Les Misérables, Book 3: The Grandfather and the Grandson, Chapter 3 summary
Book 3: The Grandfather and the Grandson, Chapter 3 of 365 · 12 min to read the chapter
In Chapter 3, Marius Pontmercy grows up under the influence of Madame de T.’s aristocratic salon, whose rigid royalism and gloomy atmosphere shape his outlook. The narrator explains the ultras and their political world, then shows Marius entering law school as a severe royalist, distant from his grandfather and bleak toward his father.
What happens
- Marius sees life through Madame de T.’s salon and becomes solemn, melancholy, and frightened by its imposing visitors.
- Aristocrats and churchmen fill the salon with old customs, tragic recollections, and fierce royalist judgments, while M. Gillenormand dominates.
- The narrator defines ultra politics as loyalty pushed so far that it attacks what it supports.
- Doctrinaires enter these circles from 1818, defending royalism while criticizing its rejection of modern France.
- The narrator acknowledges affectionate family ties to this vanished society and asks readers not to despise it.
- Marius passes through school into legal studies, becoming an austere royalist with strained feelings toward his family.
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In this chapter
What to notice
The sentence captures the salon’s refusal to engage with change. This closed social world supplies the background to Marius’s severe royalism.
Quick check
What political outlook does Marius hold when he enters law school?
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