Like Robespierre, Danton is a complex protagonist who serves as a revolutionary leader while also enriching himself and ensuring his own power. Unlike Robespierre, who is largely a straightforward radical idealist, Danton is prone to compromise. A true politician, he is happy to play all sides until he knows who is likely to come out on top. This is illustrated in the variant spellings of his name. When it is beneficial to him to befriend the nobility, he styles it “d’Anton.” When he wants to seem more working-class and republican, he styles it “Danton,” without the aristocratic apostrophe. He came to power in part on the basis of his incredible ability as an orator to stir up emotions and direct public sentiment.

Danton was born into a middle-class, rural farming family. He is large, strong, and charismatic despite his facial disfigurement due to a childhood accident. As an incredibly intelligent young man, he is able to move to Paris and find work as a lawyer. In comparison with the other protagonists, Camille and Robespierre, Danton is less idealistic and more open to making money wherever he can. As Camille drolly reflects to himself, the Revolution is “for Georges-Jacques to make money out of” (445). Danton’s schemes are never fully elucidated in the text, only hinted at, but it is clear he is making money skimming off military contracts, engaging in stock market speculation, and participating in fraudulent corporate schemes like the French East India Company liquidation. 

In addition to this self-enrichment, Danton’s other fatal flaw is his essential cowardice. While he is content to give bombastic speeches to stir up violence, when the violence erupts, he makes himself scarce. For instance, on October 3, 1789, Danton gives a fiery speech calling for “revenge.” When the people march on Versailles two days later, he does not attend, giving the excuse that he “has an important shipping case” he must work on instead (263).

Another key, and controversial, aspect of Danton’s character is his relentless womanizing and misogyny. He pursues countless women, including Lucile, the wife of his best friend Camille, while his wife, Gabrielle, is neglected at home. He does not believe women should participate in politics and he is derisive of the politically active Mme Roland. He goes so far as to abuse Gabrielle, striking her across the face. It is left ambiguous whether Danton would rape a woman: In a particularly tense moment, Babette Duplay alleges that Danton raped her. Although Robespierre is skeptical of her claims, it is plausible given the way that Danton has treated women throughout the work. In her allegations, she says she was unsurprised at Danton’s actions because, “the things he has done with Citizeness Desmoulins [Lucile], I have heard people say that he has quite fallen upon her, in public” (824). Danton is ultimately brought down by his fatal flaws: his misogyny (Babette’s claims), his greed (financial fraud), and his attempt to play all sides off against each other.

Camille is precocious and intelligent. He is trained as a lawyer, but he is largely unsuccessful in his practice. Although he can be a talented speaker, he is somewhat hampered by his stutter. He truly excels at writing stirring pamphlets like “The Secret History of the Revolution,” and speeches that drive public opinion. (The pamphlets and speeches cited in the work are historically accurate.) 

Camille Desmoulins is a less prominent figure than his friends, Robespierre and Danton, but he serves an important role in the trio. He is the ideological and societal glue that holds them together. Both Robespierre and Danton see Camille as their closest friend, although their relationships are quite different. Robespierre treats Camille as a younger brother who is prone to overexuberant, errant behavior. This is a dynamic grounded in their earliest schooldays when Robespierre promised to do his best to protect Camille. Danton and Camille share a passion for indulging in their desire for carousing and sex. They are a pair of libertines.

In the novel, Camille’s desire to foment revolution and overthrow the monarchy is in no small part driven by his desire for his father’s approval. This fictionalized portrayal of Camille’s relationship with his father humanizes Camille, who otherwise appears larger-than-life. As a young man, Camille overhears his father telling the Prince de Condé that he wants “civil equality” and “fiscal equality.” Inspired by this and seeking his father’s approval, Camille interjects to tell the Prince that he wants “a revolution” and “a republic.” 

After Camille and Danton succeed in their coup in 1792, Camille’s first thoughts are not of what he will do with his newfound power as a ministerial secretary, but rather he loses himself in a fantasy where his father “dash[es] off his congratulations,” only to be forced to admit to himself that “there’s no pleasing some people” (495). Shortly before the trial that will sentence him to death, Camille sees his father one last time. The man seems unable to express his emotions and the meeting is awkward. Even at the end, Camille does not get the approval and affection from his father he so craves.