In the corners of one of the towers of the great cathedral, someone's long-decayed hand inscribed the word "rock" in Greek. Then the word itself disappeared. But out of it was born a book about a gypsy, a hunchback and a priest.
On January 6, 1482, on the occasion of the feast of baptism, the mystery "The Righteous Judgment of the Blessed Virgin Mary" is given in the Palace of Justice. A huge crowd gathers in the morning. Ambassadors from Flanders and the Cardinal of Bourbon should be invited to the spectacle. Gradually, the audience begins to grumble, and the schoolchildren rage the most: among them stands out the sixteen-year-old blond imp Jehan - the brother of the learned archdeacon Claude Frollo. Nervous author of the mystery Pierre Gringoire orders to begin. But the unfortunate poet is unlucky; as soon as the actors uttered the prologue, the cardinal appears, and then the ambassadors. The townspeople from the Flemish city of Ghent are so colorful that the Parisians stare only at them. General admiration is evoked by the hosiery Maitre Copinol, who, without defiance, converses in a friendly way with the disgusting beggar Clopin Trouillefou. To Gringoire's horror, the damned Fleming honors his mystery with the last words and offers to do a much more fun thing - to elect a buffoon's pope. They will be the one who makes the most terrible grimace. Applicants for this lofty title stick their physiognomy out of the window of the chapel. The winner is Quasimodo, the bell ringer of Notre Dame Cathedral, who does not even need to grimace, he is so ugly. The monstrous hunchback is dressed in an absurd robe and carried on his shoulders in order to pass, according to custom, through the streets of the city. Gringoire is already hoping for a continuation of the ill-fated play, but then someone shouts that Esmeralda is dancing in the square - and all the remaining spectators are blown away by the wind. Gringoire, in anguish, wanders to the Greve Square to look at this Esmeralda, and an inexpressibly lovely girl appears before his eyes - either a fairy, or an angel, who, however, turned out to be a gypsy. Gringoire, like all the spectators, is completely fascinated by the dancer, but the gloomy face of a not yet old, but already bald man stands out in the crowd: he viciously accuses the girl of witchcraft - after all, her white goat beats a tambourine with a hoof six times in response to the question of what day it is today. number. When Esmeralda begins to sing, a woman's voice full of frenzied hatred is heard - the recluse of the Roland Tower curses the gypsy offspring. At this moment, a procession enters the Place Greve, in the center of which Quasimodo flaunts. A bald man rushes towards him, frightening the gypsy, and Gringoire recognizes his teacher of sealants - father Claude Frollo. He tears off the tiara from the hunchback, tears the mantle to shreds, breaks the staff - the terrible Quasimodo falls to his knees before him. The day, rich in spectacle, comes to an end, and Gringoire, without much hope, wanders after the gypsy. Suddenly, he hears a piercing scream: two men are trying to cover Esmeralda's mouth. Pierre calls the guards, and a dazzling officer appears - the head of the royal shooters. One of the kidnappers is captured - this is Quasimodo. The gypsy does not take her enthusiastic eyes off her savior - Captain Phoebus de Chateauper.
Fate brings the ill-fated poet to the Court of Miracles - the kingdom of beggars and thieves. The stranger is seized and taken to the Altyn King, in whom Pierre, to his surprise, recognizes Clopin Trouillefou. Local morals are severe: you need to pull out the wallet from the scarecrow with bells, so much so that they do not ring - a noose awaits the loser. Gringoire, who made a real chime, is dragged to the gallows, and only a woman can save him - if there is one that she wants to take as her husband. No one coveted the poet, and he would have been swinging on the crossbar if Esmeralda had not released him out of the kindness of her soul. The emboldened Gringoire tries to claim marital rights, but the fragile songstress has a small dagger in this case - in front of the astonished Pierre, the dragonfly turns into a wasp. The ill-fated poet lies down on a skinny bedding, for he has nowhere to go.
The next day, Esmeralda's kidnapper is put on trial. In 1482 the disgusting hunchback was twenty years old, and his benefactor Claude Frollo was thirty-six. Sixteen years ago, a little freak was placed on the porch of the cathedral, and only one person took pity on him. Having lost his parents during a terrible plague, Claude was left with the baby Jean in his arms and fell in love with him with a passionate, devoted love. Perhaps the thought of his brother made him pick up the orphan, whom he named Quasimodo. Claude fed him, taught him to write and read, put him on the bells, so Quasimodo, who hated all people, was dog-like devoted to the archdeacon. Perhaps more he loved only the Cathedral - his home, his homeland, his universe. That is why he unquestioningly carried out the order of his savior - and now he had to answer for this. The deaf Quasimodo gets to the deaf judge, and it ends in tears - he is sentenced to whips and a pillory. The hunchback does not understand what is happening until they start flogging him to the hooting of the crowd. The torment does not end there: after the scourging, the good townspeople throw stones and ridicule at him. He hoarsely asks for a drink, but is answered with bursts of laughter. Suddenly, Esmeralda appears in the square. Seeing the culprit of his misfortunes, Quasimodo is ready to incinerate her with his eyes, and she fearlessly climbs the stairs and brings a flask of water to his lips. Then a tear rolls down the ugly physiognomy - the fickle crowd applauds "the majestic spectacle of beauty, youth and innocence, which came to the aid of the embodiment of ugliness and malice." Only the recluse of the Roland Tower, barely noticing Esmeralda, bursts into curses.
