Short one today but it occurred to me the other day that there have been countless revolts, episodes of unrest and complaints about the rich living it up at the expense of the poor. The French Revolution was one of the greatest uprisings in support of this cause yet the man who endeavours to save the privileged aristocrats (i.e. The Scarlet Pimpernel) is the one who is lauded and praised. Surely it is Chauvelin who is the hero of the people – seeking to bring down this opposer of the people’s justice – rather than the masked ‘vigilante’ who instead seeks to save his upper class fellows.
I’m
not saying I’m in favour of the death penalty (in fact the opposite) nor that
the Revolution didn’t get carried away (as perhaps demonstrated by the fact
that one of its chief perpetrators – Robespierre – ended up as a victim of the
mob and his own prized machine Madame Guillotine) but maybe those cast as
villains are in fact the true heroes & those who would be seen as the
saviours are in fact the sinners.
The character of Javert in Les Miserables also seeks to maintain the inequality that exists in society and bring about the destruction and downfall of those who rebel against it – yet he is cast as the villain.
Both Javert and the Pimpernel seek to maintain or encourage the status quo, both are against the revolution, both are powerful figures in the their own right but where one is acclaimed the other is accursed – isn’t perspective an interesting thing?
No comments:
Post a Comment