If Hugo does not formulate a theory of pathos in his work, the moral of compassion and pity has been submitted by him to intense and permanent reflexion, in particular when the poet discovers, like so many of his contemporaries, the necessity of addressing the social question ; it is thanks to the subjective, personal experience of pity that one is able to relate to society and humanity, when one puts at the center of attention forgotten and despised creatures such as the “miserables”, the monsters and the animals. But pity is only valid when “immense” and allencompassing. On the other hand, Hugo knows that pity can be dangerous and fallacious and that the imperative of pity first is not limited to the poetic imagination and concerns pratical action as well. The struggle in favour of the amnesty for the former Communards illustrates that point.