Misfortune also begins to take a moral toll. Fantine mistakenly attributes her troubles to Madeleine and begins to hate him. She has a sordid affair with a beggarly musician who beats her and then abandons her.
One day a new blow increases her misery. The insatiable Thénardiers bill her 40 francs to cure a fever Cosette has supposedly contracted. Fantine tries to ignore their exorbitant demand, but not for long. One day Marguerite, Fantine's neighbor, finds her sitting on her bed overwhelmed by grief. When the candle suddenly lights Fantine's face, it reveals a gaping hole where her two front teeth had been. The desperate mother has sold them.
Fate now persecutes her relentlessly. She is reduced to the bare necessities of existence. Exhausted, she surrenders to dirt and rags. Creditors plague her. Bad health and endless work sap her vitality. Competition from cheap prison labor reduces her income to a pittance. The crushing blow comes from the Thénardiers. Now they want 100 francs and Fantine becomes a prostitute. But this is not the last ignominy. She is destined to drink her cup of pain to the dregs.
