Enjolras

This article is about the Les Misérables character. For the French racing driver, see Sébastien Enjolras.

Enjolras (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃ʒolʁa]) is the charismatic leader of the Friends of the ABC in the 1862 novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.

Enjolras in the novel

The Friends of the ABC

Enjolras is the leader of Les Amis de l'ABC (The Friends of the ABC), a group of students dedicated to making political changes in France. Enjolras devoutly believes in democratic freedom, which leads him into an argument with the Bonapartist Marius Pontmercy. Enjolras is a firm believer in democracy and equality. He declares "Patria" or "fatherland" as his mistress. This makes him the opposite of the character Grantaire who is cynical and believes in nothing. Despite the differences in their characters, Grantaire looks up to Enjolras and often refers to him as a Greek god.

June 5, 1832

During the funeral of General Lamarque, a popular defender of the people, the monarchy dispatches troops to keep the peace. As shots are fired, Enjolras and the rest of the Friends of the ABC spring up and build a barricade outside of a wine shop in the rue Mondetour. They build the barricade out of common items, arm themselves and prepare for the coming fight. Gavroche points out that Javert, posing as a revolutionary, is actually a spy for the army. The men take Javert prisoner. After a drunken revolutionary shoots an innocent, Enjolras promptly executes him.

The students mourn the death of Mabeuf and plan what to do with Javert. They decide to keep him as a hostage. Enjolras sends five men away from the barricade, realizing that those at the barricade will die. Valjean arrives at the barricade. Enjolras orders Javert's execution; Valjean leads Javert away, and sets him free instead.

Death

The barricades fall and as the army presses onwards, Enjolras retreats into the wine shop. He alone is left untouched by bullets and wounds. Grantaire, awakening from his drunken stupor, asks to be shot with Enjolras. The soldiers execute both of them. Enjolras is pierced by eight bullets.

Enjolras in the musical

Enjolras is in the stage musical of the same name. His role is relatively unchanged.

Similarities and differences from the novel

In the musical, Enjolras remains the leader of the Friends of the ABC and the revolutionary students. He also already appears to be close, or best friends with Marius Pontmercy, while in the novel they were in a heavy argument because of their political differences. While he does not have a personal feud against Marius, he does slightly scorn him for letting his romantic life get in the way of the revolution, but usually treats him like he would any other student and is almost a big brother figure to him.

After news of General Lamarque's death, he rouses the revolutionaries and declares that now is the time to strike. The students build a barricade in the street. During the first attack, Enjolras is nearly killed by a sniper who is in turn killed by Valjean, saving Enjolras' life. To thank Valjean, Enjolras allows him to the privilege of executing the police spy, Inspector Javert, but Valjean lets the inspector go free, as in the novel. In the end, Enjolras is not executed by soldiers, but is shot at the barricade while waving a red flag as his symbol of revolution. This actually happened to Monsieur Mabeuf in the novel, but this was changed to make the barricade plot easier to follow.

At no point in the libretto of the play is Enjolras' name mentioned (possibly due to difficulty in pronouncing it). On the Complete Symphonic Recording, however, it is shouted at the beginning of the song "Red and Black", though it is slightly mispronounced: the J is pronounced in the English way, instead of the French way. In the Paris Revival Cast Recording (1991), his name is also heard at the beginning of "Le Café Des Amis De L'ABC". It is also heard at the beginning of "Red and Black" in the 25th Anniversary concert.

Songs

Enjolras is featured in the following songs in the musical:

• Look Down (called Donnez, Donnez in the original French)
• ABC Café/Red and Black (called Rouge et Noir in the original French)
• Do You Hear The People Sing? (called A La Volonté du Peuple in the original French)
• One Day More (called Demain in the original French)
• At the Barricade (Upon These Stones) (called La Première Attaque in the original French)
• Building the Barricade (called Rouge et Noir in the original French)
• Javert's Arrival
• Little People
• Night of Anguish (called L'Aube Du 6 Juin in the original French)
• Dawn of Anguish
• The Second Attack (Death of Gavroche) (called La Mort De Gavroche in the original French)
• The Final Battle
• Finale (called Epilogue: La Lumière in the original French)

Adaptations

Musical

• Michel Sardou, Original French Concept Album
• Christian Rattelin, Original French Musical
• David Burt, Original London Cast 1985
• Michael Cantwell, London 1985
• Michael Maguire, Original Broadway Cast 1987 and 10th Anniversary Concert
• Anthony Warlow, Original Australian Cast 1987 and 1988 Complete Symphonic Recording
• Joseph Kolinski, 1988 and 1990 Broadway Production
• Alexander Diepold, 1988 Original Austrian Cast Vienna
• Todd Waite, 1989 Original Canadian Cast
• Joe Locarro, 1990 Broadway Replacement Cast
• Danny de Munck, 1991 Original Dutch Production
• Julien Combey, 1991 Paris Revival
• Enrique R. del Portal, 1992-1994 Madrid Production
• Joe Mahowald, 1992 Broadway Production
• Lawrence Anderson, 1992 Broadway Production
• Tomáš Trapl, 1993 Original Praha Cast
• Ron Bohmer, 1994 Broadway Replacement Cast
• Gary Mauer, 1996 and 1999 Broadway Production
• Martin Berger, 1996 Original German Cast
• Robert Aaron Tesoro, 1996 Broadway Replacement Cast
• Brian Herriott, 1997 Broadway Production
• Paul Avedesian, 1997 Broadway Replacement Cast
• Stephen R. Buntrock, 1997 and 1999 Broadway Replacement Cast
• Christopher Mark Peterson, 1999, 2002 and 2003 Broadway Production
• Ben Davis, Broadway Production
• David Gagnon, 2002 Broadway Production
• Dean Collinson, 2003-2004 Danish Tour Cast
• Aaron Lazar, Broadway Revival 2006
• Max von Essen, 2006 Broadway Revival
• Freek Bartels, 2008 Dutch Production
• Kevin Houle, 2008-2010 Quebec City Production
• Tom Lowe, Hollywood Bowl Concert 2008
• John Martin Bengtsson, 2009 Det Ny Teater Production
• David Thaxton, 2008-2010 London Production
• Killian Donnelly, 2010-2011 London Production
• Ramin Karimloo, 25th Anniversary Concert and 2010 London Production
• Jon Robyns, 25th Anniversary UK Tour
• Jeremy Hays, 25th Anniversary US Tour
• Daniel Diges, 2010 Madrid Revival

Film and television

• Jean Angelo, 1913 adaptation
• Paul Guidé, 1925 adaptation
• Robert Vidalin, 1934 adaptation
• John Carradine, 1935 adaptation
• Ugo Sasso, 1948 adaptation
• Serge Reggiani, 1958 adaptation
• Claudio Sora, 1964 adaptation
• Jean-Luc Boutté, 1972 adaptation
• Héctor Bonilla, 1973 adaptation
• Timothy Morand, 1978 adaptation
• Hervé Furic, 1982 adaptation (as Hervé Fulric)
• Michael Maguire, 1995 concert
• Lennie James, 1998 adaptation
• Steffen Wink, 2000 adaptation
• Ramin Karimloo, Les Misérables 25th Anniversary 2010
• Aaron Tveit, 2012 adaptation

External links

• Enjolras at the Internet Movie Database
• Search for Enjolras at the Internet Broadway Database
• Enjolras at broadwaylesmis.com