A summary of Victor Hugo’s "Toilers of the Sea" Automatic translate

Victor Hugo’s novel "Toilers of the Sea" was written in 1866 during his extended exile on the English island of Guernsey. This book is the final part of the writer’s ideological trilogy about the crushing forces weighing on humanity, following the religious fanaticism of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and the social oppression of "Les Misérables" to explore the confrontation between man and the blind forces of nature. The book earned widespread acclaim and has been adapted into film numerous times. Notable cinematic adaptations include films from 1918, 1923, 1936, and 1953, as well as a three-part Soviet-French television series from 1986.

Life on the island of Guernsey and the birth of a feeling

The events unfold in the Channel Islands in the 1820s. In the parish of Saint-Sañon on the island of Guernsey, a young man named Gilliat lives a solitary life. He and the memories of his late mother dwell in the dilapidated "House Beyond the Village," which has a notorious reputation among locals as a haunted house. The superstitious islanders regard Gilliat with hostility, believing him to be a sorcerer who smooths out cattle and spoils wells. In reality, the young man is simply a clever craftsman, a brave sailor, and a silent dreamer.

On Christmas morning, young Deruchette, an orphan and niece of the wealthy shipowner Messrs. Lethierry, playfully traces the name "Gilliat" in the fresh snow with her finger. This incident deeply touches the young man’s soul, awakening in him an unrequited and devoted love.

Mess Lethierry is an old sailor who spent his savings building the first steamship on the archipelago. The Durande successfully plies the waters between Guernsey and Saint-Malo, ensuring the well-being of the shipowner and his niece. In the past, Lethierry suffered the betrayal of his partner, Rantin, who absconded with fifty thousand francs. The captain of the Durande is Sieur Clubin, who enjoys a reputation on the island as a model saint and honest sailor.

Clubin’s Crime and the Disaster of the Durande

In reality, Clubin turns out to be a calculating hypocrite. In Saint-Malo, he uses a revolver to force Rantin, whom he encounters, to return Lethierry’s stolen capital, receiving three English banknotes totaling seventy-five thousand francs. Wanting to pocket the money and escape to America, Clubin plans to stage the sinking of the Durande on the rocks of Ganois, from where it’s easy to swim to shore.

Due to dense fog, the captain miscalculates and strands the steamship on the remote and deadly Dover Cliffs. Clubin evacuates the passengers and crew on the only longboat, while he himself remains on board, feigning loyalty to duty. He hopes to swim to a nearby cliff and escape with the smugglers. However, after jumping into the sea, the hypocritical captain falls into an underwater cave, where he is captured by a giant octopus and dies.

Gilliatt’s exploit on the Dover Reef

News of the Durande’s wreck brings ruin to Mess Lethierry. The steamship’s hull is wrecked, but its valuable steam engine remains intact. The islanders consider salvaging the heavy engine from the Dover Rocks an impossible task. Overwhelmed by her uncle’s grief, Déruchette publicly promises to marry whoever rescues the engine. Gilliatt accepts the challenge and sets off alone in his boat for the reef.

A harsh battle between man and the elements begins. Gilliat settles in a stone burrow at the top of the Great Dover cliff, feeding on shellfish and drinking rainwater. He builds a forge from shipwrecks, harnesses the power of the wind as an ash pan, fashions tools, fastens chains, and constructs breakwaters from beams over the gorge.

During a fierce spring storm, the dams created by Gilliat withstand the onslaught of the sea. Taking advantage of the incoming tide, the hero carefully lowers the heavy engine from the deck directly into his boat. The next day, while foraging in an underwater grotto, Gilliat encounters a huge octopus. In a mortal battle, he defeats the monster with a knife, and in the depths of the cave, he finds Clubin’s skeleton and a chest containing seventy-five thousand francs hidden in his belt.

Having plugged the hole in the boat with his own clothes and a tarpaulin, the exhausted Gilliat scoops out the water and directs the loaded vessel to his home island.

Self-sacrifice and the finale

That night, Gilliatt silently moors at the Quai Saint-Sañon and parks the rescued car right under Lethierry’s window, leaving him Clubin’s belt with the money. A delighted Lethierry rejoices, preparing to immediately marry his rescuer to his niece.

However, Gilliatt, sneaking into the garden of the "Refuge of the Intrepid," accidentally witnesses a passionate declaration between Déruchette and the new young pastor, Ebenezer Codre. The girl confesses her love to the priest. Realizing that Déruchette’s heart belongs to another, Gilliatt displays the greatest nobility and renounces his claim to her hand.

Gilliatt arranges for the urgent wedding of Deruchette and Ebenezaire at the Dean’s, Jacquemin Hérode, having presented Lethiéri’s written consent for the hasty marriage. As a wedding gift, he gives the girl a chest containing his late mother’s dowry and escorts the newlyweds to the ship Kashmir, sailing for England.

After the ship departs, Gilliat goes to the coastal cliff and sits in the stone chair, Gild-Holm-Ur. The tide comes in, and the water begins to slowly rise. Gilliat stares motionless at the departing sailboat. As the Kashmir disappears over the horizon, the waves finally cover the hero’s head, and only the sea remains above the place of his death.