| Cosette | |
|---|---|
 Illustration of Cosette in the Thénardiers' inn at Montfermeil depicted by Émile Bayard (1837–1891). | |
|
Real Name |
Euphrasie |
|
First Appearance |
Les Misérables (March 31, 1862) |
|
Original Publisher |
A. Lacroix, Verboeckhoven & Cie. |
|
Created by |
Victor Hugo |
Origin[]
The adult Cosette, by Pierre-Georges Jeanniot, 1887 edition
Cosette is a fictional character in the 1862 novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo and in the many adaptations of the story for stage, film, and television. Her birth name, Euphrasie, is only mentioned briefly. As the orphaned child of an unmarried mother deserted by her father, Hugo never gives her a surname. In the course of the novel, she is mistakenly identified as Ursule, Lark, or Mademoiselle Lanoire.
She is the daughter of Fantine, a working woman who leaves her to be looked after by the Thénardiers, who exploit and victimizes her. Rescued by Jean Valjean, who raises Cosette as if she were his own, she grows up in a convent school. She falls in love with Marius Pontmercy, a young lawyer. Valjean's struggle to protect her while disguising his past drives much of the plot until he recognizes "that this child had a right to know life before renouncing it"—and he must allow her romantic attachment to Marius to blossom.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of Cosette published before January 1, 1930 are public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances include:
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- Les Misérables (March 31, 1862)
- Gavroche: The Gamin of Paris translated and adapted by M. C. Pyle (1872)
- The Story of "Les Misérables", adapted by Isabel C. Fortey. (1922)
Public Domain Film Appearances[]
- Victor Hugo et les principaux personnages des misérables (1897)
- Le Chemineau (1905)
- The Price of a Soul (1909)
- The Ordeal (1909)
- A New Life (1909)
- Les Misérables (1909 film)
- Jean Valjean
- The Galley Slave
- Fantine; or, A Mother's Love
- Cosette
- Aa Mujou (1910)
- Les Misérables (1913)
- The Bishop's Candlesticks (1913)
- Les Misérables (1917)
- Tense Moments with Great Authors (1922)
- Aa Mujou (1923)
- Les Misérables (1925)
- The Bishop's Candlesticks (1929)
- Aa Mujo (1929)
Public Domain Comic Appearances[]
- Classics Illustrated issue #9 (March 1943)
Public Domain Stage Appearances[]
- Charity (1862)
- Les Miserables (1863)
- Fantine or The Fate of a Grisette (1863)
- Jean Valjean (1863)
- Out of Evil Cometh Good (1867)
- The Yellow Passport (1868)
- The Yellow Passport or Branded For Life (1868)
- The Man of Two Lives (1869)
- Fantine (1870)
- Atonement (1872)
- Cosette (1875)
- Valjean (1878)
- Les Miserables (1884)
- Jean Valjean, Or, The Shadow of the Law, in Five Acts (1886)
- After Ten Years (1892)
- The Bishop's Candlesticks (1901)
- Jean Valjean by Charles Lawson (1906)
- Jean Valjean by Gabriel L. Pollock (1906)
- The Law and the Man (1906)
- Jean Valjean, (1914)
- The Silver Candlesticks (1929)