“Once a thief, forever a thief.” “A man like you can never change.” “My duty’s to the Law, you have no rights.”
This is the philosophy of Javert, Head of Police, in Paris, 1815. He is one of the main characters in Victor Hugo’s novel and the Broadway musical, Les Miserables. Javert spends the entire play hunting for a convict — Valjean — who broke his parole. At the beginning of the play, a Bishop covers for Valjean’s first crime out of jail, which changes Valjean’s entire worldview. Throughout the play, Valjean offers mercy and forgiveness to different people — a concept which Javert is at a loss to understand. Javert’s steadfastness in his worldview causes him to take his own life after Valjean extends mercy to him. “How can I now allow this man to hold dominion over me? This desperate man whom I have hunted — I should have perished by his hand. It was his right. It was my right to die as well: instead, I live, but live in Hell.” These are the lines Javert sings before he takes his life, showing his confusion and life philosophy clearly.