A few weeks later, at the beginning of March, Captain Phoebe de Chateaupere is courting his fiancee Fleur-de-Lys and her bridesmaids. For fun, for the sake of the girl, they decide to invite a pretty gypsy girl who dances on Cathedral Square into the house. They quickly repent of their intention, for Esmeralda overshadows them all with grace and beauty. She herself gazes intently at the captain, puffed up with complacency. When the goat puts together the word "Phoebus" from the letters - apparently well known to her, Fleur-de-Lys faints, and Esmeralda is immediately expelled. She also attracts the eye: Quasimodo looks at her with admiration from one window of the cathedral, Claude Frollo gloomily contemplates her from the other. Next to the gypsy, he spotted a man in a yellow-red tights - before she always performed alone. Going downstairs, the archdeacon recognizes his disciple Pierre Gringoire, who disappeared two months ago. Claude eagerly asks about Esmeralda: the poet says that this girl is a charming and harmless creature, a true child of nature. She keeps chastity, because she wants to find her parents through an amulet - and he allegedly helps only virgins. Everyone loves her for her cheerful disposition and kindness. She herself believes that in the whole city she has only two enemies - the recluse of the Roland Tower, who for some reason hates the gypsies, and some priest who constantly pursues her. With the help of a tambourine, Esmeralda teaches her goat tricks, and there is no witchcraft in them - it took only two months to teach her how to add the word "Phoebus". The archdeacon becomes extremely excited - and on the same day he hears how his brother Jean friendly calls out to the captain of the royal shooters by name. He follows the young rake to the tavern. Phoebus gets drunk a little less than the schoolboy, because he has an appointment with Esmeralda. The girl is so in love that she is ready to sacrifice even an amulet - since she has Phoebus, why does she need a father and mother? The captain begins to kiss the gypsy, and at that moment she sees a dagger raised above him. Before Esmeralda, the face of the hated priest appears: she loses consciousness - waking up, she hears from all sides that the sorceress stabbed the captain.
A month passes. Gringoire and the Court of Miracles are in terrible anxiety - Esmeralda has disappeared. One day, Pierre sees a crowd at the Palace of Justice - they tell him that they are trying a she-devil who killed a military man. The gypsy stubbornly denies everything, despite the evidence - a demonic goat and a demon in a priest's cassock, which was seen by many witnesses. But she cannot stand the torture with a Spanish boot - she confesses to witchcraft, prostitution and the murder of Phoebus de Chateauper. According to the totality of these crimes, she is sentenced to repentance at the portal of Notre Dame Cathedral, and then to hanging. The goat must be subjected to the same punishment. Claude Frollo comes to the casemate, where Esmeralda is looking forward to death. On his knees, he begs her to run away with him: she turned his life upside down, before meeting her he was happy - innocent and pure, lived only by science and fell, seeing the wondrous beauty that was not created for human eyes. Esmeralda rejects both the hated priest's love and his proposed salvation. In response, he angrily shouts that Phoebus is dead. However, Phoebus survived, and the fair-haired Fleur-de-Lys again settled in his heart. On the day of execution, lovers coo gently, looking out the window with curiosity - the jealous bride will be the first to recognize Esmeralda. The gypsy, seeing the beautiful Phoebus, falls unconscious: at that moment, Quasimodo picks her up in her arms and rushes to the Cathedral with a cry of “shelter”. The crowd greets the hunchback with enthusiastic cries - this roar reaches the Greve Square and the Roland Tower, where the recluse does not take her eyes off the gallows. The victim slipped away, hiding in the church.
Esmeralda lives in the Cathedral, but cannot get used to the terrible hunchback. Not wanting to annoy her with his ugliness, the deaf man gives her a whistle - he is able to hear this sound. And when the archdeacon pounces on the gypsy, Quasimodo almost kills him in the dark - only the ray of the moon saves Claude, who begins to be jealous of Esmeralda for the ugly ringer. At his instigation, Gringoire raises the Court of Miracles - beggars and thieves storm the Cathedral, wanting to save the gypsy. Quasimodo desperately defends his treasure - young Jean Frollo dies from his hand. Meanwhile, Gringoire'tayk takes Esmeralda out of the Cathedral and involuntarily hands her over to Claude, who takes her to the Place de Grève, where he offers his love for the last time. There is no salvation: the king himself, having learned about the rebellion, ordered to find and hang the sorceress. The gypsy recoils in horror from Claude, and then he drags her to the Roland Tower - the recluse, putting her hand out from behind the bars, tightly grabs the unfortunate girl, and the priest runs after the guards. Esmeralda begs to let her go, but Paquette Chantfleurie only laughs angrily in response - the gypsies stole her daughter from her, let their offspring die now. She shows the girl her daughter's embroidered slipper - Esmeralda has exactly the same one in her amulet. The recluse almost loses her mind with joy - she has found her child, although she has already lost all hope. Too late, mother and daughter remember the danger: Paquette tries to hide Esmeralda in her cell, but in vain - the girl is dragged to the gallows, In the last desperate impulse, the mother sinks her teeth into the executioner's hand - she is thrown away, and she falls dead. From the height of the Cathedral, the archdeacon looks at the Greve Square. Quasimodo, who has already suspected Claude of kidnapping Esmeralda, sneaks after him and recognizes the gypsy - a noose is put on her neck. When the executioner jumps on the girl’s shoulders, and the body of the executed woman begins to beat in terrible convulsions, the priest’s face is distorted with laughter - Quasimodo does not hear him, but he sees a satanic grin, in which there is nothing human anymore. And he pushes Claude into the abyss. Esmeralda on the gallows, and the archdeacon prostrate at the foot of the tower - that's all the poor hunchback loved.
