A great novel is not only in the twists and turns of its thrilling plot; it is also in the characters it portrays, the facts it exposes, the human nature it reflects, and the great shock it gives to people.
Notre Dame does this.
This novel is actually quite complex. Having read it so many times, I seem to always be stuck with the simple plot and character actions. But I seem to vaguely see the intensity of the characters' inner struggles.
There's something inexplicably shocking about it.
This is a novel about people. There is no God, and there is no divinity. No one is perfect, all carry flaws. No one is completely sane, all carry more or less of the madness of humanity itself. This is a battle between the good and the evil, the beautiful and the ugly, the pure and the dirty, is a picture of light and bloody love tragedy, and is a French King Louis X down to the beggars and pariahs of the history of the book. In Notre Dame de Paris, the author depicts the lowest class people, vagabonds and beggars in Paris with great sympathy. They are ragged and rough, but they possess virtues far superior to those of the so-called educated and civilized world. The virtues of mutual love, integrity, courage and self-sacrifice. The scene in the novel in which the Parisian vagabonds attack Notre Dame to rescue Esmeralda is tragic, intense, generous and thrilling, and obviously incorporates to some extent the bravery shown by the people of Paris in the July Revolution and the destruction by the people of Paris of the Church of St. Germain and the Archbishop's Palace in Paris. The novel also hints at the outbreak of the 1789 Revolution by predicting, through the mouths of the book's characters, that the people will rise up and smash the Bastille.
The towering and majestic Notre Dame de Paris. The riots and bloodshed of the Louis dynasty. Uglies and gypsy girls. Humble and tragic love. Turning "Notre Dame de Paris", I seem to enter a dreamy and grandiose era, where holy churches and sordid beggar streets coexisted, high-powered bishops and the king of the scandalous strutting through the streets coexisted, and amazing beauty and horrific ugliness coexisted. The French great writer Hugo's pen constantly flowing, not only a faltering dynasty, not only a strong and difficult woman, not only the intertwining of love and hate, but also human nature, the beauty and ugliness of the immortal collision.
In 1482, the city of Paris, under the rule of King Louis XI, was immersed in the carnival atmosphere of April Fool's Day. On the square in front of Notre Dame, Esmeralda, a gypsy girl from Egypt, won the applause of the people with her beautiful face and graceful dance. She took the money they gave her and gave it to the poor children, saying to them, "Take all this money and go to your festival!" The children asked her, "What about you?" She said, "Leave me alone, I have a festival every day." Yes, that was her - Esmeralda. But the gods of fate had set everything in motion at this time. In the midst of the throng of spectators, a pale, middle-aged man, dressed in black clerical robes, hiding behind a glass window, was also peeping at Esmeralda's dancing. He was Frollo, the alchemist and deputy bishop of Notre Dame de Paris. When he saw the colorful gypsy girl singing and dancing, her brisk steps and exquisite dance suddenly awakened the lust he had buried in his heart for more than ten years. He was unable to control himself, unable to cast away the devil that had captured his soul. In order to get rid of the boredom in his heart, he went to the square to drive away the vendors who were hawking, saying that he would not be allowed to fool around in front of the church. And all this only for the sake of his disinterested psyche ........ These vendors did not take him seriously and attacked him. While this was going on, out of the church rushed a strangely ugly-looking, tall, and powerful man, who pushed his way through the crowd and rescued the priest. He was Quasimodo. It turned out that he was a deformed child abandoned by his parents in front of Notre Dame in Paris. Frollo raised him out of pity and deafened him by ringing the bells all day long. For the sake of devotion, it's not his fault. The merrymakers were looking for a "Pope of Fools", and Esmeralda took a fancy to the deaf and ugly bell-tower monster Quasimodo. He was crowned, robed, whistled, and paraded through the streets on a high palanquin. Quasimodo was whistling happily when he suddenly saw the grim-faced Frollo standing in front of the palanquin. The priest knocks off his crown and drags him back to Notre Dame. Why? Perhaps only for the unbearable humility!
Is it my fault that she looks so beautiful? Is it my fault that she dances so well? Is it my fault that she can drive people mad?" He just couldn't help himself, "Go!" Yet this command changed her fate ..... Quasimodo, "Go get her!" The clock tower monster ran quickly to Esmeralda, picked her up and ran towards Notre Dame ...... A destiny that cannot be escaped ......
