Notre Dame de Paris:
Biography
Victor Hugo was born on February 26, 1802, in Bechampsin, eastern France.
As a young boy, he followed his father to Italy and Spain, where he began his elementary education. Hugo's mother was a champion of the Bourbon dynasty and had a profound influence on the young Hugo. After the restoration of the Bourbons, Hugo's father swore allegiance to the new rulers, and Hugo followed his mother back to Paris.
Because of the political stakes of Hugo's family under the Restoration, and because of his mother's influence, Hugo's early work had a conservative bent.
After Charles X came to power, the intensified reactionary rule on the contrary led to the rise of liberalism, and against this background, Hugo's political attitude began to change.
In 1827, he published his famous Preface (to Cromwell) and became the leader of the Romantic movement. Until 1840, he showed the real achievements of Romantic literature with his rich creation of plays, poems and novels.
The establishment and consolidation of the financier's dynasty led Hugo to gradually adopt an attitude of political compromise with reality.
In 1851 Louis Bonaparte launched a counter-revolutionary change, proclaimed the imperial system, and went on a rampage of repression, Hugo and his political faction issued a manifesto to try to resist, but it was a failure, and he was forced to go into exile on December 11th after the coup d'état.
In 1870, the fall of Napoleon III, Hugo ended a long period of exile, triumphantly returned to Paris, was warmly welcomed by the people of Paris.
In 1885, Hugo died in Paris, the French nation mourned, Paris held a large-scale funeral
Synopsis
While the citizens of Paris were immersed in the "April Fools' Day" carnival, the election of the "King of Fools" was taking place in the hall of the court. Everyone brought out the lucky King of Fools. This man had a tetrahedral nose, a horseshoe-shaped mouth, one eye, a hunchback, a limp,...... In all his deformities, there was an unquestionable firmness, seriousness, and courageousness of character. He is - the bell ringer of Notre Dame de Paris, Quasimodo.
Amidst the parade in the street, someone shouted, "Esmeralda is coming!" Immediately the marchers went wild with shouts. People were swarming to the square. In the square, Esméharda, a gypsy girl who made her living by selling her art, was dancing on a Persian carpet. Her light, airy dance drew rapturous applause from the people. Thousands of people were spinning with Esméharda's dance. At this point, Gangowar, the philosopher and satirical poet who was a skeptic, was mesmerized by this splendid sight. He wondered whether the lady was a human being, a fairy or an angel. At this time among all the onlookers there was a grave, calm and gloomy middle-aged man, who at this time paid more attention than any one else to the dancing wench, and from time to time a few curses escaped from his lips. He was Claude Vorono, the vicar-general of Notre Dame de Paris.
In the other corner of the square, in the Dutch tower, the abbess Gündil, on account of the fact that her daughter, fifteen years before, had been snatched from her by the gypsies, chided her with an abhorrent voice to get away. Esméharda felt a sense of alarm and unease.
Esmeharda left the carnival-ridden festival square with her beloved little goat. The curious Gangowar kept following the celestial beauty. When Esméharda reached an alley in the square, suddenly Vorono and Quasimodo rushed out and tried to snatch Esméharda away. Ganguava, seeing this scene, was too frightened to save her. At this critical moment, the Royal Guard passes by, and Squire Fabi saves Esmeralda. Vorono slipped away while the guards were fighting with Gazimodo. And Gazimodo was captured.
Esmeharda was very grateful to Fabi, and after saying goodbye to him, she returned to the Kingdom of the Beggars, where the lower classes of the people of Paris reside, who are French, Spaniards, Italians, and Germans ......, who work as beggars during the day and as thieves at night. Esméharda lived here, she in these beggars, thieves have a lot of magic. Esméharda returned here, men and women beggars are obediently standing columns, originally fierce face also gentle. Gangowar mistakenly entered the beggar's kingdom, was caught, according to the law of the beggar's kingdom, Gangowar will be sentenced to death. In order to save his life, Esméharda agreed to be his "wife". Although Esméharda provided him with food and lodging, he was not allowed to approach her.