retold
1482. Celebration in Greve Square. The young poet Per Gringoire, with bated breath, is watching the staging of his play on the platform - allegorical and drawn out. The play ended in failure. For the entertainment of the crowds, they arrange a fun: the election of the Pope of Jesters. What terrible grimaces the contenders make! But the Pope is elected freak Quasimodo - the bell ringer of Notre Dame Cathedral. A red-haired, one-eyed, deaf hunchback - he doesn’t even need to make an effort, he’s so ugly. However, Quasimodo has incredible power, which leads the audience into a state of mock admiration.
Esmeralda, a lovely thin black-eyed girl, is performing in the square. She dances, sings, coins woven into them according to the gypsy custom jingle in her braids. Together with her, a little white goat Djali performs - on the orders of the hostess she beats time on a tambourine, depicts - very similarly - important persons of the city.
- This is sorcery! an ominous bald man speaks muffledly in the crowd. This is the archdeacon.
Not only does he curse the pretty gypsy girl - the curse of the "Egyptian locust" is sent from her pit by the insane recluse of Roland's tower. Quasimodo in a jester's cap is carried through the streets. The archdeacon scolds him, the freak throws himself on his knees before the priest and kisses his hand.
In the evening, Gringoire saw a gypsy girl on the streets of the city and followed her. The girl realized that the poet was safe, and made a contemptuous grimace. And then two men attacked the girl, in one of whom the poet recognized Quasimodo. They wanted to take her away. The goat, pointing her horns at them, bleated plaintively. The poet rushed to the defense of the girl, but was no more dangerous for the attackers than a goat - Quasimodo threw him to the ground.
At the noise and screams, the guards arrived in time - the night watch. Captain Phoebe de Chateauper orders Quasimodo to be bound and arrested, the girl learns the name of the savior and thanks him heartily - he struck her imagination with beauty and bearing.
The poet wanders around the city and, to his misfortune, finds himself in the courtyard of Miracles - this is the courtyard where thieves and beggars live. Stink, dirt, creepy faces. In one corner, a young beggar is taking a lesson from an old beggar in how to mimic an epileptic fit with a bar of soap. In another corner, two thieves are quarreling over a stolen child, and nearby, a "poor patient" removes fake sores from himself, the terrible appearance of which forced passers-by to give him coins.
The King of Beggars orders Gringoire to be hanged. It's not a joke. According to the rules of the beggars, the execution will be canceled if any woman takes the condemned husband. Vile beggars and thieves do not see any use in the poet, and mercy was not noticed in them from birth. Gringoire rescued by Esmeralda. With her charming grimace, she declares:
- I'm taking it.
The poet is told to break an earthenware mug. It is divided into four parts. It is announced that Gringoire becomes the husband of a gypsy for four years.
In the closet of a gypsy, the poet tries to hug her waist, but the girl shows him a sharp dagger, and the goat shows almost the same sharp horns. The girl saved him from the gallows: - that's all. The street dancer is a heavenly creature!
Gringoire devours a modest meal with appetite and offers friendship to the gypsy. There is also a conversation about love. It turns out that Captain Phoebus has captured the girl's imagination. The poet says that the name Phoebus means "sun".
- Sun! Esmeralda repeats admiringly.
Now let's fast forward sixteen years. On the porch of the Notre Dame Cathedral they threw a bag with a disgustingly ugly child of four years old: one-eyed, red, humpbacked. It was Quasimodo. Unexpectedly for the nuns, a young priest, Claude Frollo, adopted a freak.
The fate of the priest was not easy. He studied with passion, was immersed in books. Many considered him a warlock. During the epidemic, his father and mother died, and Claude took care of his little brother Jean. So the fate of the unfortunate freak touched the heart of a stern priest - after all, his brother could end up in an orphanage.
Quasimodo grew up in the shadow of the cathedral. The cathedral became his universe. Quasimodo's temper was vicious, because his appearance was ugly and everyone laughed at him. He was deafened by the ringing of the bells. And although Claude with great difficulty taught the freak to speak, deafness doomed him to dumbness. Quasimodo loved only the cathedral, especially its bells, and Claude Frollo, who was for him like a master for a dog.
