1.7.7
This is a chapter I don’t really have much to say about, Valjean comes to Arras and refuses to ask for directions and gets lost, which seems to be an allusion to more of the workings of his mind, his struggle is still ongoing and the two sides of his mind/soul are still at odds.
The trials for infanticide seem to be common as they also get a mention in Champavert, I do feel sorry for the nameless woman, given a life sentence for probably circumstances beyond her control, though Hugo never says anything either in condemnation or support of the woman, but anyway.
Is the public prosecutor being a witty fellow who wrote verse, a criticism of him as a lawyer or just saying that it was very common - the easiest subject to enroll in Paris at that time was law, and I think Hugo also enrolled in law school in his youth, but I may be wrong about this.
I don’t know if courts were usually this crowded, for a simple case, but it does feel once again more like a small town, having nothing better to do than to watch/gossip about another person, especially the misery/fall of the person. Hugo mentions this in these words,
‘It is always intimidating to see these congregations of men clad in all black murmuring in low voices. Rarely do charity or pity result from these talks. What results more often are sentences decided in advance.’
The convicts being put into chains after being sentenced and being made a spectacle in front of a crowd, was also a thing, so this seems to be a part of it as well, the whole process has a very theatrical quality, starting with the sentencing in courts and even before the sentencing. The description of the courtrooms have been given from the start as sinister edifices, where sentences are decided in advance due to gossip and the lawyers’ own biases.
Of course, lest anyone suppose that the courts follow the letter of the law in its strictest variety, they are also amenable to influences from people in power/people who may be rich/powerful. It is no wonder then that an ordinary man can’t get into the court but the mayor of Montreuil sur mer, can have access to the prime seats for the spectacle about to be played out.
