The Ethical Paradigm of Jean Valjean

Photo by Wesual Click on Unsplash

In Victor Hugo’s beloved novel Les Miserables, we meet the character Jean Valjean, a convict who was incarcerated for nineteen years because he stole a loaf of bread. As we read the novel or watch the Broadway musical, our hearts beat with Valjean’s as he seeks to redeem himself from a life that had been lost. But was Valjean a moral person? Our basic intuition asserts a resounding “yes!” In reality, however, the answer…