I've recently been fascinated with Les Miserables.  When a movie comes out, I always am inspired to read the book, even though it should be the other way around.  As I have lost myself in the incredible (and incredibly long) text, I see many connections to King Lear.  In both, I find myself thinking, "that's not fair!"  It seems to be a dilemma that literature is unafraid to approach.  Why should the innocent suffer?  Why do our good deeds not result in a rewards?  In fact in these novels, it is the exact opposite.  The moral, good, loved characters experience great tragedy in their lives.

In both plays, there is the much-loved protagonist who suffers unnecessarily.  Jean Valjean spends years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread for his starving family.  He spends his life hiding from Javert, never able to find forgiveness for his one wrong move.  Lear also makes a mistake at the beginning of his play that causes unbearable suffering and his deterioration into madness.

Fantine is much like Cordelia.  She risks her heart with a man who says he loves her, only to be completely abandoned by him and left alone with a child.  Like Jean Valjean, she cannot escape her misery as society refuses to forgive her for having a child out of wedlock.  Cordelia, the image or perfect beauty and honesty, loses her family and her life for a wise choice.  Both of these women are presented as images of purity, but in the end they lose their lives because of the cruelty of others.

Both of the plays end with a cathartic moment of familial happiness.  Cossette (Fantine's daughter) is reunited with Jean Valjean when she learns the truth about his past.  The reconciliation is moving, and Jean Valjean dies in peace after a long, hard life.  Cordelia and Lear also experience reconciliation.  Lear has lost most of his sanity, but he recognizes his daughter.  At the end of their time together, he says, "Pray you now, forget and forgive.  I am old and foolish."  His grieves the hurt he has caused, but receives forgiveness from his daughter.

Forgiveness is the connection that I see.  Unforgiveness causes great pain and suffering in both great works while the power of reconciliation shines forth as the characters eventually choose to forgive one another.  True, none of the noble characters get what they deserve, but in the end there is peace in their lives.