Gasimodo was arrested and dragged to the gallows in the Plaza de Greco, where the crowd played and abused the ugly man. When Gazimodo saw Vorono in the crowd, his eyes lit up and his heart rejoiced, but the righteous father, who had adopted him that year, panicked and fled from Gazimodo's gaze. Tied up on the torture table and whipped mercilessly, Garcimodo, thirsting, cries out in desperation, "Give me water to drink!" The people watching mocked him and did nothing. Esmeralda, looking at all this, stepped up from the crowd to the torture platform and tenderly brought the water gourd in her arms to Gazimodo's parched mouth. One saw a line of tears roll out of Gazimodo's ever-dry eyes. Perhaps this is the first time that Gazimodo shed tears. In front of the eyes of such a beautiful, pure, charming, frail girl can be so compassionate to an ugly, vicious people, the crowd off the stage were touched; but the friar in the Dutch tower to see this, and cursed: the abominable gypsy woman. Quasimodo returned to Notre Dame as bell-ringer. Esméharda continued to dance in the square, and Garcimodo leaned against the bell tower of Notre Dame to enjoy Esméharda's dance, and in Garcimodo's eyes showed a tender and lovely gaze.
Gasimodo was adopted by Vorono 16 years ago when he was abandoned by his parents. From then on, Gazimodo took Vorono as his only family. But because of his ugly and deformed appearance, Garcimodo was discriminated against and ridiculed by people. In the heart of Quasimodo was full of hatred. Esméharda's action to repay the grudges of virtue so that Gazimodo y touched, he has unlimited gratitude to Esméharda and pure love and adoration. Vorono since the robbery of Esméharda failed, the heart has not given up the possession of her lust. Vorono in the north tower of the church with lustful eyes looking for Esméharda. Esméharda appeared in the streets and alleys every day with a ganjodo, as usual, to help her collect the coins she earned from selling her art.
The Captain of the Guard, Fabi, made a deep impression on Esmerharda. He was Esmeralda's savior and the idol of her love. But Fabi and his cousin are engaged. By chance, Esméharda dances in the street and is seen by Fabi, who greets Esméharda at her aunt's house for a performance. Esméharda went to Fabi's aunt's house with her beloved little goat. A lady from Fabi's aunt's house took advantage of Esméharda's conversation with Fabi to lure the goat to another house with candy. The lady curiously untied the little pocket around the goat's neck and poured its contents onto the floor, where the goat skillfully fiddled with it, which turned out to be the alphabet, and a moment later it was noticed that the goat fiddled with a word, which was - Fabi. Originally, Esméharda since being rescued heart adore young, handsome, beautiful Fabi, she used two months of hard work to train the little goat. All this was seen by Fabi, who knew the secret in the heart of this gypsy girl. While walking Esméharda out of her aunt's house, Fabi asked Esméharda to meet him at the inn. Fabi tells Vorono's brother the secret. When Vorono learns of this news, and sees that the woman he secretly loves and covets is about to fall into the arms of another man, Vorono arrives at the inn in disguise. When Fabi and Esmejarda cuddle together, Vorono burns with jealousy, draws a dagger and plunges it into Fabi's chest, then quickly slips away. News of the gypsy girl's assassination of the captain of the guard quickly spread through the city of Paris, and Esmejarda was arrested, and she was sentenced by the court to be hanged.
Esmeharda was locked in a dark dungeon and was very weak. That night, Vorono, dressed in a robe, came secretly to the dungeon, where he unabashedly expressed his love and inner pain to Esméharda. Offering to escape with Esméharda, he was sternly refused by Esméharda. Esméharda was taken to the square to be executed. Fabi, who had recovered from his injuries, was sitting upstairs in his aunt's house, looking at Esméharda with a cold face. Fabi is afraid to come forward to prove Esméharda's innocence. At that moment, Quasimodo rushed out of the church, swung his fist over the executioner, lifted Esmeralda high on his shoulders, jumped into the church, and cried out in a hissing voice: Holy Land! A cheer erupted from the crowd, who were moved by Gazimodo's feat. Quasimodo protects Esmejarda. When Vorono again sneaks into Esmeralda's housing late at night, he is beaten by Gazimodo. Understanding that Esméharda is y in love with Fabi, Gazimodo finds Fabi and begs him to meet Esméharda, who confronts Gazimodo with disdain and spurs his horse away.
