Victor Hugo is famous for his novels with a powerful drama and a strong social message. “The man who laughs” is one of them. The events told in the book are those of two orphans whose life is studded with tragic events. The protagonist also gave the inspiration for the creation of the character of Joker, the main antagonist of the Batman comic. In this article we tell you about Hugo’s work. “The man who laughs”
Set in eighteenth-century Gothic England, “The Man Who Laughs” is a novel that tells the stories of two orphans found one night by the tramp acrobat Ursus, who, after understanding the gravity of their situation, decides to raise them. Gwynplaine, disfigured as a child by his captors, has etched an eternal smile on his face; Goddess, on the other hand, is blind. One day Gwynplaine, now 25, will discover that he is the son of nobles. Reality overwhelms him and, in an attempt to live what must have been his best life, Gwynplaine falls into deep despair due to the indifference of the cruelty of the aristocracy. He will choose to go back to his origins with Dea and Ursus. The beloved Goddess, however, weakened by her life, dies shortly after her and, desperate, Gwynplaine decides to join her.The drama of life and the duality of man
What could have represented a turning point for the young Gwynplaine, turns out to be a further wound. The indifference of the aristocracy towards the weaker and less fortunate upsets the naive soul of the boy, who has to live with the perennial duality of what he seems, because of his eternal grin and what he actually feels. The pain of past experiences and the world’s inability to accept the different plunge Gwynplaine into despair. What life has offered him has nothing to do with the warmth and sense of family he felt in the poverty of the streets with Ursus and Dea. Who are today “The miserable” told by Victor Hugo in 1862
Considered the important work of the French writer, “The miserable” gave voice to the last. We can find the same stories today in our society. The origins of Joker
It is precisely on the basis of the novel “The Man Who Laughs” that Jerry Robinson, Brian Bolland and Bob Kane have come to define the fictional character of Joker. He made his debut in 1940 within the first issue of the Batman comic series. And a character who over time has undergone various evolutions and interpretations.
Originally Joker is a psychopathic clown, villain and enemy of Batman. But in addition to this, the different authors who have approached the character, have given him different shades. The Graphic Novel
From the controversial novel by Victor Hugo “The Man Who Laughs” and is also based on the comic book adaptation published by Edizioni NPE with the texts by David Hine, the drawings by Mark Stafford and the translation by Gloria Grieco. The most visionary work of the father of French Romanticism from which the 1928 silent film of the same name was taken, which a few years later inspired the figure of the Joker, Batman’s nemesis.
Between the lights and shadows of an eighteenth-century England, the graphic novel tells the story of an orphan with a noble soul who earns his living by staging his suffering. His face is disfigured by a mutilation suffered in the first years of life, which forces him to a mask of eternal laughter. A bottle returned from the sea will shed light on his origins and on the contradictions of a corrupt society.
An extraordinary story of humanity, love and social denunciation of the disparities between the government of the few and the still current problems of the proletariat. Victor Hugo
Born in 1802, Victor Hugo is considered the father of romanticism. Hugo saw the beginning of the success of his literary career in 1830 when he published the first of two plays, “Hernani” and the following year the famous novel “Notre Dame de Paris”. In 1848 he was elected as a deputy of the Constituent Assembly, but the coup d’état of 1851 forced him into exile which lasted until 1870. In these years the literary production was particularly prolific. He will return to France only with the proclamation of the Republic. He died in Paris in 1885.
Alice Turiani
