Death of Love at First Sight
Blog post #4
Topic H
May 8, 2015
Lauren Caffarelli
In Les Miserables, Marius and
Cosette’s love for one another is similar to Romeo and Juliet’s in Shakespeare’s
play. Both of their loves are based on
brief periods of knowing one another. Both
couples are in love before knowing their lover’s name. Romeo and Juliet fall in love at first sight
at a party, and Marius and Cosette begin to love one another by just seeing each
other in a park. They both develop feelings
of love before even talking; Marius and Cosette “lived by gazing upon each
other” (254). Their intense attraction
grows before words are spoken.
In addition, neither couple is
given approval of their romantic relationship by their parents. In Romeo and
Juliet, they marry secretly because Juliet knows her father will never
approve of a marriage to a Montague due to family rivalry. Similarly, Cosette’s father, Jean Valjean
does not approve of Marius. In fact, he “detested
this young man” (255). Jean Valjean
loves Cosette exceedingly and does not want anyone coming between them. He views Marius as an enemy because Jean
Valjean knows Marius has the power to gain Cosette’s love. In both novels, the parents feel that they
will lose the love of their treasured child to an unworthy spouse.
Furthermore, Marius promises to
Cosette that if she shall “go away, (he) shall die” (271). He cannot bear the thought of living without her,
so he would rather die. Similarly to
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, when Romeo believes that Juliet is dead,
he decides to take his own life because he thinks it will be less painful then
trying to go on living without Juliet.
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