Neither the priest nor the ringer enjoyed the love of the people. The old women used to say: "A priest's soul is like a ringer's body."
For attacking a “girl of easy virtue” and breaking the silence, Quasimodo was sentenced to punishment at the pillory. Here's the fun! Yes, the suffering of some in those cruel times served as entertainment for others.
Here are two women with a fat boy going to the Roland Tower to look at the "secret woman" who voluntarily imprisoned herself in a cell as a sign of grief and repentance. This is the Package. From the age of fourteen she led a dissolute life and quickly sank to the very bottom. God took pity on her and gave her a daughter. Paqueta fell madly in love with her Agnes. She dressed up the baby like a doll. She herself sewed tiny pink shoes for her - there were no others like them in the whole world! The girl was charming: huge eyes, curly black hair. And this little cherub was stolen by the gypsies. Only one slipper embroidered with beads and gold thread remained. Everyone decided that the gypsies ate the child at their demonic coven. And the mother, who turned gray in one night, locked herself in a cell and since then has been sending curses to the gypsies.
In the square, tied to a wheel, Quasimodo is scourged. The public is laughing. The unfortunate hunchback is also mocked by the fair-haired, pretty Jean, the brother of Claude Frollo. Alas, he grew up a frivolous rake. The bloodied hunchback is tied to the pillory. Stones and insults are thrown at him. "Pee!" - the freak begs, but in response - only an explosion of laughter.
Suddenly, a gypsy girl appears in the square, accompanied by a little white goat with gilded horns. She goes up to the pillory. Quasimodo is sure that she wants to hit him - to avenge the attempted kidnapping. The hunchback wriggles in the ropes. Esmeralda takes a flask of water from her belt and brings it to the thirsty lips. A tear slowly falls from Quasimodo's eye.
The people are also moved by the spectacle of beauty, charm and fragility, which came in a fit of mercy to help the embodiment of misfortune, ugliness and malice. Everyone shouts: “Glory! Glory!"
And only from the cell are curses heard to the “gypsy offspring”.
Some time later, young girls on the high terrace gossip. Fleur-de-Lys tries to captivate the handsome Phoebus, but he is rather indifferent to her. Noticing a gypsy with a goat, the girls ask Phoebus to call her to have fun. The beauty of a gypsy unpleasantly embarrasses noble girls. They begin to mock Esmeralda. The girl is embarrassed, she caresses her goat.
Letters of the alphabet spill out of the gypsy's purse. The goat, apparently taught in advance, puts together the name FEB from the letters. This is how the secret of a gypsy in love is revealed. Esmeralda is called a witch and driven away. Phoebus leaves after her.
The priest questions Gringoire about his strange wedding. Gringoire often visits the gypsy girl, he loves her like a brother and is very attached to the quick-witted goat. The poet tells the priest that Esmeralda is a perfect child. On her chest is a talisman that will help her find her mother, but only if she remains a virgin.
It is clear that Claude Frollo was inflamed with a sinful passion for the gypsy. Unfortunately, he overheard a conversation between Captain Phoebus and a friend (schoolboy Jean). Phoebus boasts that the gypsy girl promised to come to him and give her love. The priest is angry. He follows the captain and asks him if it is true that he has a meeting with a street dancer.
Phoebus swears that it is. But he has nothing to pay the old woman who provides closets for dates. Claude gives the captain a large coin in exchange for a promise to let him into a nearby closet so that he can be convinced of the debauchery of the gypsy.
And so it happens. Exhausted by jealousy, the archdeacon overhears the chatter of the lovers. The gypsy asks the captain to teach her his faith, because they will get married, right? Phoebus assures her that the wedding will add nothing to their love. Embarrassed, Esmeralda tries to resist, but then exclaims fervently:
- Isn't it really funny? Dancer to marry an officer? I'll be your fun, your toy...
Phoebus pressed his lips to her bare shoulders.
And then the priest burst into the closet and hit the captain twice with a dagger. Then he pressed Esmeralda's lips with a kiss more burning than red-hot iron, and jumped out of the open window overlooking the river. A little later, soldiers of the night watch burst into the closet:
- The witch stabbed the officer with a knife!
Esmeralda is on trial for murder and witchcraft. Together with her, a goat is also tried for witchcraft (trials on animals at that time were not uncommon). At first, the girl denies everything, but under torture she confesses both to the murder and to participation in the witches' sabbats...
Esmeralda is sentenced to hang. A priest comes to her, confesses his love and persuades her to run away with him. When asked about Phoebe, Claude replies that he died. Esmeralda replies that then she has no reason to live either.
But Phoebus did not die. Such people are alive. Having recovered from his wound, he began to look after Fleur-de-Lys and was soon announced as her fiancé. Together with Fleur, they watch as the unfortunate gypsy is being taken on a wagon to the gallows. The gypsy did not immediately, but also noticed the captain and held out her hands to him: “Phoebus! My Phoebus! I'm not guilty!"