Soon after, the Parliament again sentenced Esmeharda to death. Upon hearing of this, the people of the Beggar's Kingdom, led by Croban, attacked Notre Dame late at night. The angry crowd poured into the church to rescue their Esmeralda. Unaware of the truth, Quasimodo fought valiantly against the attackers in the church, while Vorono and Gangova took advantage of the confusion to slip into the church and trick Esméhalda out under the pretense of helping her escape. Esmeralda falls into Vorono's clutches again. King Louis XI, hiding in the Bastille, originally thought the civilian riots were an attack on the court and gloated. When he realized that the real purpose of the street riots was to oppose the king, he ordered the suppression of the masses. For a time, bodies were strewn in front of Notre Dame and blood was spilled.
The army was chasing Esméharda, when a black-robed masked man pulled Esméharda, standing in front of the gallows, the black-robed masked man tore off the scarf, revealing his face, which turned out to be the Vorono again he took advantage of the erection of the gallows, and once again coerced Esméharda, saying: in the middle of it and I will let you choose one. Esméharda to death will not obey. Vorono furious, he will Esméharda handed over to the friar's custody, he went to call the search of the military police. The friaress looked at the beautiful, vivacious, spirited Esméharda before her and remembered her own lost daughter. When they took out a tiny embroidered shoe that each of them had kept, the friaress knew that Esméharda was her own lost daughter of 15 years ago, and the mother and daughter hugged and cried. Vorono called the military police, and the executioner dragged Esméharda from the friar woman's arms. The executioner pushed the friaress under the gallows and died instantly.
The sun came out and shone scarlet like fire on the city of Paris. Esmeralda in white swayed in mid-air, and Vorono gave a devilish grin from the upper floors of Notre Dame. A grief-stricken Quasimodo looked at the hanged Esmeralda, lunged at the vicar general and angrily pushed Vorono off the church.
A few years passed, and two connected corpses were found in a cache in the cellars of Montefalcón. One of them was a deformed male corpse, and there was not a trace of strangulation on him. People separated the two corpses, and the bones dissolved into a puff of dust.
Analysis
Notre Dame de Paris is the most concentrated and typical reflection of Hugo's Romantic view of literature and art. Its distinctive features of romanticism are manifested in:
1. bizarre plot
The plot of this novel is twisted and bizarre, dramatic, full of coincidences, exaggerations and grotesqueries that are impossible in real life. For example, the "miracle dynasty" of the poet's peculiar trial; Gazimodo's hijacking of the court, against the attack of thousands of horses; mother and daughter reunion; Gazimodo's bones were separated and turned into dust, etc. These twists and turns, but in the end, they are not the same. These twists and turns, but in essence true to the plot, greatly enhance the drama of the novel, thus increasing its impact.
2. Extraordinary Characters
The characters of the novel are typical of Romanticism: Esmélharda's beauty and strength of character are extraordinary: Gazimodo's extraordinary is shown in his terrible appearance, peculiar behavior, giant-like physical strength, as well as his noble and self-sacrificing love for Esmélharda and the way of expressing it; the contradiction between Krode's abstinence and indulgence, and so on. The characteristics of these characters show Hugo's unique romantic traits, that is, the pursuit of exaggeration, imagination without seeking the details of the real, do not seek to cool reality.
3. Strong contrast
As an aesthetic ideal, the principle of contrast is the most important feature of Hugo's romanticism, which runs through the novel.
First of all, the harmonious and beautiful natural environment of the city of Paris and Notre Dame contrasts sharply with the gloomy and unfortunate life of the people, which exposes the darkness of the feudal tyranny more prominently.
Secondly, there is the contrast between the feudal dynasty, with its arbitrary accusations of people's lives, and the "miracle dynasty", with its respect for human rights and its impartiality;
Most of all, there is the contrast between the characters: the positive and the negative characters - Esmeralda and Quasimodo are representatives of the goodness, sincerity, and beauty of human nature, and Claude and Fabi are representatives of the selfishness, coldness, and ugliness of human nature, the good and the evil, very clearly reflected in the two characters. Good and evil are very distinctly embodied in these two groups of characters, creating a strong contrast. There are also contrasts between positive and positive, negative and negative characters and between the characters themselves, such as the contrast between the appearance and the mind of Quasimodo. The use of the principle of contrast makes the plot and characters of the novel seem more peculiar and the theme more distinct and prominent.
In addition, the author depicts the city pictures with strong colors that are distinctive and splendid in the medieval features, showing the readers a world full of splendor and peculiar sounds.
All these depictions add extremely strongly to the romanticism of the novel.