Les Miserables Lesson Plan

Discuss the parallels between the assault on the barricades and the battle of Thermopylae, which Hugo frequently alludes to.

Chapter I, describing the assault upon the barricades, contains frequent allusions to the battle of Thermopylae.

This was an ancient battle between a small Greek force and the massive Persian army, which took place at a narrow pass. The Greeks knew they faced certain death, but conducted themselves with courage on the battlefield and won the rest of the Greek forces enough time to eventually drive off the much larger Persian army. The battle is often invoked to symbolize laying down one's life for one's ideals, an idea that resonates among the...