Résumé
In Victor Hugo's L'Homme Qui Rit, Gwynplaine, a young man disfigured with a permanent grin by cruel mutilation as a child, navigates a harsh 17th-century England marked by aristocratic oppression and social injustice. Raised by the compassionate philosopher Ursus and performing as a mountebank, Gwynplaine falls in love with the blind Dea, but his life is disrupted when he discovers his noble lineage and is thrust into the corrupt world of the English peerage.
Torn between love, identity, and moral conviction, he rejects wealth and power to remain true to his principles, only to face tragic consequences.
This gothic novel critiques the brutality of class hierarchy and explores themes of human dignity and societal cruelty.