The moment we have been building to since Javert first spoke of Champmathieu and the belief that he was the real Jean Valjean finally comes to a head. It ends with Champmathieu acquitted and with the real Valjean walking out of the courtroom to ostensibly head home. Madeleine has been revealed as Jean Vajean. His future is uncertain, but his conscience is clear.
There is a fantastic passage in this chapter that occurs on the heels of Madeleine’s confession and it’s worth quoting in full here:
There were no longer judges, lawyers, or gendarmes in the place, but only intent eyes and deeply troubled hearts. No man considered the part he might be called to play. The prosecutor forgot that he was there to prosecute, the presiding judge that he was there to pass sentence, the defender that he was there to defend. And, most strikingly, no question was raised, no legal authority invoked. It is the quality of awesome events that they seize upon the soul and make all men participants. Perhaps no one in that place was fully conscious of his own feelings, and certainly no one said to himself that he was witnessing the splendor of a great light; but all were dazzled by it.
You see, the people in the court recognized Madeliene in his role as mayor. They knew him as a model citizen, a man of the people, an example of love and generosity. Now they are all confronted with something they cannot process - the mayor and the criminal Jean Valjean are one in the same!
Madeleine / Valjean even speaks to the complicated nature of his story: he was guilty of real crimes, but the things that shaped him went far beyond him and in many ways he was a product of this same society.
Though this event answers some questions and relieves Valjean’s conscience, it opens up a bunch of new questions. What will the court do about Valjean? How will this impact the realities of their justice system in a larger way? How will Javert respond when he finds out the truth?
This launches us forward into a whole new set of stories to unfold.