I had a friend in Bakersfield who introduced me to this idea. It has been on my mind ever since. She said that the musical Les Miserables is a perfect example of what happens when you mix grace and the law. With the popularity of the musical high again due to the success of the movie, I thought that I would go with her idea and enlarge upon it a little. Here's a breakdown showing grace/law's effects on some of the main characters: (warning--if you are one of the infinitesimally few who haven't seen the play, there are spoilers. Live with it or better yet, go see the movie and come back. We'll wait. Okay? Hope you enjoyed it. Now, read on.)
The bishop: This is a man ruled by grace. He understands it and he gives it. When the law (Javert) tries to enforce itself against someone who has insulted the bishop's grace by stealing from him after he was given food and lodging for the night, the bishop vanquishes the hold of the law by affirming that he did in fact give the silver. In fact, he further gifts him with expensive candlesticks, freeing him from the hold of the law. When Javert is forced to leave empty handed, the bishop asks him to see this act as evidence of some higher plan, and he states that he has bought ValJean's soul for God. The bishop then leaves ValJean, understanding that he has done his part. ValJean is now forced to deal with the consequences of both his own actions and the bishop's. When he decides that what he must do is change identities and become a totally different man, it seems at first that he threw away the grace offered him, but we come to see that it seeps into his soul and does, in fact, change him into an honest man.
Javert: This man, an officer, is ruled by law. Born in jail, he has never known true freedom. Instead, he has come to understand that the law is all-powerful. Nobody is above it. When he comes up against ValJean, he can't understand the motives behind the man. All he sees is a thief. His unwavering, unquestioning allegiance to the law has blinded him to the grace that he sees before him. Whenever ValJean confronts him after the episode with the priest, there is always a debt to be repaid. When the debt would free an innocent man, ValJean is willing to go back to clear his name. However, when the debt involves saving an innocent young girl, he cannot allow himself to be taken. Each time he leaves, he says that he will return, and each time Javert refuses to believe him. Of course, ValJean does spend a great deal of his time hiding from the law, but it's because "his race is not yet won." Confrontation after confrontation comes, each one with Javert promoting the consequences of the law and ValJean begging for grace because someone in need. The last confrontation, though, is different. Javert is himself given grace. He is given his freedom, and he is told exactly where ValJean will be should he want to come after him. This is too much for Javert. He is shown the same picture that ValJean was shown--grace triumphing over the law--and it undoes him. He cannot find a way to justify the two disparate views, and so he kills himself.
Fontine: A woman taken advantage of by a man, living a life of seeming grace, until the man abandons her and the child. She is thrust into the midst of misery, having to live at the mercy of those around her. She cannot fend for herself and is trapped in a situation that was not her doing. ValJean, the owner of the factory where she works, sees the scuffle and calls on his foreman to "sort this out/...be as patient as you can". Unfortunately, this is another man who has been looking for an excuse to use his position (another example of law--he holds total control over her) to cast her out into the street. She eventually sells everything she has to care for her daughter--finally becoming a prostitute. However, at the end, grace comes to her in the form of ValJean. He hears that he is responsible for her plight and promises to care for her daughter. He then stays with her as she dies, giving the poor woman the consolation of not dying alone.
The Thenardiers: Life lived in total disrespect of the law is not a life of grace; it's a life of licentiousness. The Thenardiers take full advantage of the power given to them. They do everything that they can to "screw (the customers)". The result of their ways is that they are totally ruled by greed. They make Fontine's life a living hell by constantly lying to her, saying her daughter is ill and needs money for medicines. They live a slovenly existence, and they treat their own daughter, Eponine, as an accomplice. Cosette is nothing more than a slave. Again, however, this gives grace a chance to work. They send Cosette to the woods to fetch water, and ValJean finds her there, which gives him a first understanding of the kind of foster parents the innkeeper and his wife are. Later, Eponine acts as an unwilling messenger for this same girl, and later, it is this same Eponine who gives the cries that alerts ValJean to the presence of those who would do him harm. How is grace exhibited? For Eponine, it occurs when Cosette's lover, a man that she has loved without hope, is with her in her final moments. I have always wondered about the Thenardiers. It seems to me strange that nothing is said of the scene that must have come after the barricades fell. The movie shows them hunting for trinkets among the dead. How could they not have come across their own daughter? How did they receive her death? The movie, at least, does not speak of it.
ValJean: I've spoken so much about him, but there's still more to explore. When he was a thief, it was to rescue his sister and her child from starvation. When he was released, he first tried to do an honest day's work, realizing when he was paid that now he was nothing. He could not hope for honest pay, and he was doomed to be forever "nothing more than the dirt beneath their feet." After he encounters the priest, that changes. He sees grace and it sends him into a whirlpool. He's been introduced to grace, and life will never be the same. He changes his identity and lives trying to do good. He is rewarded by being named mayor. He struggles and falls, but always rises again. And he is in a constant struggle with the law--Javert. No matter what, there is always a confrontation. He lives a life on the run, until finally he realizes that he must stay and fight-at the barricades. He fights, and he prays. He saves Javert, unwittingly causing him to commit suicide. He saves his "daughter's" lover, allowing him the freedom to heal and marry Cosette. And after the fullness of time, he dies in the presence of his children, and the priest, Eponine and Fontine sing him to his new home.
I know that this is by no means a thorough examination, but maybe it's given you an idea of what I mean. Interesting, huh?
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