And then someone's strong hands grabbed her... It was Quasimodo. As if he carried the girl in his arms like a precious booty and disappeared into the Notre Dame Cathedral with a cry: “Refuge! Shelter! The crowd cheered, the women wept. It was a true lesson in mercy. At that moment, Quasimodo was truly beautiful.
From the top of the great bell tower, he showed his booty to all Paris and again shouted in a thunderous voice:
- Shelter! Shelter! Shelter!
And the crowd responded:
- Glory! Glory!
Claude Frollo did not know about this kidnapping. Therefore, a terrible ghost during his nightly walk around the cathedral seemed to him a figure in white with a faithful goat, clinging to his feet.
Quasimodo wants nothing for himself. He faithfully serves his goddess, fearing to offend her once again with his ugliness. Esmeralda asks Quasimodo to bring Phoebus to her. The hunchback fulfills her order, but the captain beats him, because he does not want to hear more about the girl at all. The ugly strong man could strangle the warrior with his bare hands, but does not do this, because he does not want to raise his hand against the one whom Esmeralda loves. Love for a girl transforms the hunchback's soul: he begins to compose songs, puts two vessels with flowers in Esmeralda's room. Water leaked out of a cracked crystal vessel, and the flowers withered. And the flowers in a simple earthenware vessel remained fresh. Phoebus is a flawed crystal vessel, Quasimodo is a simple clay one. Esmeralda understood this image and wore the withered bouquet on her chest all day. That day Quasimodo did not sing his songs.
Claude Frollo found out that the gypsy was alive, crept up to her and began to beg for love. But the girl summoned Quasimodo, and the unfortunate hunchback stood up for her, experiencing terrible agony, due to the fact that he opposes his tutor.
The priest, obsessed with jealousy now for Quasimodo, decides to end Esmeralda and his love at all costs. He deceives Gringoire, telling him that there is a decree of the king - to take the gypsy and execute him. The poet, who has made friends with beggars and vagabonds, persuades them to start storming the cathedral in order to steal the gypsy. The beggars launch an assault and this allows Claude, unrecognizable in a black hooded cloak, to take Esmeralda with him. But the girl again refuses him.
Then the archdeacon drags the dancer behind him and throws her into the cell to the hermit: “Watch out for the damned gypsy! She's being executed now!"
The recluse tells Esmeralda about her dead daughter: “Gypsies stole her and killed her! Here is her shoe!
And then the girl opens the talisman on her chest - there is exactly the same shoe. Mother and daughter found each other. But it's too late. Late!
The mother, with bestial strength, is trying to protect her daughter from the soldiers who have come to arrest the "sorceress". In vain - Esmeralda was captured. The old woman fell on the pavement - and her soul flew away.
Esmeralda was hanged. Claude de Frollo watched her death from the tower. Quasimodo pushed him down - and the sinful priest crashed.
Phoebus de Chateaupeure also ended tragically: he got married.
Quasimodo died under the gallows, embracing the body of his beloved.
The poet Gringoire saved the white goat Djali - and they serve as a consolation to each other.
The collection of Notre Dame is one of the most famous works of the French classic Victor Hugo. Published in 1831, it has not lost its relevance to this day. Its central characters - the hunchback Quasimodo, the gypsy Esmeralda, the priest Claude Frollo, the captain Phoebe de Chateaupere - have become real myths and continue to be replicated by modern culture.
The idea to write a historical novel about the Middle Ages came to Victor Hugo around 1823, when Walter Scott's Quentin Dorward was published. Unlike Scott, who was a master of historical realism, Hugo planned to create something more poetic, ideal, truthful, majestic, something that would “enclose Walter Scott in the frame of Homer.”
To concentrate the action around the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is the idea of Hugo himself. In the 20s of the 19th century, he showed a particular interest in architectural monuments, repeatedly visited the Cathedral, studied its history and layout. There he met the abbot Egzhe, who partly became the prototype of Claude Frollo.
History of the creation of the novel
Due to Hugo's employment in the theater, the writing of the novel progressed rather slowly. However, when, under pain of a substantial penalty, the publisher told Hugo to finish the novel by February 1, 1831, the prose writer sat down to work. The writer's wife, Adele Hugo, recalls that he bought himself a bottle of ink, a huge toe-length sweatshirt in which he literally drowned, locked his dress to resist the temptation to go out, and entered his novel like a prison.
Having completed the work on time, Hugo, as always, did not want to part with his favorite characters. He was determined to write sequels - the novels "Kikangron" (the popular name for the tower of an old French castle) and "The Son of the Hunchback". However, due to work on theatrical productions, Hugo was forced to postpone his plans. The world never saw "Kikangroni" and "The Son of the Hunchback", but he still had the brightest pearl - the novel "Notre Dame Cathedral".
The author thought hard about the deep meaning of this message from the past: “Whose suffering soul did not want to leave this world without leaving this stigma of crime or misfortune to the ancient church?”
Over time, the cathedral wall was restored, and the word disappeared from its face. So everything is forgotten in time. But there is something eternal - this word. And it spawned a book.
