Les Misérables: The Bishop

"Monseigneur, monseigneur! Does your Grace know where the basket of silver is?"

"Yes. Here it is."

"Well! Nothing in it! And the silver?"

"Ah, so it is the silver which troubles you? I don't know where it is."

Summary

    Victor Hugo spends the first forty pages of Les Misérables saying just how good the Bishop of D------ is, and I think it's because he wanted to emphasize how good humanity can be before showing how horrible it is.

    The Bishop, like any man, has his story. As one of the higher-up priests of theocratic Europe, he had his own part to play in the French Revolution of 1792. A man of mercy yet also a man of peace and love, he reluctantly stood behind the Revolutionaries, and, with much grimace, voted for the execution of King Louis XVI. And, much to the Bishop's discontent, he had to attend the execution. He arrived, and felt the chill of the guillotine upon sight. Victor Hugo paints the guillotine not as the executioner's weapon, but as the executioner itself. To the Bishop, the guillotine was a monster that thirsted for blood and craved the attention of the masses. It stood tall and proud as a killer, and the people cheered it on with each victim. It's a truly horrifying thing, and I deeply apologize that I do not have the literary capacity to illustrate such horror. 

    After experiencing petrifying secondhand agony during the first revolution, the Bishop exiles himself to the mountainside town of D------, to try and cleanse himself of darkness with some fresh air. When he arrives, the people welcome him with open arms and put him in the biggest house in the town. He reluctantly accepts; he is thankful and appreciative of their patronage, but would much rather be put into a home that would bring him closer to the poor. While doing his rounds, the Bishop comes across the town's hospital, and is confused as to why they have a hundred or more people in a building that fits maybe twenty at most when he himself lives in a house that could fit two hundred or more, but is only occupied by three. He then moved into the hospital with his sister, his maid, and only the most necessary things to live (with the exception of some silver cutlery, for his sister refused to let her brother live in absolute poverty when he deserved to have so much more), and quickly gained the reputation of a saint without having any ambition to have a reputation at all. 

    The most important thing to understand about the Bishop of D------- is that he is a pure and absolute good; Hugo states that in his sleep, the Bishop sleeps with a smile of contentment on his face, and he visibly radiates with goodness. Now, enter Jean Valjean, the man who, after forty or so years of being treated without any kindness, has become a man of darkness who has come to hate the world. He knocks at the door that is never locked, and the Bishop, without even asking who's there, says, "Come in." Jean Valjean bursts in in a fit of frustration, and tells (or rather, yells) his entire story right there at the Bishop's doorstep. The two women are horrified, for they knew who it was the second the door was flung open. The Bishop, however, maintains his air of civility, hears Jean Valjean's story, and invites him in for supper, which his sister has just nearly finished. Over dinner the Bishop learns as much about Jean Valjean's story as possbile, all the while calling him "sir" and "friend" and even "brother," to which he is astounded that anyone, let alone a stranger, would treat him, the lowly hateful criminal, with such kindness and respect. The Bishop knows how exhausted Jean Valjean must be after such a hard day, so he gives him the guest bed. After nineteen years in prison, Jean Valjean sleeps on a real bed for the first time.
    Jean Valjean awakes after a few hours of sleep, since the galleys taught him to get a lot out of a few hours of sleep. He recalls the silver which he ate supper with; he thinks to himself, "I deserve that silver," and rightly so. His nineteen years of virtual slavery earned him about $100, then they took off $20 for trying to escape four times, and another $20 as a parole fee. Since they stole nearly half of his potential earnings as well as half of his life for trying to feel his family, Jean Valjean feels cheated by the world. So, to try and get back what was stolen from him, he decides to steal the silver. He gets up out of bed, meditates on his decision, then, before going to the kitchen to take the silver, he goes into the Bishop's room. Jean Valjean finds a literally glowing man sleeping with a content smile in the Bishop's bed. Jean Valjean approaches the Bishop, and stares at him for a second. This is the moment where Jean Valjean begins to split in two: he is either good or evil, with no in between. He looks at the Bishop, and is faced with a choice: spare him, or break his trust and kill an innocent man. Jean Valjean feels hatred, possibly jealousy of the Bishop's ability to be kind, for he doesn't know how it feels to feel righteous. Jean Valjean decides to spare the Bishop; he leaves the room, takes the silver, and flees into the night.
    The next morning, the Bishop's sister discovers that the silver has been stolen, but the Bishop is quick to console her, saying that they never really needed the silver in the first place, and that it had always belonged to the poor. Suddenly, two guards arrive carrying Jean Valjean with them. They claim that he stole the silver, but without hesitation, the Bishop gives him the candlesticks too, saying he forgot the best ones. Disgruntled that they weren't able to arrest Jean Valjean, the two guards leave the Bishop's house. Immediately after the Bishop looks him in the eyes and tells him in a stern voice that little to no one has ever heard: "Do not forget that you promised to use this money to do good." Scared of the light of the Bishop, Jean Valjean takes the silver and the candlesticks and escapes from that blinding place without looking back.

Analysis

    The Bishop of D------'s past illustrates the fact that all lights are not necessarily pure; take for example, the first French Revolution,  whose infinite tentacles engulfed anyone who was unfortunate enough to be near it. Certainly the Bishop's choice to vote for the execution of the king was not an easy one: a man of supreme good electing for a supreme evil. However the Bishop decided not to let that choice haunt him, but let it motivate him. He went out to the wilds of France, and traveled from town to town preaching the good Word.

     I think, though, the most interesting thing to think about when it comes to the Bishop is the effect a pure light can have on any given thing. Now, keep in mind, the Bishop has no ambition to move higher up the papal hierarchy; he only wishes to improve the lives of those who wouldn't have a chance otherwise. So, he does everything for others and nothing for himself. For the wealthy, a pure light brings interest and respect; they are curious about what it is and if they can use it as a stepping stone. For the poor, a pure light brings salvation; they cling to it with everything they have because it's the only good thing they've seen in many years, probably. However criminals, like Jean Valjean, can hardly even recognize it because they've only been shown darkness for so long, if not their whole lives. They are often baffled that anyone would be fair to them, and question what they're doing, if only for just a moment. Jean Valjean had just enough of a moral standing remaining after his prison sentence so that he had the potential to rebuild himself in the Bishop's image.

<<< Previous (On Parole)                                                                            Next (Valjean's Soliloquy) >>>

Thanks for reading,
                       Nick