A survey of social classes : a study of Hugo’s Les Misérables and Disraeli’s Sybil.

Abstract

Set between 1798 and 1848, Les Misérables and Sybil recount the narratives of typical French and English characters of that time, influenced by the significant historical moments that occurred in France and England respectively during this period, even though neither is labeled a purely historical novel. Both authors tackle, behind the dominating love stories between the two main characters in both novels, the socio-political conditions of the two countries while implementing their own political points of view within the story lines through main and secondary characters. Common themes reign over the two stories such as love, social classes, politics and the effects of the French revolution. Despite the 17-year gap, the novels can be studied in parallel in regard to how France and England’s situations were influenced by the French revolution at that period in history. This project, through a close reading of the political aspect, love stories, characters and themes, aims to bring to light differences and similarities between the novels. This comparison, as this thesis will infer, strongly argues that Hugo’s novel functions in a more progressive way than that of Disraeli. This project focuses on analyzing the gulf between the conditions of the working class as opposed to that of the aristocracy and bourgeois factory owners since this division between the classes reflects the “troubles” between the different social classes and the monarchies that resided behind the success of the two thriving countries. I specifically pay close attention to the theme of politics in both novels through a close reading of the representation of classes that both authors use by focusing on how the novels address the theme of history and the way they deal with the sociopolitical conflict through the representation of social classes. In both novels, the representation of the sociopolitical conflict and the social classes at both ends of this conflict is overloaded due to the novelistic genre and literary ele