Marius Pontmercy
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| Name | Marius Pontmercy | |
| Sex | Male | |
| Age | 17 | |
| Love Interest | Euphrasie "Cosette" Fauchelevent | |
| Notable Actors | Michael Ball, and David Bryant | |
Marius Pontmercy is a principal character in Victor Hugo's classic novel, and also the popular musical, Les Miserables. He is a rebel student who fights at the barricades with Enjolras and the other rebels. Marius is the only one among the rebel students who does not die at the barricades.
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[edit] The Role of Marius in the Musical
In the musical version of Les Miserables, Marius is a lyric tenor or high lyric baritone, and must sing a high A flat. His most important and well known solo in the show is Empty Chairs at Empty Tables.
Marius meets Jean Valjean's adoptive daughter, Cosette, and falls in love with her. For the first act of the musical version of 'Les Mis', the two are reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet, but by the beginning of the second act, they meet often and in public. This is much to the dismay of the young Eponine, whose secret love for Marius only intensifies as time goes on. Eponine, who is fatally wounded at the barricades, dies in Marius's arms during one of the most poignant numbers in the show, A Little Fall of Rain.
Along with Cosette and the Thenardiers, Marius is the only principal role in Les Miserables who does not die. The play ends as he marries Cosette, and they, along with the spirits of Eponine and Fantine, sit with Valjean as he dies.
[edit] Marius' Relationships With Other Characters in the Musical
[edit] Cosette
Perhaps the most important relationship in the story of Les Miserables is that of Marius and Cosette. Marius and Cosette are the classic lovestruck couple, and after Marius literally runs into her at the barricades, he is bound and determined to find Cosette and confess his love for her. Marius asks Eponine to find Cosette for him. When Eponine takes Marius to Rue Plumet, where Valjean and Cosette live, Cosette, Valjean, Marius, and Eponine sing In My Life. Marius, Cosette, and Eponine then sing A Heart Full of Love. These two songs together are often called The Love Montage. After Marius and Cosette have both confessed their love for one another, Marius must decide if he is willing to follow Cosette and Valjean to Calvary or if he will stay and fight at the barricades. The two sing together during the finale of the first act, One Day More. Although he Marius stays and fights at the barricades, he and Cosette are reunited shortly thereafter. After Marius is injured at the barricades, Valjean brings him to Cosette, and she nurses him back to health. When Marius wonders who saved his life at the barricades, Cosette urges him to remember the life that they will have together. At the end of the play, the two are married.
[edit] Eponine
Eponine is hopelessly in love with Marius and, although he sees her as a friend, he does not love her back. When Marius falls in love with Cosette, Eponine realizes that the two girls grew up together, and remembers how horribly she had treated Cosette. Eponine takes Marius to Cosette and reflects on her feelings for Marius. When Marius asks Eponine to deliver a letter to Cosette before she leaves for Calvary, she does, and returns to the barricades to once again be with Marius. However, in climbing the walls, Eponine is fatally wounded. Eponine dies in Marius' arms, as the two sing A Little Fall of Rain together. In the novel, Eponine covers the end of a gun with her hand in order to save Marius' life and ends up dying.
[edit] Enjolras
Marius and Enjolras are good friends and fellow students. When Marius confesses his love for Cosette to his fellow students, it is Enjolras who reminds him that his love is unimportant, and that they fight for a higher cause.
[edit] Jean Valjean
When Jean Valjean discovers that it is Marius who loves his daughter Cosette, he escapes with him to the sewers. Although Marius is unconscious and badly wounded, Valjean is able to carry him underneath the streets of Paris until they are safe. When Marius is being nursed back to health by Cosette, Valjean confesses to Marius the dark secrets of his past, including how he broke his parole. Marius promises that, for her own sake, Cosette must never know. Valjean runs away, with no intention of ever seeing Cosette or Marius again. However, before Valjean dies, the two rush to his side to be with him. Marius discovers that Valjean was in fact the one who saved him when he was injured at the barricades, and thanks him. Marius and Cosette (as well as the spirits of Fantine and Eponine, who Marius and Cosette cannot see) sit with Valjean as he dies.
[edit] Thénardier & Mme. Thénardier
Marius speaks to the Thénardiers only briefly at his wedding. The Thénardiers, who have become rich by pillaging the bodies of the dead, exploit Marius by telling him that they know who saved him from dying at the barricades. In exchange for money, they tell him that Valjean saved him. Marius then punches Thénardier and leaves them.
[edit] Musical Numbers Including Marius
- Look Down (called Bonjour Paris in the original French.)
- Red and Black(called Rouge: La flamme de la colère in the original French.)
- A Heart Full of Love (called La coeur au bonheur in the original French.) Duet with Cosette featuring Eponine.
- Plumet Attack(called Rue Plumet in the original French) He is only featured near the end of the song.
- One Day More(called Le grand jour in the original French)
- Upon These Stones (Building the Barricade)(called Sur la barricade in the original French.)
- Upon These Stones (At the Barricade) (called Le Première Attaque in the original French)
- A Little Fall of Rain(called Un peu de Sang qui Pleure in the original French.) Duet with Eponine; this is the number in which Eponine dies.
- Drink With Me (absent from the original French)
- Empty Chairs at Empty Tables(called Seul devant ces tables vides in the original French.)
- Every Day (Marius and Cosette) Duet with Cosette featuring Valjean. This number is a reprise of A Heart Full of Love.
- Beggars at the Feast (called Mediants à la Fête in the original French)
- Finale
