Climbing to the light: Why Enjolras and Grantaire are like Orestes and Pylades
Wow. That actually improves the dynamic of their relationship. While fandom often interprets the Orestes/Pylades allegory as purely romantic, your interpretation of Pylades protecting Orestes sets Grantaire in a better light. He didn’t just raise himself up to be at Enjolras’s side, he assists him, and that certainly makes him no longer “unaccepted”.
(This is really good so I’m just throwing thoughts around, wheeee)
There’s also the bit after the execution of Le Cabuc, where Combeferre calls out to Enjolras, “We will share your fate.” He probably wasn’t even considering Grantaire when he said it, but poor old R got to be one of the ‘we’ in the end as well…
About Orestes Fasting And Pylades Drunk, I was wondering the other day, why didn’t Grantaire try to protect Enjolras more, stop the shooting- make up some lie, try and fight someone, any of that stuff. Because he probably could have stopped it, if he’d really tried, the National Guard were unsure anyway about what they were doing. Anyway, that’s what you’d expect a person to do if someone they loved was in grave danger, but that’s not what he does. He doesn’t even plead with Enjolras not to throw his life away so easily (and he’d certainly never dream of admonishing him…) he just…goes to him, because he knows Enjolras would rather die for his cause in the manner he chose than whatever other options were available at that point. He’d rather watch ‘the bird in flight’ soar right on away from him than do anything to clip its wings.
Which may be the moment Enjolras realises that even though Grantaire doesn’t subscribe to his ideals, he respects them, he respects them a lot– places them way above his own desires, even. To the point of asking Enjolras if he doesn’t mind dying beside a cynic! That, combined with the realisation that Grantaire would rather die with him than live in a world without him, is what I think made him take his hand and smile…