Thenardier’s eldest daughter, a spoiled, self-satisfied little girl at the inn in Montfermeil, but later a desperate waif who obeys her criminal father even though it appears that in other circumstances she could have been a morally upstanding person. Eponine will do anything for Marius, whom she’s in love with, but this love is compromised by Eponine’s jealousy.
Eponine Quotes in Les Miserables
The Les Miserables quotes below are all either spoken by Eponine or refer to Eponine. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Volume 3, Book 8
Quotes
The Jondrette lair was, if the reader recalls what we have said of the Gorbeau building, admirably chosen to serve as the theatre of a violent and somber deed, and as the envelope for a crime. It was the most retired chamber in the most isolated house on the most deserted boulevard in Paris. If the system of ambush and traps had not already existed, they would have been invented here.
Related Characters:
Thenardier (Jondrette), Madame Thenardier, Eponine
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Les Miserables LitChart as a printable PDF.
Eponine Character Timeline in Les Miserables
The timeline below shows where the character Eponine appears in Les Miserables. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Volume 1, Book 4: To Confide is Sometimes to Deliver Into a Person’s Power
...about him. Madame Thenardier, for her part, loves reading tasteless romances, and named her children, Eponine and Azelma, after characters in them. However, the narrator notes that it is a result...
(full context)
Volume 1, Book 5: The Descent
...to send to Cosette. The Thenardiers, who wanted money, are furious and give it to Eponine, while Cosette continues to shiver. Fantine grows bitter and begins to despise the mayor. She...
(full context)
Volume 2, Book 3: Accomplishment of the Promise Made to the Dead Woman
...Thenardier inn. As they talk merrily, Cosette is seated near the chimney, dressed in rags. Eponine and Azelma laugh happily in the room next to them, but the crying of a...
(full context)
...he wants to stay. He asks her if there are other children there. She says Eponine and Azelma, who have beautiful dolls and play all day, while she must work. They...
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Eponine and Azelma enter: they are both very pretty and healthy-looking. They go off to play...
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...months, and it seems the mother is dead. Cosette catches a few words of this. Eponine and Azelma have abandoned their doll for the cat, and Cosette goes up to it...
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Volume 3, Book 8: The Wicked Poor Man
...wife claims she saw it fall through the window, and they see that it is Eponine’s handwriting. Thenardier cries that they must leave through the window. He heads that way, but...
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...ambushed the house on all sides, seizing Azelma who was outside the house, but not Eponine, who had escaped. He had been waiting for the agreed-upon signal, but finally grew impatient...
(full context)
Volume 4, Book 2: Eponine
Around this time, Eponine is released from prison, and she lurks and spies around the Rue Plumet, before delivering...
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...home, dreaming of “her.” Then he hears a girl cry, “Here he is!” and recognizes Eponine, the elder Thenardier daughter, whose name he now knows. She is dressed in even shabbier...
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Eponine continues to chatter, but then her eyes cloud and she says Marius doesn’t seem happy...
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Volume 4, Book 8: Enchantments and Desolations
Chapter 1 It was Eponine who had originally pointed the Rue Plumet home out to Marius, enabling him to finally...
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...Marius is on his way to the garden when a girl greets him: it is Eponine, whom he hasn’t thought of since the day she led him to Cosette’s. The narrator...
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...The next day is June 3rd, 1832. That night, Marius once again catches sight of Eponine on the way to the Rue Plumet, so he ducks out of sight. Eponine follows...
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Thenardier asks what Eponine is doing there, and says she shouldn’t hinder them, but she asks sweetly how he...
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...the others to go in and do the job: he’ll stay and take care of Eponine. Thenardier says nothing. But Brujon, who has the reputation of never turning back, seems thoughtful...
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Volume 4, Book 9: Whither Are They Going?
...but no one is in the house. He sits on the steps in despair. Suddenly Eponine’s voice calls out, saying that his friends are waiting for him at the barricade of...
(full context)
Volume 4, Book 14: The Grandeurs of Despair
...in a blouse and torn velvet trousers, collapsed in a pool of blood. It is Eponine, who says she is dying. Marius cries out that she is wounded, and he’ll carry...
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Eponine says that she initially didn’t know why he wanted to see that Rue Plumet house....
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Chapter 7 Marius keeps his promise and kisses Eponine. He lays her on the ground and goes to the tavern, where he sees a...
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Volume 5, Book 1: The War Between Four Walls
...sees them pass into the Mondetour lane. Valjean and Javert catch sight of a woman’s body—Eponine. Javert says he believes he knows her. He tells Valjean to take his revenge. Instead,...
(full context)
