A Character Analysis of Hugo's Javert, from Les Miserables

Character Analysis of Hugo's Javert Hugo's character Javert sees anyone who may have commit a crime as simple as the theft of a loaf of bread as a social malefactor, a blight on all of society, a prime evil who needs to be eliminated, removed from the general population, and a devil that can be neither reformed nor tamed. Javert is the true rationalist. Like Medieval philosophers, he believes that people will naturally resort to …

…be assimilated into his surroundings, so he can once again do evil. Valjean is only a wolf, attempting to wear a sheep's skin. His beliefs lead him to be so close minded that he is unable to deal with the fact that the law might be wrong. His mind is his own gallows, because he believes in the supreme power of the law. His rationalist beliefs are his noose, the ultimate cause of his death.