Eponine Thenardier (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
makeflowersgrow) wrote2013-05-23 07:18 pm
makeflowersgrow) wrote2013-05-23 07:18 pm
(no subject)
I was re-reading the Brick today - I always have trouble remembering what prison Eponine ends up in, and for how long. Well, I have found out that it was the Madelonnette prison, and that she was incarcerated for two weeks. She seems to think it was because she is two months too young to answer charges, but Javert says more that it is because they had no evidence to charge her with.
Is it possible, then, that Javert or another officer lied to Eponine about the reasons for her release, to try to scare her a bit?
Anyway, curiosity peaked, I decided to do a bit of digging about le Madelonnette prison, so that I can give a more accurate view of Eponine's experience there. Her time may have been brief, but being arrested and imprisoned definitely affected her.
OK - Wikipedia - always a good place to start!
Le Madelonnette was originally a convent. It was changed into a prison after the dissolution of the monasteries, which in Francec took place in about 1790. It was taken over as a prison during the Revolution (1793). Around 47 people a day were incarcerated in Le Madelonnettes, which led to severe overcrowding, at almost 100 percent over capacity.
Cells were five square feet.
Common criminals were held on the ground floorand political prisoners above them. The mood was good; there was often singing, dancing and gymnastics. Men and women were kept together.
However, by the end of 1793, the prisoners began to be dispersed.
Just before Eponine's incarceration, the prison was reserved for women, and murdresses mingled with prostitutes and 'suspects'. By 1832, men were being imprisoned there too. It seems to have been largely used for political prisoners, wayward girls, and men awaiting transport to La Force.
Hallam: The Art Bulletin. 1973.
Le Madelonnettes was used mainly for prostitutes. (p626)
Murphy, 'Prostitutes and Penitants'. ed. C.Bard. Prostitutee. 2003.
- Madelonnette was a prison for prostitutes (p.89)
Lequor. La Prostitution a Paris et a Londres. 1870.
- On the eve of the revolution, the prison was severely overcrowded. (p.61)
Arnaud. Chamfort: A biography. 1992.
... meat went untouched because it was rumoured to have come from the bodies of victims of the guillotine. What wasn't a rumour was the filth and the stench of this, the beastliest jail in Paris. (p.xvii)
... a sordid prison... reserved for whores and counterfeiters. Enormous hounds barked in the courtyard and guards were posted near a lightning rod, which sported the revolutionary red cap. Each cell had four rowws of three vermin swollen straw mattresses. New arrivals slept in the hallways and even on the stairs. Doctors ordered that they be given 15 minutes of strenuous exercise before each meal. On the menu were beans, maybe a few potatoes.... toilets overflowed and the resulting miasma provoked epidemics of plague and smallpox. Vinegar was poured on shovels in an attempt to purify the air. (p.244)
Famous inmates include the Marquis de Sade.
Prisoners were kept in irons permanently, as far as there were enough to go around. Prisoners were no longer being separated by sex or crime in 1830s.
Is it possible, then, that Javert or another officer lied to Eponine about the reasons for her release, to try to scare her a bit?
Anyway, curiosity peaked, I decided to do a bit of digging about le Madelonnette prison, so that I can give a more accurate view of Eponine's experience there. Her time may have been brief, but being arrested and imprisoned definitely affected her.
OK - Wikipedia - always a good place to start!
Le Madelonnette was originally a convent. It was changed into a prison after the dissolution of the monasteries, which in Francec took place in about 1790. It was taken over as a prison during the Revolution (1793). Around 47 people a day were incarcerated in Le Madelonnettes, which led to severe overcrowding, at almost 100 percent over capacity.
Cells were five square feet.
Common criminals were held on the ground floorand political prisoners above them. The mood was good; there was often singing, dancing and gymnastics. Men and women were kept together.
However, by the end of 1793, the prisoners began to be dispersed.
Just before Eponine's incarceration, the prison was reserved for women, and murdresses mingled with prostitutes and 'suspects'. By 1832, men were being imprisoned there too. It seems to have been largely used for political prisoners, wayward girls, and men awaiting transport to La Force.
Hallam: The Art Bulletin. 1973.
Le Madelonnettes was used mainly for prostitutes. (p626)
Murphy, 'Prostitutes and Penitants'. ed. C.Bard. Prostitutee. 2003.
- Madelonnette was a prison for prostitutes (p.89)
Lequor. La Prostitution a Paris et a Londres. 1870.
- On the eve of the revolution, the prison was severely overcrowded. (p.61)
Arnaud. Chamfort: A biography. 1992.
... meat went untouched because it was rumoured to have come from the bodies of victims of the guillotine. What wasn't a rumour was the filth and the stench of this, the beastliest jail in Paris. (p.xvii)
... a sordid prison... reserved for whores and counterfeiters. Enormous hounds barked in the courtyard and guards were posted near a lightning rod, which sported the revolutionary red cap. Each cell had four rowws of three vermin swollen straw mattresses. New arrivals slept in the hallways and even on the stairs. Doctors ordered that they be given 15 minutes of strenuous exercise before each meal. On the menu were beans, maybe a few potatoes.... toilets overflowed and the resulting miasma provoked epidemics of plague and smallpox. Vinegar was poured on shovels in an attempt to purify the air. (p.244)
Famous inmates include the Marquis de Sade.
Prisoners were kept in irons permanently, as far as there were enough to go around. Prisoners were no longer being separated by sex or crime in 1830s.