A cry of "Help!" sent her wandering through the "Miracle Dynasty". And at that time in that "miracle dynasty" under the rule of the "kingdom of black words", the beggar king Klauban is trying to understand the cut and mistakenly into the "miracle palace" of the poor poet Ganguo wa. According to the rules of the dynasty, he has only two choices: to be paired with a noose or to marry one of the women of the kingdom. But none of the older women want him because they think he's too thin. Thus, Gangowa is left to be hanged. In the nick of time, Esmeralda stepped forward and cried out, "I want him". Thus, the two were married on the spot. The kind-hearted maiden agrees to marry him, but only to save his life by taking him back to her home, where she feeds and lodges him, but does not sleep with him. At this point, if it were us, ask how many people would be willing to do this? How many people have the courage to do so?
And when we see that Quasimodo, who committed the crime of forcibly robbing the people's women, was brought to the square for public flogging after a cursory trial. Kneeling in the blazing sun on behalf of the bell tower monster thirst, he shouted to the soldiers and the crowd of onlookers for water, but the answer was a teasing and abusive. At that moment, the beautiful Esmeralda, who had been in the midst of the crowd, brought the water to Quasimodo's mouth. Heart full of gratitude, Quasimodo full of tears, could not help saying: "beauty ...... beauty ...... beauty", and at this moment he made a lifelong promise.
See here, I should be happy or sad?
In the square, the poor poet Gangovar helps Esmeralda put on a goat-recognition program. The goat picked up the name of the sun god Phobos in a pile of Latin letters. At this time Phobos is pandering to the queen and her daughter for favor in the royal palace next to the square. Princess Lily told Forbes to go to the square and drive Esmeralda away to confirm his love for her. Phoebus rides to the square, loudly booms the entertainers who are performing, and whispers to the girl to book a rendezvous for tonight at the usual place. However this rendezvous, who knew that it would bring her endless darkness .......
The disturbed Frollo heard that Gangowa and the girl have married, angry very angry, when they learned that they are only a nominal husband and wife, and then turned from worry to joy. He met the drunken captain of the guards in the street, listening to him say that he is going to go and the girl to meet, and immediately said to discourage the girl is already married, but Phoebus retorted: "Why do you confuse love and marriage." And who should discourage whom? Is selfishness really the soul of mankind? Evil? Darkness? The gears are still turning quietly ......... Unexpectedly Forbes was stabbed and she was caught as a witch.
For what? Quasimodo hid the girl in his own housing and slept like a daemon at the door of the room? And when Esmeralda, who suddenly woke up, saw the face of Quasimodo, she was horrified. Quasimodo hastens to escape and runs to the belfry and bangs his head desperately against the great bell, which chimes low as a sob. Esmeralda came to him, and Quasimodo, covering his face with his hands, murmured, "My face is ugly and always frightening." To comfort him, the girl dances for him with a cheerful rhythm. Quasimodo, who was so excited, rang the bell of Notre Dame for the girl with the weight of his body as if he were on a swing. His hearty laughter fills the entire bell tower. Quasimodo flies around the bell tower on a rope, picking blooming flowers for Esmeralda. Love in the frozen season.
Suddenly the girl spotted the captain of the guards in the square, she called his name but he would not look up at her. She asked Quasimodo to go to him, but he, in order to get the princess's rich dowry and his domain in St. Paul's, did not care to listen to the girl's pleas and galloped away. The kind-hearted Quasimodo found that he had dishonored the girl's mission. And y remorseful ........
Two characters that will never be born - between Frollo and Quasimodo, and Esmeralda, monstrous love.
Frollo is unfortunate. He is a poor, contemptible, ignorant, sub-priest. He is good, because of the asceticism of the Church, and therefore adopts Quasimodo, whom everyone scorns. However, he is not a god, but a human being, possessing humanity and in need of love. The more human nature is repressed the more it rebounds. Frollo, who has never enjoyed worldly love, bursts out under the stimulation of Esmeralda's graceful dance. The poor thing is that he doesn't know how to love at all. Repressed humanity tortures this poor, church-twisted soul, which finally becomes deformed and finally tears itself apart, shamelessly saying, "Choose between me and it." He was a product of his time, and only that monstrous society of the time could have produced such a monstrous man - rather, the times could not have produced such an extreme man, but it also shows that human nature should never be so repressed. Yet even now, is the humanity of the students respected enough?
The inside of the church is so eerie that it reminds one of how dirty and corrupt society was at that time under the cover of religion, and how the true goodness of religion and the use of religion to create bloodshed create a strong sensory stimulus. Throughout the book is carried out in such a contrast, so that the human mind y appreciate the lost, confused, and uneasy, if there is a sword, you will do your best to pierce the layer of cloud over the society, the cloud is evil, you are full of anger and contempt for it, just like the book of those vagabonds to treat the society with the crazy revenge. But you can't, because if you want to sting those evils, you'd first have to knock God, who stands for truth, goodness and beauty, to the ground, and what a cruel thing that would be! Is there anything sadder than the loss of man's nature!
