24601

[Talissa]

Does the inclusion of the brand on Valjean's chest in the musical version of Les Mis ever strike anyone as messy? There was no brand in the book, but I can understand why they added it to the musical, so that they could make the prologue run more smoothly. However, it does raise the very interesting coincidence of the Valjean look-alike who just happened to have a brand saying '24601' on his chest, thus proving that he was Valjean (which of course, wasn't true). Wouldn't it make more sense to have a more general brand, or perhaps scarring from shackles or chains? Has anyone else ever thought of other ways to deal with this?

~Julia

[Tinechorwen]

This is probably a crime punishable by death, but I haven't actually read Les Miserables. I do intend to though, don't worry.

And it seems a bit illogical to give a prisoner a number that has been used to tag a criminal that is on the run and is being hunted.

Unless of course Javert picked some random guy off the street and said he was Valjean to lure the real Valjean into doing the right thing. After all, a man as obsessed as Javert to completely mistake Valjean's identity and to have the same number on him isn't likely/possible.

But does Javert actually believe he's caught the real Jean Valjean in the book. The number part of the story is good for the musical, makes Valjean and Javert relationship more meaningful, but it's very confusing....you've confused me Julia.

Kelly.

[Talissa]

Don't worry, I understand. Les Mis is a book that requires quite a bit of time put aside if you actually want to get through it.

They didn't actually give the prisoner Valjean's number. They just caught him, and he happened to have that number branded on his chest, which is ridiculous.

Javert doesn't believe Valjean's capable of doing good, remember. His world is black and white. He believes men can be either good or evil, and cannot change from one to the other. So he wouldn't bother trying to use guilt to catch a criminal, especially not one like 24601.

Yes, Javert believes the prisoner is Valjean. In the book, after the cart crash, Javert sent a message to his superiors (he wasn't as highly-ranked at this point), accusing Monsieur Madeliene of being the escaped convict Jean Valjean. He received a reply which was basically laughing at him, because they'd just caught a man who they believed was Valjean because he looked very similar to him and had a name which was very close. So Javert went up to see the prisoner, and decided that yes, it was Valjean.

Does that make sense? Sorry for confusing you, Kelly

~Julia

[Tinechorwen]

Talissa said:

Javert doesn't believe Valjean's capable of doing good, remember. His world is black and white. He believes men can be either good or evil, and cannot change from one to the other. So he wouldn't bother trying to use guilt to catch a criminal, especially not one like 24601.

Thanks for that...yes, now I totally agree, that is completely strange. Is this discussed commonly? It's not exactly like it's a small error, I always assumed Javert was trying to trick Jean Valjean basically because I couldn't see any other logical explanation.

Kelly - Who is still a little confused as to how they couldn't see such a glaring error!

[Talissa]

I'm not sure how many people actually think about it. I know our Marius has, and is irritated by it. We had a bit of a chat about that.

There's one lady in my cast who suggests that they haven't looked at the chest of the prisoner yet, so Javert's saying that if they need to, they can check. However, she misquoted the line as "And if there's any doubt, there's the brand across his chest", which would allow that possibility. I'm fairly certain, though, that the actual line is "And to make the matter certain, there's the brand across his chest..."

~Julia