Chapter I: Front Matter

THE MAN WHO LAUGHS

A Romance of English History

By

VICTOR HUGO

CONTENTS

Preliminary Chapter.--Ursus Another Preliminary Chapter.--The Comprachicos

PART I.

BOOK THE FIRST.--NIGHT NOT SO BLACK AS MAN.

I. Portland Bill II. Left Alone III. Alone IV. Questions V. The Tree of Human Invention VI. Struggle between Death and Night VII. The North Point of Portland

BOOK THE SECOND.--THE HOOKER AT SEA.

I. Superhuman Laws II. Our First Rough Sketches Filled in III. Troubled Men on the Troubled Sea IV. A Cloud Different from the Others enters on the Scene V. Hardquanonne VI. They Think that Help is at Hand VII. Superhuman Horrors VIII. Nix et Nox IX. The Charge Confided to a Raging Sea X. The Colossal Savage, the Storm XI. The Caskets XII. Face to Face with the Rock XIII. Face to Face with Night XIV. Ortach XV. Portentosum Mare XVI. The Problem Suddenly Works in Silence XVII. The Last Resource XVIII. The Highest Resource

BOOK THE THIRD.--THE CHILD IN THE SHADOW.

I. Chesil II. The Effect of Snow III. A Burden Makes a Rough Road Rougher IV. Another Form of Desert V. Misanthropy Plays Its Pranks VI. The Awaking

PART II.

BOOK THE FIRST.--THE EVERLASTING PRESENCE OF THE PAST. MAN REFLECTS MAN.

I. Lord Clancharlie II. Lord David Dirry-Moir III. The Duchess Josiana IV. The Leader of Fashion V. Queen Anne VI. Barkilphedro VII. Barkilphedro Gnaws His Way VIII. Inferi IX. Hate is as Strong as Love X. The Flame which would be Seen if Man were Transparent XI. Barkilphedro in Ambuscade XII. Scotland, Ireland, and England

BOOK THE SECOND.--GWYNPLAINE AND DEA.

I. Wherein we see the Face of Him of whom we have hitherto seen only the Acts II. Dea III. “Oculos non Habet, et Videt” IV. Well-matched Lovers V. The Blue Sky through the Black Cloud VI. Ursus as Tutor, and Ursus as Guardian VII. Blindness Gives Lessons in Clairvoyance VIII. Not only Happiness, but Prosperity IX. Absurdities which Folks without Taste call Poetry X. An Outsider’s View of Men and Things XI. Gwynplaine Thinks Justice, and Ursus Talks Truth XII. Ursus the Poet Drags on Ursus the Philosopher

BOOK THE THIRD.--THE BEGINNING OF THE FISSURE.

I. The Tadcaster Inn II. Open-Air Eloquence III. Where the Passer-by Reappears IV. Contraries Fraternize in Hate V. The Wapentake VI. The Mouse Examined by the Cats VII. Why Should a Gold Piece Lower Itself by Mixing with a Heap of Pennies? VIII. Symptoms of Poisoning IX. Abyssus Abyssum Vocat

BOOK THE FOURTH.--THE CELL OF TORTURE.

I. The Temptation of St. Gwynplaine II. From Gay to Grave III. Lex, Rex, Fex IV. Ursus Spies the Police V. A Fearful Place VI. The Kind of Magistracy under the Wigs of Former Days VII. Shuddering VIII. Lamentation

BOOK THE FIFTH.--THE SEA AND FATE ARE MOVED BY THE SAME BREATH.

I. The Durability of Fragile Things II. The Waif Knows Its Own Course III. An Awakening IV. Fascination V. We Think We Remember; We Forget

BOOK THE SIXTH.--URSUS UNDER DIFFERENT ASPECTS.

I. What the Misanthrope said II. What He did III. Complications IV. Moenibus Surdis Campana Muta V. State Policy Deals with Little Matters as Well as with Great

BOOK THE SEVENTH.--THE TITANESS.

I. The Awakening II. The Resemblance of a Palace to a Wood III. Eve IV. Satan V. They Recognize, but do not Know, Each Other

BOOK THE EIGHTH.--THE CAPITOL AND THINGS AROUND IT.

I. Analysis of Majestic Matters II. Impartiality III. The Old Hall IV. The Old Chamber V. Aristocratic Gossip VI. The High and the Low VII. Storms of Men are Worse than Storms of Oceans VIII. He would be a Good Brother, were he not a Good Son

BOOK THE NINTH.--IN RUINS.

I. It is through Excess of Greatness that Man reaches Excess of Misery II. The Dregs