This work is an evaluation, through the criterion of utilitarian ethics, of the resolutionof an intense moral dilemma in Victor Hugo’s 1862 masterpiece, Les Misérables. Thedilemma is faced by the main protagonist Jean Valjean. Valjean, a former convict, hasredeemed his life and has become mayor of a French city under an assumed name. Yearslater, he learns that someone else has been erroneously arrested as him, and Valjean isfaced with the choice of letting this man be convicted and sent to a horrible punishmentin the galleys, or revealing his identity and facing reimprisonment himself in order tosave him. In doing the latter, he acts according to the demands of deontological ethics,for which the author of the novel explicitly commends him. Nevertheless, this work aversthat in making the latter choice, Valjean, in terms of utilitarian ethics, acts immorally.It affirms this by showing, through the writings of Jeremy Bentham, that in morallyevaluating an action in utilitarian ethical terms, the happiness and unhappiness causedto everyone affected by his act must be quantified and balanced against each other.Due to the effect that the loss of their benevolent mayor has on other characters, thesaving of one individual cannot be seen to be productive of the greatest good. This workthen examines possible objections to this evaluation and through writers on ethics andBentham himself, shows that these objections do not invalidate the central argument ofthe work.