The story that unfolded at the walls of Notre Dame Cathedral began on January 6, 1482. The Palace of Justice hosts a magnificent celebration of Epiphany. They put on the mystery "The Righteous Judgment of the Blessed Virgin Mary", composed by the poet Pierre Gringoire. The author worries about the fate of his literary offspring, but today the Parisian public is clearly not in the mood to reunite with the beautiful.
The crowd is endlessly distracted: now it is occupied by the mischievous jokes of raging schoolchildren, now by exotic ambassadors who have arrived in the city, now by the election of a comic king, or a buffoonish pope. According to tradition, he becomes the one who makes the most incredible grimace. The undisputed leader in this competition is Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre Dame. His face is forever shackled by an ugly mask, so that no local jester can compete with him.
Many years ago, an ugly bundle of Quasimodo was thrown to the threshold of the Cathedral. He was raised and raised by the church rector Claude Frollo. In his early youth, Quasimodo was identified as a ringer. The sound of the bells cracked the boy's eardrums and made him deaf.
For the first time, the author paints the face of Quasimoda through the opening of a stone rosette, where it was necessary to stick the face of each participant in the comic contest. Quasimodo had a disgusting four-sided nose, a horseshoe-shaped mouth, a tiny red eyebrow covered his tiny left eye, and an ugly wart hung over his right, his teeth were crooked and looked like battlements of a fortress wall that hung over a cracked lip and a split chin. In addition, Quasimodo was lame and hunchbacked, his body was bent in an incredible arc. “Look at him – a hunchback. He will go - you see that he is lame. Look at you - crooked. If you talk to him, you are deaf,” jokes the local ringleader Kopenol.
This is how the clownish pope of 1482 turns out to be. Quasimodo is dressed up in a tiara, a mantle, handed a staff and raised on an impromptu throne in his arms to carry out a solemn procession through the Parisian streets.
Beauty Esmeralda
When the election of the clownish pope comes to an end, the poet Gringoire sincerely hopes for the rehabilitation of his mystery, but it was not there - Esmeralda begins her dance on the Greve Square!
The girl was short in stature, but seemed tall - her slim figure was so slender. Her dark skin gleamed golden in the sunlight. The tiny foot of a street dancer stepped lightly in her elegant shoe. The girl fluttered in a dance on a Persian carpet, casually thrown under her feet. And every time her radiant face appeared before the bewitched spectator, the look of her large black eyes blinded like lightning.
However, the dance of Esmeralda and her learned goat Djali is interrupted by the appearance of the priest Claude Frollo. He tears off the “royal” robe from his pupil Quasimodo and accuses Esmeralda of quackery. Thus ends the festivities in the Place de Greve. The people gradually disperse, and the poet Pierre Gringoire goes home ... Oh, yes - he has no home and no money! So the unfortunate scribbler has no choice but to just go wherever his eyes look.
Scouring the Parisian streets in search of lodging for the night, Gringoire reaches the Court of Miracles, a place of accumulation of beggars, vagabonds, street performers, drunkards, thieves, bandits, thugs and other wicked people. Local residents refuse to accept the midnight guest with open arms. He is offered to pass the test - to steal a wallet from a scarecrow hung with bells, and to do it so that none of the bells make a sound.
The writer Gringoire fails the test with a crash and dooms himself to death. There is only one way to avoid execution - to immediately marry one of the residents of the Court. However, everyone refuses to marry the poet. Everyone except Esmeralda. The girl agrees to become Gringoire's fictitious wife, provided that this marriage does not last longer than four years and does not impose marital duties on her. When the newly-made hubby still makes desperate attempts to seduce his pretty wife, she bravely takes out a sharp dagger from her belt - the girl is ready to defend her honor with blood!
Esmeralda cherishes her innocence for several reasons. First, she firmly believes that the amulet in the form of a tiny booty, which will point her to her true parents, only helps virgins. And secondly, the gypsy is recklessly in love with Captain Phoebus de Chateauper. She is ready to give her heart and honor only to him.
Esmeralda met Phoebus on the eve of her impromptu marriage. Returning after a performance in the Court of Miracles, the girl was seized by two men and rescued in time by the handsome police captain Phoebus de Chateaupert. Looking at the savior, she fell in love desperately and forever.
Only one criminal was caught - it turned out to be the Notre Dame hunchback Quasimodo. The kidnapper was sentenced to a public beating at the pillory. When the hunchback was thirsty, no one gave him a helping hand. The crowd rolled with laughter, because what could be more amusing than beating a freak! His secret accomplice, the priest Claude Frollo, was also silent. It was he, bewitched by Esmeralda, who ordered Quasimodo to kidnap the girl, it was his unshakable authority that forced the unfortunate hunchback to remain silent and endure all the torture and humiliation alone.
Esmeralda saved Quasimodo from thirst. The victim took out a jug of water to her captor, the beauty helped the monster. Quasimodo's embittered heart melted, a tear slipped down his cheek, and he fell in love with this beautiful creature forever.
A month has passed since the events and fateful meetings. Esmeralda is still ardently in love with Captain Phoebus de Chateauper. But he has long cooled down to the beauty and resumed relations with his blonde bride Fleur-de-Lys. However, the windy handsome man still does not refuse a nightly date with a beautiful gypsy. During a meeting, someone attacks the couple. Before losing her senses, Esmeralda only manages to make out the dagger raised above Phoebus's chest.
