Grantaire in Les Misérables
Major character
Cynical, hard-drinking hanger-on of the Friends of the ABC who mocks politics yet holds a strange, devoted loyalty to Enjolras.
Who is Grantaire?
Grantaire is the cynical, often-intoxicated member of the Friends of the A B C whose habitual mockery and misanthropy set him apart from the group's passionate idealists. In meetings at the Café Musain and the wine-shop Corinthe he launches into rambling, comic, and despairing monologues that puncture the club's fervor; his performance mixes satire and genuine world-weariness. Despite his professed disbelief in the cause, he unexpectedly offers to take a post at the Barrière du Maine and later turns up at the barricade in the Rue de la Chanvrerie. He spends much of the critical night asleep from drink, apparently indifferent to the fighting, but the final, solemn act of Enjolras awakens him. In the face of Enjolras’s calm acceptance of death, Grantaire sobers, declares himself one of them, and chooses to stand beside his leader and be slain. Throughout, Grantaire functions as comic relief, counterpoint, and—through his last-minute loyalty—a poignant emotional fulcrum within the revolutionary circle.
In the book: Grantaire is the cynical, hard-drinking hanger-on of the Friends of the ABC, a skeptic who mocks politics yet remains magnetically devoted to the idealistic Enjolras. Serving as both comic relief and a poignant counterpoint to youthful zeal, he embodies the novel’s tension between disillusionment and faith, and his loyalty gives surprising depth to the revolutionaries’ camaraderie without requiring detailed knowledge of the plot’s outcomes.
Personality
- Cynical
- At the Café Musain Grantaire delivers rambling misanthropic monologues that mock politics and national pride.
- Drunkard
- He dominates corners of the café and the Corinthe tavern with drinking and drunken declamations, often sleeping through action.
- Mocking wit
- In club meetings he punctures pomposity with satirical flourishes and comic exaggeration, undermining solemn debates.
- Secretly loyal
- Although he often derides the cause, he offers to go to the Barrière du Maine and later declares 'Long live the Republic!' to stand with Enjolras at the barricade.
- Sentimental
- He flatters and boasts to the serving women in Corinthe and shows a sudden, tearful devotion when confronted with Enjolras’s sacrifice.
Character arc
Grantaire first appears as a barroom skeptic and comic presence among the Friends of the A B C, a man who seems to attend for conviviality and ridicule rather than conviction. Early scenes emphasize his performance of despair and irony: he declaims against politics, drinks heavily in the Corinthe and the Café Musain, and stays behind when the procession for Lamarque moves out. Still, small actions—offering to be posted at the Barrière du Maine—show an ambiguous willingness to act. At the barricade he appears to embody impotence: reprimanded by Enjolras, he later sleeps through much of the fighting and seems spiritually absent from the sacrifice unfolding around him. The crucial turn comes in the final tableau: Enjolras’s composed acceptance of death rouses Grantaire from stupor; in a rare, lucid instant he proclaims his allegiance and asks to die with Enjolras. His transformation is abrupt but meaningful: from theatrical cynic to one who, faced with moral beauty, chooses solidarity and shares his leader’s fate.
Relationships
- Enjolras Grantaire is magnetically devoted to Enjolras, mocking politics yet secretly admiring and ultimately choosing to die with him.
- Courfeyrac Courfeyrac is a close companion whose energy and organizing presence contrast with Grantaire’s cynicism; they meet regularly at Corinthe and the Café Musain.
- Bossuet Bossuet directs the barricade work in which Grantaire participates and publicly rebukes him for drunkenness during preparation.
- Combeferre Combeferre represents the humane, philosophical counterpoint in the circle and shares many meetings and debates with Grantaire at the Café Musain.
- Gavroche Gavroche is one of the youthful insurgents present at the barricade alongside Grantaire, part of the same improvised company.
- Jean Prouvaire Jean Prouvaire is a fellow member of the Friends whose romantic enthusiasms form part of the chorus of voices Grantaire mocks and inhabits.
Quotes by Grantaire
“I am thirsty. Mortals, I am dreaming: that the tun of Heidelberg has an attack of apoplexy, and that I am one of the dozen leeches which will be applied to it.”
Volume 3, Chapter 4Grantaire begins a long, drunken, satirical declamation that mocks vanity, nations, and glory; it establishes his cynical voice.
“I am capable of that. My shoes are capable of that.”
Chapter 6Grantaire insists on his ability to travel to Richefeu’s, answering Enjolras’s doubts with theatrical bravado that mixes humor and uncertainty about his real commitment.
“I am passing by. I smell from the street a delicious odor of Brie cheese. I enter.”
Volume 4, Chapter 2Grantaire announces himself as he joins Laigle and Joly at the wine-shop, immediately setting his irreverent tone.
“Two bottles never yet astonished a man.”
Volume 4, Chapter 2A brief witty line that epitomizes Grantaire’s cavalier attitude toward drinking and excess early in the scene.
“There is but one reality: drink.”
Volume 4, Chapter 2During his extended ironic tirade on revolutions and providence, Grantaire reduces meaning to intoxication, revealing his cynicism and role as foil to the revolutionaries.
“"Long live the Republic! I'm one of them."”
Chapter 23Grantaire awakens from drunkenness, declares solidarity, and places himself beside Enjolras to share his fate.
Why Grantaire matters
Grantaire embodies the novel’s tension between disillusionment and the power of moral exemplar. As comic relief he exposes the limits of rhetoric and dogma, yet his final choice to stand and die with Enjolras shows that admiration for moral beauty can overcome cynicism. He complicates the reader’s understanding of revolutionary virtue by demonstrating that faith need not be doctrinal: it can be an elective, late-arriving loyalty. Grantaire’s presence and conversion highlight themes of comradeship, the human cost of idealism, and the transformative force of selfless courage within the group dynamic.
Chapters with Grantaire
More Les Misérables characters
Jean ValjeanProtagonist
CosetteMajor character
Marius PontmercyMajor character
CourfeyracMajor character
JavertAntagonist
ThénardierAntagonist
EnjolrasMajor character- MMariusMajor character
All chapter summaries ›Characters ›
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