Cassimodo was also unfortunate. Inferiority, which created in him a love that only gives and does not take - a love that, not enjoying the joy of love at all, is a painful love. Esmeralda's kettle, the grace of a drop of water, Quasimodo's parched heart will instantly green shoots all over. Yet he was a ...... A man who, except for his mind, is not human. Extremely deformed, shaped, as rough as a low polygonal figure in Warcraft. Therefore he is so inferior that all he can say is, "If you'd like me to fall from there, you don't even have to speak a word, just a wink would suffice." His ugly, deformed appearance was always the gulf that could never be crossed between him and Esmeralda. In the end, the only way to cross this gap was through death. Some say this is the most beautiful couple, and I think that may be the only way. Touched by this scene, I can not help but think of Bajin's home to throw herself into the lake to die for love of the girl Mingfeng, is it difficult to love the ultimate meaning of love is to die for love? These two protagonists have tangled together the unfortunate life, appearance of the huge contrast can not hide their **** have the innocence and goodness of nature, in the light of this kind of goodness and beauty of their nature, the other characters in the novel are exposed to the essence of the despicable.
However, there are also two real characters, Gamgoire and Phobos, two people who have no love for Esmeralda.
Gangoire is completely ordinary. Representing neither good nor evil, just a class of, blind, ignorant, numb, spectator-like, ordinary people. A guy who can abandon love, dignity, and responsibility in order to survive, neither cold nor passionate. Everything he does is routine or on a mission. There were many such people.
Yet Forbes is an asshole. How ironic that thanks to Hugo he is portrayed as a typical playboy lookalike - young, handsome, beautiful, engaged to be married and still out looking for women. He rendezvoused with Esmeralda not at all because he was in love with Esmeralda, but to, well, pick up, Esmeralda. An old hand at playing with women can be seen here. Esmeralda is a beautiful sixteen-year-old woman who can sing and dance, and is not recognized or accepted by the hierarchical high society of the time because she was stolen from her home as a child by gypsies and raised among wandering entertainers. When she is heroically rescued by the handsome and dashing Captain Forbes of the Royal Guard during a late-night robbery, she falls in love at first sight, and he is captured by her beauty.
Esmeralda, like all the heroines in Joan of Arc novels, fell in love with the one she loved without complaint or regret as soon as she met him. Regardless of whether this love is fruitful or not, regardless of whether the other party really love themselves, and even know that this kind of love can not be fruitful, and even know that the other party does not really love themselves, but also still in love with each other, and still to such an illusory love faithful and unswerving. Esmeralda fell into trouble, good and simple she thought Forbes see her once, will help her out of the predicament, but she could never imagine that she in the eyes of Forbes is just a special thing only, dispensable - the last is still Forbes searched and arrested her.
Forbes, is not bound by the law - for the law cannot bind human feelings. There is only the power of morality. And yet, Forbes, even if he had no morals at all, what could be done with him - he was indeed, after all, just going about his routine, carrying out his mission. Wearing such a hat, Forbes got away with it until today.
Hugo used his pungent and thick pen to express his compassion for Frollo, the vice-bishop of Notre Dame, who struggled under the oppression of the Church, his mockery of Captain Forbes, his contempt for the scribbling poet Gangeois, his hatred for the hypocritical, cunning and cruel Louis XI, and his love for Quasimodo and Esmeralda, a pair of tragic figures who were worlds apart in appearance but as good and pure as one in their hearts. The praise and regret for Quasimodo and Esmeralda, a pair of tragic figures who are worlds apart in appearance but good and pure in heart, pushes the contrast between beauty and ugliness to the limit. Let us re-examine what is beauty and what is ugliness? Under the ugly appearance, there may be hidden a fiery innocent heart; handsome and beautiful face, may also be buried deep dirty and shameful, despicable and twisted heart. Therefore, people do not have to give up on themselves for their own congenital deficiencies, not to mention the excessive pursuit of beauty on the outside, with a heart of kindness to others, selflessness, cherish life, love of life, full of responsibility is what every person should have. At the same time, we must learn to cherish the feelings between people: affection, friendship, love ...... respect for everyone around us, do not wait for these bright spots that make life wonderful to pass away before regretting it.
The eternal whimpering of the river, the endless sighs of the breeze, the record of tragedy had stayed - "Notre Dame de Paris" is worthy of the world's literary treasure trove of the best, Hugo is worthy of the 19th century leader of Romantic literature.