What educated person does not know Victor Hugo’s novel "Notre Dame de Paris"? After all, this book is present on any list of compulsory literature recommended for reading by students during the summer holidays. However, even someone who did not bother to get acquainted with this chic work has at least some idea of the novel, thanks to the sensational French musical all over the world. But time flies ahead, our memory weeds out what it does not need. Therefore, for those who have forgotten what Hugo’s novel "Notre Dame de Paris" narrates, we give an amazing opportunity to recall how events unfolded during the time of King Louis XI. Friends, get ready! We are leaving for medieval France!
"Notre Dame Cathedral" Hugo. Summary of the novelThe story told by the author takes place in France in the 15th century. Here the author creates a kind of historical background on which between two people - a beauty and a freak - a whole love drama unfolds, shown in rather vivid colors by Victor Hugo. "Notre Dame de Paris" is, first of all, a love story of a hunchback freak for a charming gypsy.
I’ll sell the soul to the Devil ...
The main character of the novel is a beautiful and young gypsy woman named Esmeralda. It so happened that three men at once became passionate with her: the Cathedral’s archdeacon Claude Frollo, his pupil, the hunchbacked and deaf bell ringer Quasimodo, and the captain of the regiment’s riflemen, the young handsome Phoebe de Châteauper. However, each of them has his own idea of passion, love and honor!
Claude FrolloDespite his mission to serve God, Archdeacon Frollo is hardly a devout man. At one time, it was he who picked up the little ugly boy abandoned by negligent parents at the well, sheltered and raised him. But this does not justify him. Yes, he serves the Lord, but he does not really serve, but simply because it is so necessary! Frollo is endowed with executive power: he commands a whole royal regiment (the captain of which is our other hero, Officer Phoebus), and also repairs justice over people. But this is not enough for him. Once, noticing a beautiful young girl on Grevskaya Square , the archdeacon succumbed to voluptuousness. He has a sex drive and lust for young Esmeralda. Now Frollo cannot sleep at night: he locks himself in his cell and goes crazy for a gypsy.
Having received a refusal from Esmeralda, the false priest begins to take revenge on the young girl. He accuses her of being a sorceress! Claude says that the Inquisition is crying over her, and by hanging! Frollo orders his pupil, the deaf and crooked ringer Quasimod, to catch a gypsy! The hunchback does not manage to do this, because a young officer Phoebe, who accidentally patrolled the territory in that place, pulls her out of his hands.
Beautiful as the sun!Captain Phoebus is one of the nobles who served at court. He has a bride - a charming blonde girl named Fleur-de-Lys. However, Phoebe does not stop it. Rescuing Esmeralda from a hunchback freak, the officer is fond of her. Now he is ready for anything to get a love night with a young gypsy, and he does not even care about the fact that she is a virgin. She reciprocates him! The poor young girl in earnest falls in love with a lascivious officer, taking a simple "glass" for a "diamond"!
One night of love ...Phoebe and Esmeralda agree on an evening meeting in a cabaret called "Shelter of Love." However, their nights were not destined to come true. When the officer and the gypsy are left alone, the desperate archdeacon who tracked down Phoebe stabs him in the back! This blow is not fatal, but for the trial of the gypsy and subsequent punishment (execution by hanging) this attempt on the captain of the shooters is enough.
The beauty and the Beast"
Because Quasimodo could not steal the gypsy, Frollo ordered him to be whipped in the square. And so it happened. When the hunchback asked for a drink, Esmeralda became the only person who responded to his request. She went to the freak chained and gave him a drink from the mug. This made a fatal impression on Quasimodo.
The hunchback, who always and everywhere listened to his master (Archdeacon Frollo), finally went against his will. And everything is to blame for love ... Love of the "monster" for the beauty ... He saved her from prosecution by sheltering in the Cathedral. According to the laws of medieval France, which were taken into account by Victor Hugo, Notre Dame Cathedral and any other church of God was a refuge and shelter for every person persecuted by the authorities for one or another offense.
For several days spent in the walls of Notre Dame de Paris, Esmeralda made friends with a hunchback. She fell in love with these terrible stone chimeras, sitting over the Cathedral and the entire Grevsky Square. Unfortunately, Quasimodo did not wait from the gypsy for mutual feelings. Of course, it cannot be said that she did not pay attention to him. He became her best friend. The girl discerned a lonely and kind soul behind external ugliness.
True and eternal love has erased the outer ugliness of Quasimodo. The hunchback was finally able to find the courage to save his beloved from the death of Claude Frollo, the gallows, threatening her. He went against his mentor.
Eternal love...
Hugo's work "Notre Dame de Paris" is a book with a very dramatic denouement. The finale of the novel few people can leave indifferent. The terrible Frollo still sets in motion his revenge plan - the young Esmeralda is in the loop. But her death will be avenged! The hunchback's love for a gypsy pushes him to kill his own mentor! Quasimodo pushes him against Notre Dame. The poor hunchback loves a gypsy very much. He takes her to the Cathedral, hugs her and ... dies. Now they are together forever.