A character in Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. Cosette is the illigitimate daughter of Fantine, who had to leave her in the care of the Thénardier
family while she worked to support Cosette. Unknown to the illiterate Fantine, the sociopathically cruel Thénardier
family abuse the little girl and make false claims about her health so that Fantine will send more money to them. The money is then used for their own expenses and to spoil their own daughters, Eponine and Azelma, while Cosette is treated as a virtual slave... until Fantine's
death, when her former boss, Jean Valjean, comes to rescue Cosette, bribing the ruthless Thénardiers to let her go. From there, Jean Valjean and Cosette escape to
Paris.
Nine years later, at age seventeen, Cosette is a
beautiful, well-bred young woman and doted on by Papa Valjean. Trouble begins when she runs into Marius Pontmercy, a young nobleman and student, and they fall in love. Valjean, worried about his discovery by Javert and about his adoptive daughter's safety, tries to thwart the budding love affair until he realizes that she's no longer a little girl and he has to let her go; out of love for her, he saves a wounded
Marius from the barricade. She and
Marius eventually marry before Valjean dies, leaving his life story to her.
Cosette's character is much stronger in the book and the depth of her romance with
Marius a major emotional focus while Eponine is a peripheral character, although no less
sad and pitiful.
Cosette is the peripheral character in the musical, almost
one-dimensional while Eponine's presence is much stronger and shares the pathos with Fantine.