The girl came to her senses already in the prison dungeon. She is accused of attempt on the life of a police captain, prostitution and witchcraft. Under torture, Esmeralda confesses to all the crimes allegedly committed. The court sentences her to death by hanging. At the last moment, when the doomed woman has already ascended the scaffold, she is literally pulled out of the hands of the executioner by the hunchback Quasimodo. With Esmeralda in his arms, he rushes to the gates of Notre Dame, shouting "asylum"!
The girl, alas, cannot live in captivity: she is frightened by a terrible savior, tormented by thoughts of her lover, but most importantly, her main enemy is nearby - the rector of the Cathedral, Claude Frollo. He is passionately in love with Esmeralda and is ready to exchange faith in God and his own soul for her love. Frollo invites Esmeralda to become his wife and run away with him. Having been refused, he, despite the right to a "sacred refuge", steals Esmeralda and sends her to a lonely tower (Rat Hole) under the protection of the local recluse Gudula.
Half-crazy Gudula hates gypsies and all their offspring. A little less than sixteen years ago, the gypsies stole her only child from her - the beautiful daughter Agnes. Gudula, then called Paquette, went mad with grief and became the eternal recluse of the Rat Hole. In memory of her beloved daughter, she only had a tiny bootie of a newborn. What was Gudula's surprise when Esmeralda took out a second bootie of the same kind. A mother has finally found her stolen child! But now the executioners, led by Claude Frollo, approach the walls of the tower to take Esmeralda and take her to her death. Gudula protects her child to the last breath, dying in an unequal duel.
You have probably heard about Victor Hugo's novel ““, based on which more than ten adaptations have been shot, and the plot of which is addictive from the very first page.
A talented work touches upon the problem of human cruelty and heartlessness, which can destroy human lives and other people's happiness.
This time, Esmeralda is executed. Quasimodo fails to save his beloved. But he takes revenge on her killer - the hunchback throws Claude Frollo off the tower. Quasimodo himself lies down in the tomb next to Esmeralda. They say he died of grief near the body of his beloved. Many decades later, two skeletons were found in the tomb. One, hunched over, hugged the other. When they were separated, the hunchback's skeleton crumbled to dust.
What educated person doesn't know Victor Hugo's Notre Dame Cathedral? After all, this book is present in any list of compulsory literature recommended for schoolchildren to read at the time. However, even those who did not bother to get acquainted with this chic work have at least some idea of the novel, thanks to the French musical, which has made a sensation all over the world. But time flies forward, our memory filters out what it does not need. Therefore, for those who have forgotten what Hugo's novel Notre Dame is about, we give an amazing opportunity to remember how events unfolded during the time of King Louis XI. Friends, get ready! We are going to medieval France!
Hugo. Summary of the novelThe story told by the author takes place in France in the 15th century. Here the author creates a certain historical background, against which a whole love drama unfolds between two people - a beauty and a freak, which is shown to us by Victor Hugo in rather bright colors. "Notre Dame Cathedral" is, first of all, the love story of a freak-hunchback for a charming gypsy.
The main character of the novel is a beautiful and young gypsy named Esmeralda. It so happened that three men were inflamed with passion at once: the archdeacon of the Cathedral - his pupil - the humpbacked and deaf bell-ringer Quasimodo, as well as the captain of the riflemen of the royal regiment - the young handsome Phoebe de Chateauper. However, each of them has their own idea of passion, love and honor!
Despite his mission to serve God, Archdeacon Frollo can hardly be called a pious person. At one time, it was he who picked up a little ugly boy abandoned by negligent parents from the well, sheltered and raised him. But that doesn't justify it. Yes, he serves the Lord, but he does not truly serve, but simply because it is necessary! Frollo is endowed with executive power: he commands an entire royal regiment (whose captain is our other hero, officer Phoebus), and also administers justice to people. But this is not enough for him. One day, noticing a beautiful young girl, the archdeacon succumbed to voluptuousness. He also experiences lust for the young Esmeralda. Now Frollo cannot sleep at night: he locks himself in his cell and in the presence of 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 witch! Claude says that the Inquisition is crying for her, and by hanging! Frollo orders his pupil - the deaf and crooked ringer Quasimodo to catch the gypsy! The hunchback fails to do this, because a young officer Phoebus rips her out of his hands, accidentally patrolling the territory in that place.
Captain Phoebus belongs to the number of noble persons who served at the court. He has a fiancee - a charming blond girl named Fleur-de-lis. However, Phoebe does not stop this. While saving Esmeralda from a hunchbacked freak, the officer becomes infatuated with her. Now he is ready to do 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 loves him back! A poor young girl falls in love with a lustful officer, mistaking a simple "glass" for a "diamond"!
Phoebus and Esmeralda agree on an evening meeting at a cabaret called "Shelter of Love". However, their night was not destined to come true. When the officer and the gypsy are alone, the desperate archdeacon who tracked down Phoebus stabs him in the back! This blow turns out to be non-fatal, but for the trial of the gypsy and the subsequent punishment (by hanging), this attempt on the captain of the shooters is quite enough.
