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Éponine

Éponine Thénardier (/ˌɛpəˈniːn təˌnɑːrdiˈeɪ/; French: [epɔnin tenaʁdje]), also referred to as the "Jondrette girl", is a fictional character in the 1862 novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.

Éponine

Victor Hugo

"Jondrette girl"

Female

Roman Catholic

French

late 1815

5 June 1832 (1832-06-06) (aged 17)

The character is introduced as a spoiled and pampered child, but appears later in the novel as a ragged and impoverished teenager who speaks in the argot of the Parisian streets, while retaining vestiges of her former charm and innocence. She still loves her brother Gavroche.

In the novel[edit]

Life in Montfermeil[edit]

Éponine is born in 1815, the oldest child of the Thénardiers. As children, Éponine and her younger sister Azelma are described as pretty, well-dressed, and charming. They are pampered and spoiled by their parents, the Thénardiers, who run an inn in Montfermeil, France. In 1818, when Fantine and her illegitimate daughter Cosette come across the inn, Fantine sees Éponine and Azelma playing outside. Cosette joins the two sisters and the three play together. Fantine asks the Thénardiers to take care of Cosette while she goes to look for work in her hometown. The Thénardiers abuse Cosette, dress her in rags and force her to work, while spoiling their daughters and letting them play. Following their parents' example, Éponine and Azelma are unkind to Cosette and treat her like a servant.


During the 1823 Christmas fair, Éponine and Azelma admire a big, beautiful and expensive doll in a shop window. That night, they play with their own doll, while ignoring Cosette. Their doll is "very much faded, and very old and broken". They then cast the doll aside to play with a kitten. Cosette, never having owned or played with a doll, quickly grabs it and attempts not to be noticed with it. After fifteen minutes, Éponine and Azelma discover that Cosette has taken their doll and tell their mother, who yells at Cosette. Jean Valjean, who has witnessed the scene, left the inn and buys the expensive doll. He returns a moment later and gives it to Cosette. For the first time, Éponine and Azelma "looked upon Cosette with envy".

Éponine only appears as a child in the number "Castle on a Cloud", and does not witness Valjean giving Cosette a doll.

Éponine and Marius already know each other before Marius meets Cosette.

Éponine and Marius, in the musical, appear to be best friends, and he is genuinely heartbroken and overcome with grief by her death; while in the novel, Marius does not care much about her, although he is still polite to her in the novel and expresses concern for her as she dies.

Gavroche and Éponine are siblings. This is explicitly stated in the novel but is only hinted at in the musical, when Gavroche expresses grief at her death.

Éponine's younger sister Azelma and their are omitted from the musical.

two youngest brothers

In the novel, it is mentioned that Éponine drinks. The musical omits this.

In the novel, Éponine is missing a few teeth. In the musical they are typically depicted intact.

There is no reference of Marius and the Thénardier family living in apartments, for the musical shows them interacting with each other on the streets.

In the novel, Éponine is described and seen delivering letters, including forgeries from her father to wealthy people, anonymously throwing a note to Valjean, and handing Marius a letter from Cosette. In the musical, Éponine, her parents and Patron-Minette pass on their messages verbally to each other, and the only note-passing that she does is during her interaction with Valjean when he intercepts Marius' letter to Cosette.

In the musical, Éponine, her parents, and Patron-Minette are not arrested after the ambush of Valjean, and the tryst with Montparnasse never happens.

In the musical, Éponine screams to scare away her father and the bandits from robbing Valjean's house. In the novel, she threatens to scream and cause a commotion if they get too close, but they leave without incident. Marius, Cosette and Valjean are unaware that the attempted robbery ever occurred.

In the novel, after Marius discovers that Valjean and Cosette have moved from the Rue Plumet, Éponine anonymously tells Marius that the other students are waiting for him at the barricades, and he goes there. In the musical, during the song "One Day More", Marius is contemplating whether to follow Cosette to England, or fight with the other students. Éponine then grabs Marius by the arm and they both run off. They are both next seen a moment later with and the students.

Enjolras

In the musical Marius sees Éponine dressed as a boy before the insurrection starts, while in the novel he only recognizes her after she is shot. The 2012 film adaptation however followed the novel more closely with Marius only recognising her after she is shot.

In the musical, Éponine, dressed as a boy, is sent by Marius to deliver a letter to Cosette. In the novel, Gavroche is sent to deliver it after Éponine's death. Notably though, the musical's 2012 film adaptation instead followed the novel and had Gavroche deliver the letter while Valjean warns him to stay away from danger.

In the original stage show, Éponine is fatally shot as she returns to the barricades. In the novel, she and Marius are already at the barricades, and she blocks a soldier's shot meant for Marius. However, in the musical's 2012 film adaptation and in the 2014 Broadway revival, Éponine is injured in the same manner as the book.

At the time of her death in the musical, no speculation is made at first how and where Éponine is injured. When she collapses, Marius notices her hair is damp and opens her coat to reveal that she has been shot in the chest. In the novel, she was shot through her hand first, and the bullet came out through her back. The latter version was used in the .

2012 film adaption

In the novel, Éponine asks Marius to kiss her forehead after she dies, and he does so. In the musical, she pulls herself up and kisses him with the last of her strength, then falls back and dies. In the , she pulls herself up to attempt to kiss him but dies before she can.

2006 revival

In the song "Night of Anguish", Enjolras announces Éponine was the first to die. The students mourn her death, resolve to fight in her name, and take her body away. In the novel, Mabeuf was the first to die and is mourned, and only Marius is with Éponine during and after her own death.

In the stage musical (but not the 2012 film), the spirit of Éponine appears with Fantine to take Valjean to heaven. The novel has no similar scene.

at the Internet Broadway Database

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