Thénardiers
Sign in to saveAlso known as Thenardiers, The Thénardiers, Monsieur Thénardier and Madame Thénardier
The Thénardiers, commonly known as ( , ) and , are fictional characters, and the secondary antagonists in Victor Hugo's 1862 novel and in many adaptations of the novel into other media.
Key facts
- Character.name
- Monsieur & Madame Thénardier
- Character.image
- Les Misérables - les Thénardier.jpg
- Character.caption
- The Thénardiers, from the first French-language edition (1862), by Gustave Brion
- Character.portrayer
- Alun Armstrong & Susan Jane TannerLeo Burmester & Jennifer ButtTom Alan Robbins & Victoria ClarkNick Wyman & Betsy JoslynGary Beach & Jenny GallowayChip Zien & Ann HaradaSacha Baron Cohen & Helena Bonham CarterCliff Saunders & Keala SettleMatt Lucas & Katy SecombeAdil Akhtar & Olivia Colman
- Character.creator
- Victor Hugo
- Character.occupation
- Innkeepers, criminals, delinquents, swindlers, thieves.
- Character.nationality
- French
via Wikipedia infobox
~18 min read
Encyclopedic overview
11 sectionsContents
- In the novel
- Part One: Fantine
- Part Two: Cosette
- Part Three: Marius
- Part Four: St. Denis
- Part Five: Jean Valjean
- In the musical
- Songs
- Adaptations
- References
- External links
The Thénardiers, commonly known as ( , ) and , are fictional characters, and the secondary antagonists in Victor Hugo's 1862 novel and in many adaptations of the novel into other media.
They are unscrupulous working-class people who blame society for their sufferings. Early in the novel, they own an inn and cheat their customers. After they lose the inn in bankruptcy, they change their name to and live by begging and petty thievery. They serve, alongside Javert, as one of the two arch-nemeses of the story's protagonist, Jean Valjean. While Javert represents the justice system that would punish Valjean, the Thénardiers represent the lawless subculture of society that would exploit him. The novel portrays them as shameless and abusive figures; some adaptations transform them into buffoonish characters, though sometimes still criminals, to provide comic relief from the generally more serious tone of the story.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Thénardiers” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.