The Last Day of one condemned

the Last Day of one condemned is a novel of Victor Hugo writes in 1829, which constitutes a political indictment for the abolition of the Capital punishment.

Summary

The book is the newspaper of one condemned to death, or a stream of consciousness, which proposes to write what he saw during the last weeks (starting from a little before its judgment, i.e. a little more than six weeks) before his execution. The reader knows neither the name of this man, nor what it made to be condemned (there exist some vague indications which would let believe that it killed a man even if symbolically one could believe that he committed suicide itself in his only crime): work is presented in the form of a rough testimony, at the same time on the anguish of condemned to died and its last thoughts, the daily sufferings morals and physics which it undergoes and on the living conditions of the prisoners, for example in the scene of the door-fitting of the convicts. It expresses its feelings on its former life and its states of heart…

Composition of work

The book is composed of three parts: Bicêtre, the Caretaker's lodge and the Town hall which are themselves separate in three parts.

Bicêtre: the lawsuit, the door-fitting of the convicts and the song.
the Caretaker's lodge: the voyage towards Paris, the meeting with the friauche and meet it with the geôlier who asks him for the numbers to play lottery.
the Town hall: the voyage in Paris, the toilet of condemned and the voyage towards the Place of Strike where the scaffold is installed.

Note:: Pages given as reference do not correspond to those of the book published at Pocket and Hachette and Librio.

It is also noticed that several retrospectives are present which are often chapters:

First: chapter 2 in entirety
Second: chapter 28 in entirety
Third: chapter 33 in entirety

Descriptions present:

that of Bicêtre in the chapter 4
that of the dungeon in the chapter 10
that of the Town hall in the chapter 37
that of the place of Strike in the chapter 3

Various information:

chapter 8: the man counts the days that it remains to him to live
chapter 9: the man thinks of his family
chapter 13: the door-fitting of the convicts
of page 46 to 48: song of an young girl when the man remains with the infirmary
chapter 22: transfer of the prisoner to the Caretaker's lodge
chapter 23: meet of the successor to the dungeon of Bicêtre
chapter 32: ask of the gendarme compared to the numbers of the lottery
on pages 102 and 103: dream with the old woman
chapter 43: condemned last once his/her little girl sees who does not recognize it
page 110: transfer to the Town hall
page 112: toilet of condemned
of page 114 to 119: one takes along the prisoner to the bracket.

The main character

During the six weeks that it passes in prison, the condemned continuous one to hope for a grace which it will never obtain. Certain bits of its last life are presented to the reader: he speaks thus about his daughter, Marie, who did not recognize it the day when she came to see it. He also evokes very vaguely his wife and his mother but without attaching a great importance to it. He tells also his first meeting in love with Pepa, a girl of his childhood.

Adaptations

the Last Day of one condemned , by Large Stanislas, is an adaptation in Cartoon.
the Last Day of one condemned (1985), film of 65mn, by Jean-Michel Mongrédien.

External bonds

This book belongs to the public domain, it is freely downloadable, for example on the Gutenberg project, or here, on a personal site, directly in pdf.
Victor Hugo against the capital punishment site of Danielle Girard, point of disjunction on the site of the Academy of Rouen.
Article on '' the Last day of one condemned ''
free audio Book " The last day of a condamné" of Victor Hugo.

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