The Man Who Laughs 
 
The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Man Who Laughs, by Victor Hugo 
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Title: The Man Who Laughs 
Author: Victor Hugo 
Release Date: June 11, 2004 [eBook #12587] 
Language: English 
Character set encoding: iso-8859-1 
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAN 
WHO LAUGHS*** 
E-text prepared by Steven desJardins and Project Gutenberg 
Distributed Proofreaders 
 
THE MAN WHO LAUGHS 
A Romance of English History
By 
VICTOR HUGO 
 
CONTENTS 
 
Preliminary Chapter.--Ursus Another Preliminary Chapter.--The 
Comprachicos 
 
 
PART I. 
BOOK THE FIRST.--NIGHT NOT SO BLACK AS MAN. 
I. Portland Bill II. Left Alone III. Alone IV. Questions V. The Tree of 
Human Invention VI. Struggle between Death and Night VII. The 
North Point of Portland 
BOOK THE SECOND.--THE HOOKER AT SEA. 
I. Superhuman Laws II. Our First Rough Sketches Filled in III. 
Troubled Men on the Troubled Sea IV. A Cloud Different from the 
Others enters on the Scene V. Hardquanonne VI. They Think that Help 
is at Hand VII. Superhuman Horrors VIII. Nix et Nox IX. The Charge 
Confided to a Raging Sea X. The Colossal Savage, the Storm XI. The 
Caskets XII. Face to Face with the Rock XIII. Face to Face with Night 
XIV. Ortach XV. Portentosum Mare XVI. The Problem Suddenly 
Works in Silence XVII. The Last Resource XVIII. The Highest 
Resource 
BOOK THE THIRD.--THE CHILD IN THE SHADOW.
I. Chesil II. The Effect of Snow III. A Burden Makes a Rough Road 
Rougher IV. Another Form of Desert V. Misanthropy Plays Its Pranks 
VI. The Awaking 
 
 
PART II. 
BOOK THE FIRST.--THE EVERLASTING PRESENCE OF THE 
PAST. MAN REFLECTS MAN. 
I. Lord Clancharlie II. Lord David Dirry-Moir III. The Duchess Josiana 
IV. The Leader of Fashion V. Queen Anne VI. Barkilphedro VII. 
Barkilphedro Gnaws His Way VIII. Inferi IX. Hate is as Strong as Love 
X. The Flame which would be Seen if Man were Transparent XI. 
Barkilphedro in Ambuscade XII. Scotland, Ireland, and England 
BOOK THE SECOND.--GWYNPLAINE AND DEA. 
I. Wherein we see the Face of Him of whom we have hitherto seen only 
the Acts II. Dea III. "Oculos non Habet, et Videt" IV. Well-matched 
Lovers V. The Blue Sky through the Black Cloud VI. Ursus as Tutor, 
and Ursus as Guardian VII. Blindness Gives Lessons in Clairvoyance 
VIII. Not only Happiness, but Prosperity IX. Absurdities which Folks 
without Taste call Poetry X. An Outsider's View of Men and Things XI. 
Gwynplaine Thinks Justice, and Ursus Talks Truth XII. Ursus the Poet 
Drags on Ursus the Philosopher 
BOOK THE THIRD.--THE BEGINNING OF THE FISSURE. 
I. The Tadcaster Inn II. Open-Air Eloquence III. Where the Passer-by 
Reappears IV. Contraries Fraternize in Hate V. The Wapentake VI. The 
Mouse Examined by the Cats VII. Why Should a Gold Piece Lower 
Itself by Mixing with a Heap of Pennies? VIII. Symptoms of Poisoning 
IX. Abyssus Abyssum Vocat
BOOK THE FOURTH.--THE CELL OF TORTURE. 
I. The Temptation of St. Gwynplaine II. From Gay to Grave III. Lex, 
Rex, Fex IV. Ursus Spies the Police V. A Fearful Place VI. The Kind 
of Magistracy under the Wigs of Former Days VII. Shuddering VIII. 
Lamentation 
BOOK THE FIFTH.--THE SEA AND FATE ARE MOVED BY THE 
SAME BREATH. 
I. The Durability of Fragile Things II. The Waif Knows Its Own Course 
III. An Awakening IV. Fascination V. We Think We Remember; We 
Forget 
BOOK THE SIXTH.--URSUS UNDER DIFFERENT ASPECTS. 
I. What the Misanthrope said II. What He did III. Complications IV. 
Moenibus Surdis Campana Muta V. State Policy Deals with Little 
Matters as Well as with Great 
BOOK THE SEVENTH.--THE TITANESS. 
I. The Awakening II. The Resemblance of a Palace to a Wood III. Eve 
IV. Satan V. They Recognize, but do not Know, Each Other 
BOOK THE EIGHTH.--THE CAPITOL AND THINGS AROUND IT. 
I. Analysis of Majestic Matters II. Impartiality III. The Old Hall IV. 
The Old Chamber V. Aristocratic Gossip VI. The High and the Low 
VII. Storms of Men are Worse than Storms of Oceans VIII. He would 
be a Good Brother, were he not a Good Son 
BOOK THE NINTH.--IN RUINS. 
I. It is through Excess of Greatness that Man reaches Excess of Misery 
II. The Dregs 
CONCLUSION.--THE NIGHT AND THE SEA.
I. A Watch-dog may be a Guardian Angel II. Barkilphedro, having 
aimed at the Eagle, brings down the Dove III. Paradise Regained Below 
IV. Nay; on High! 
 
PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 
URSUS. 
I. 
Ursus and Homo were fast friends. Ursus was a man, Homo a wolf. 
Their dispositions tallied. It was the man who had christened the wolf: 
probably    
    
		
	
	
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