Chauvert cookie cutters

I've been reading and listening to the Scarlet Pimpernel, Jekyll and Hyde, and Les Miserables. They are three of my favorite books and musicals. It is remarkable how similar the antagonists are, particularly Javert and Chauvelin. Wow. I just realized that they are both French. Javert and Chauvelin both have ideals and their enemies (Valjean and Percy respectively) destroy or corrupt those ideals. They both become more and more obsessed with those enemies as the enemies continue to evade them. They both adore the government. Javert idealizes and represents the Law, while Chauvelin is the hand of the Revolution. They both consider themselves to be correct. Both mercilessly send criminals to death and lifelong imprisonment. Chauvelin seems understand a bit better that he is not pure. He understands that sometimes he sacrifices morals for what he considers the greater good. Javert, on the other hand, does not seem to accept impurity in himself. However, in the end, he also sacrifices his morals for his country by becoming a spy. He acknowledges that, as a spy, he deserves death. When Percy spares Chauvelin, he is confused, but retains his hatred.
' "Then," Chauvelin murmured aghast, "you grant me my life, you---"

"I am sending you back safely as far as Nimes. What happens to you after that I neither know nor care. You have tried to do me such an infinity of wrong at different times, you still hate me so cordially, you---"

He paused for a moment with firm lips tightly pressed together and slender hand clutched upon his knee.

"You are right there, Sir Percy," Chauvelin murmured between his teeth. "God knows how I still hate you, even after this. You have the power to hit back. Why the devil don't you do it (Sir Percy Hits Back, Chap 39)?"'

Javert also retains his hatred but, unlike Chauvelin's determination, commits suicide. I have always thought of suicide as cowardly, and Javert's death is no different. However, in Javert's character, it is forgivable. His understanding of life and his place in the world must alter if he remains alive. He chooses death over giving up his ideals.

Hyde is different in that he is entirely selfish, having few ideals. He also commits suicide, but his death is entirely out of cowardice and fear of the gallows. He is not a lovable character, but we can pity him and his desperate clinging to his own existence. Today is pale, pale blue like a powder for an aristocrat's wig.