Ghost or Guardian Angel: Cosette and Fantine's relationship beyond the grave
For @fantine-week day 6: Ghosts
I want to talk about the two instances within the brick that we hear about the spiritual presence of Fantine after her death. Firstly in 2.3.5, when Cosette is alone in the woods we get this quote:
This took place in the depths of a forest, at night, in winter, far from all human sight; she was a child of eight: no one but God saw that sad thing at the moment.
And her mother, no doubt, alas!
And secondly in 4.5.3, when Valjean has left the Rue Plumet for a couple of days and Cosette is alone in the garden:
Cosette was meditating; an objectless sadness was taking possession of her little by little, that invincible sadness evoked by the evening, and which arises, perhaps, who knows, from the mystery of the tomb which is ajar at that hour.
Perhaps Fantine was within that shadow.
The obvious thing these two scenes have in common is that Fantine's ghost only visits Cosette when she is completely alone. Additionally, they are both preceded by fear on Cosette's part. In 2.3.5, Cosette is terrified of the dark forest and even more terrified of not entering it and being beaten by Mme Thénardier ("In front of her was the spectre of the Thénardier; behind her all the phantoms of the night and of the forest."). In the chapter before 4.5.3, Cosette and Toussaint have been left alone in the Rue Plumet and Cosette is terrified after seeing the shadow of a man stalking the garden (Marius really didn't think that one through).
Fantine appears both times in the evening (in the second case quite literally from within a shadow) and when Cosette is somewhere remotes and isolated. The garden in the Rue Plumet is described as looking like a wilderness and the forest near Montfermeil is quite literally a half hour's walk from the nearest village. Both scenes have classic horror set ups which are then interrupted by the appearance of Fantine. She is positioned as a figure watching Cosette without her knowledge which could be threatening but is softened by the language of "mother". I get the sense of Fantine wanting to intervene in her daughter's lowest moments but being unable to do anything but watch. Which parallels the helplessness that Fantine felt in the latter years of her life.
Where things get interesting is in the aftermath of both of these scenes. Chapter 2.3.5 ends with Valjean finding Cosette in the woods and it is specifically noted that she feels no fear upon meeting this strange man. Similarly, 4.5.3 ends with Cosette finding Marius' letter under the stone in the garden. While she is initially fearful, after reading the letter she is overcome with joy ("Each one of these mysterious lines shone before her eyes and inundated her heart with a strange radiance." 4.5.5). Both Valjean and Marius are characters who love and protect Cosette, Valjean throughout her childhood and Marius into her adult life and beyond the end of the book. We can argue about the sometimes harmful ways this love manifests itself but they inarguably both love her. I don't think is a stretch therefore to conclude that the appearance of both these men in Cosette's life right after the mention of Fantine suggests that Fantine herself is acting as some kind of guardian angel in Cosette's life, sending her people to take care of her in the way she was unable to.
Victor Hugo had strange and complicated religious beliefs that we really don't have time to get into but relevant to this post, he was a practitioner of spiritism and regularly performed seances during his exile in the Channel Islands where he also wrote Les Misérables. According to Graham Robb's biography of Hugo, he used seances to communicate with his deceased daughter Leopoldine (a major inspiration for the character of Cosette and someone I should really write a post about) as well as many deceased authors including William Shakespeare who Hugo claimed denounced the English language and dictated him a new play in French which sounded suspiciously like something Victor Hugo might have written. He also wrote some horny poems to a ghost but we're really getting off track now.
My point is we know Hugo believed in life after death and that it was possible for the living to communicate with loved ones beyond the grave. The idea of love transcending death is a theme in this book, highlighted in Valjean's speech in the second to last chapter in which he says, "Love each other well and always. There is nothing else but that in the world: love for each other." Why wouldn't Fantine's love for Cosette live on in Valjean and Marius? I could talk for a while about the ways in which Valjean is compared to a mother in the text but this post is long enough already. My main point is I am fascinated by the gothic, almost spooky atmospheres in which Fantine's ghost appears and the contrast with the tender loves and affection she seems to bring with her.
