There are more surviving images of Antinous than of any other Roman. Hadrian was Extra As Fuck. Can you imagine how many statues of Antinous he commissioned? Get you a man that does That.
And then 1500 years later Victor Hugo came along and was like “Enjolras was Grantaire’s Antinous” and people still be like “they’re friends!” Bitch, Hadrian did not have hundreds of sculptors carving Antinous’ beautiful calves for you to be spreading these lies.
It’s a tricky one. Do I think Enjolras returns Grantaires feelings when we are first introduced to Les Amis? No. It says in the text that he disdains him, and that Grantaire is an ‘unaccepted Pylades’ – something that obviously will come up later in the text.
Do I think Enjolras hates Grantaire? Absolutely not. Disdain is far from hate, and he never sends him away even though it’s clear he has the unspoken authority in the group to do so. The fact he decides (grudgingly) to trust Grantaire with Barriere Du Maine speaks volumes about the fact that maybe he has hope for him, and would like Grantaire to prove himself to the group – and to him.
Do I think it’s still unrequited by the time we get to their death scene? No. The transformation in Grantaire and the title of the chapter referencing Orestes and Pylades says everything – Grantaire is no longer an ‘unaccepted Pylades’. Enjolras has accepted him for that role; ergo, he returns his affections, even if sadly only briefly and even if in a way that’s up to debate. Because really, it’s not a sudden revolutionary passion that has transfigured Grantaire, it’s his love for Enjolras.
what I really want is combeferre “affirmed nothing, not even miracles; denied nothing, not even ghosts” and grantaire “took great care not to believe in anything” getting into long, increasingly weird philosophical debates
Thought I would share a little theory of mine with you guys.
As we all know, Victor Hugo is merciless in many things. Including the description of Grantaire, stating that he is “particularly ugly”, but also that this doesn’t affect his self-esteem. But I feel that Grantaire being ugly is actually a very clever metaphor.
So we have Enjolras – the believer, the idealist, someone who truly believes that he can make the world a better place. Radiant and passionate about the cause. But also, as we all know damn well, he is beautiful. He is compared to Apollo, the god of sun, with his gorgeous blue eyes and blonde curls, just glowing with all the beauty he posseses.
On the other hand, Grantaire is a skeptic – someone who doesn’t believe that the world can ever change, he doesn’t believe that the Revolution is going to have any impact on the world and mostly, he just doesn’t care about anything. Apart from Enjolras.
The Brick tells us that Grantaire was drawn to Enjolras because of his strong, glowing personality.
“A skeptic adhering to a believer is as simple as the law of complementary colors. What we lack attracts us.
/…/ Grantaire, crawling with doubt, loved to see faith soaring in Enjolras. /…/
He was the reverse of Enjolras.”
The way I see it, the reason behind Grantaire being so particularly ugly is because Enjolras is so very beautiful. Enjolras is beautiful because he believes in something with all his heart, and that’s what adds beauty to his character. Grantaire is ugly because he doesn’t believe – he doubts and there is nothing he is really passionate about. He is not a dreamer like Enjolras is, which makes him dull and ugly. Victor Hugo intended them to be the complete opposites. Enjolras – beauty and ideals, and Grantaire – disfigurement and doubt. Grantaire is a realist, standing firm on the ground, while Enjolras, the dreamer, rises towards the sky and that gives him the look and glow of an angel (or a god of sun for that matter).
So really, to truly represent Hugo’s work, Grantaire should be an unattractive character, drawn to the light of Enjolras’s idealism.
((Also George Blagden is gorgeous and perfect as Grantaire and I love him))
the book: Still, this skeptic had a fanaticism. This fanaticism was not for an idea, nor a dogma, nor an art, nor a science; it was for a man: Enjolras. Grantaire admired, loved, and venerated Enjolras.
the book: a skeptic adhering to a believer is as simple as the law of complementary colors. What we lack attracts us.
the book: Grantaire, crawling with doubt, loved to see faith soaring in Enjolras. He needed Enjolras. Without understanding it clearly, and without trying to explain it to himself, that chaste, healthy, firm, direct, hard, honest nature charmed him.
the book: there are men who seem to be born to be the opposite, the reverse, the counterpart. They are Pollux, Patroclus, Nisus, Eudamias, Ephestion, Pechméja. They live only on condition of leaning on another; their names are sequels, only written preceded by the conjunction “and”; their existence is not their own; it is the other side of a destiny not their own. Grantaire was one of these men. He was the reverse of Enjolras.
the book: We might almost say that affinities begin with the letters of the alphabet. In the series O and P are inseperable. You can, if you choose, pronounce O and P, or Orestes and Pylades.
the book: yet returning, [Grantaire] said of Enjolras, “What a fine statue!”
people, somehow: this is heterosexual, it’s not like… romantic or anything, grantaire was a straight man
¯_( ಠ_ಠ)_/¯ 