As Madeleine finds himself in the courtroom, still in a state of extreme inner turmoil, he is arrested by the appearance of Champmathieu. It is as though he is looking at what himself in his 60s, but a version that wasn’t on the receiving end of the mercy and grace he had received at the hands of bishop Myriel. This is a man who has been ground down and destroyed by the system. He is hardened and isolated by all he has experienced. In many ways this moment is like a return to the fork in the road, the real Jean Valjean confronted with the fate that may have been his if he had chosen differently.
As he remembers himself and where he is Madeleine’s focus moves out and beyond himself and to the reality of Champmathieu and all that he currently faces. The current case against him is one of circumstance. it is unclear if he is actually guilty of climbing the fence and breaking a branch off of the apple tree or not. What is clear is that he did take the apples. It’s a minor incident and in isolation would be different, but with the backdrop argument that he is in fact Jean Valjean, and that this is a case of recidivism on the part of a criminal who has long been hunted, Champmathieu is looking at a life sentence of hard labor should he be convicted.
In this moment the stakes that were assumed and guessed at are made immediately clear. Madeleine can reveal himself and be in danger of a similar prison sentence or he can stand by and do nothing, knowing he is responsible for this man’s imprisonment. The questions have not changed at all. The fundamental choice before the real Jean Valjean is the same as he imagined it to be before he left on this journey. The frame, however, is significantly more stark. The stakes are clear. The time is now. This is no longer a theoretical concern. What will Madeleine do?