushwood.

(I'm working on a series of stained glass paintings for Jean Valjean's different names/titles/identities; here's a link to the previous painting in the series)

It’s fascinating how Jean Valjean is constantly associated with imagery of being buried alive.

His literal near-burial in the coffin outside Petit-Picpus is the most obvious example of that. But it’s in the sewers chapters as well— he has to face the horror of nearly drowning and being buried alive deep underground in the filth beneath the city.

And that imagery a running motif throughout his entire storyline. His imprisonment is constantly compared to as a burial, a living death; being in prison is like being trapped and drowned underneath an enormous weight, unable to move, unable to escape, with everyone around you refusing to acknowledge you are still a living human being.

In his dream before the Champmatheiu trial, Jean Valjean had a nightmare where he’s surrounded by a faceless crowd of indifferent people, who tell him:

‘Do you not know that you have been dead this long time?’

I opened my mouth to reply, and I perceived that there was no one near me.

The core horror of Jean Valjean’s plotline is the horror of being buried alive. It’s the horror of being constantly told that he is dead when he’s still living and suffering and desperately struggling to escape—- but suffering alone while he’s buried in a place so deep that no one can hear him.