The beauty and the Beast"
For the fact that 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, the only person who responded to his request was Esmeralda. She went up to the chained freak and gave him a drink from a mug. This made a fatal impression on Quasimodo.
The hunchback, who always and in everything listened to his master (Archdeacon Frollo), finally went against his will. And love is to blame for everything ... The love of the "monster" for the beauty ... He saved her from prosecution by hiding in the Cathedral. According to the laws of medieval France, which were taken into account by Victor Hugo, Notre Dame Cathedral and any other temple of God was a refuge and shelter for every person persecuted by the authorities for this or that offense.
For several days spent within the walls of Notre Dame de Paris, Esmeralda became friends with a hunchback. She fell in love with those terrible stone chimeras that sat above the Cathedral and the whole Place de Greve. Unfortunately, Quasimodo did not wait for mutual feelings from the gypsy. Of course, it cannot be said that she did not pay attention to him. He became her best friend. The girl saw behind the external ugliness a lonely and kind soul.
True and eternal love erased the outward ugliness of Quasimodo. The hunchback was finally able to find the courage in himself to save his beloved from the death that threatens her from Claude Frollo - the gallows. He went against his mentor.
Eternal love...
Hugo's Notre Dame Cathedral is a book with a very dramatic denouement. The finale of the novel can leave few people indifferent. The terrible Frollo nevertheless sets in motion his plan of revenge - young Esmeralda finds herself in a loop. But her death will be avenged! The love of a hunchback for a gypsy pushes him to kill his own mentor! Quasimodo pushes him against Notre Dame. The poor hunchback is very fond of the gypsy. He takes her to the Cathedral, hugs her and... dies. Now they are together forever.
The collection of Notre Dame is one of the most famous works of the French classic Victor Hugo. Published in 1831, it has not lost its relevance to this day. Its central characters - the hunchback Quasimodo, the gypsy Esmeralda, the priest Claude Frollo, the captain Phoebe de Chateaupere - have become real myths and continue to be replicated by modern culture.
The idea to write a historical novel about the Middle Ages came to Victor Hugo around 1823, when Walter Scott's Quentin Dorward was published. Unlike Scott, who was a master of historical realism, Hugo planned to create something more poetic, ideal, truthful, majestic, something that would “enclose Walter Scott in the frame of Homer.”
To concentrate the action around the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is the idea of Hugo himself. In the 20s of the 19th century, he showed a particular interest in architectural monuments, repeatedly visited the Cathedral, studied its history and layout. There he met the abbot Egzhe, who partly became the prototype of Claude Frollo.
History of the creation of the novel
Due to Hugo's employment in the theater, the writing of the novel progressed rather slowly. However, when, under pain of a substantial penalty, the publisher told Hugo to finish the novel by February 1, 1831, the prose writer sat down to work. The writer's wife, Adele Hugo, recalls that he bought himself a bottle of ink, a huge toe-length sweatshirt in which he literally drowned, locked his dress to resist the temptation to go out, and entered his novel like a prison.
Having completed the work on time, Hugo, as always, did not want to part with his favorite characters. He was determined to write sequels - the novels "Kikangron" (the popular name for the tower of an old French castle) and "The Son of the Hunchback". However, due to work on theatrical productions, Hugo was forced to postpone his plans. The world never saw "Kikangroni" and "The Son of the Hunchback", but he still had the brightest pearl - the novel "Notre Dame Cathedral".
The author thought hard about the deep meaning of this message from the past: “Whose suffering soul did not want to leave this world without leaving this stigma of crime or misfortune to the ancient church?”
Over time, the cathedral wall was restored, and the word disappeared from its face. So everything is forgotten in time. But there is something eternal - this word. And it spawned a book.
The story that unfolded at the walls of Notre Dame Cathedral began on January 6, 1482. The Palace of Justice hosts a magnificent celebration of Epiphany. They put on the mystery "The Righteous Judgment of the Blessed Virgin Mary", composed by the poet Pierre Gringoire. The author worries about the fate of his literary offspring, but today the Parisian public is clearly not in the mood to reunite with the beautiful.
The crowd is endlessly distracted: now it is occupied by the mischievous jokes of raging schoolchildren, now by exotic ambassadors who have arrived in the city, now by the election of a comic king, or a buffoonish pope. According to tradition, he becomes the one who makes the most incredible grimace. The undisputed leader in this competition is Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre Dame. His face is forever shackled by an ugly mask, so that no local jester can compete with him.
Many years ago, an ugly bundle of Quasimodo was thrown to the threshold of the Cathedral. He was raised and raised by the church rector Claude Frollo. In his early youth, Quasimodo was identified as a ringer. The sound of the bells cracked the boy's eardrums and made him deaf.
For the first time, the author paints the face of Quasimoda through the opening of a stone rosette, where it was necessary to stick the face of each participant in the comic contest. Quasimodo had a disgusting four-sided nose, a horseshoe-shaped mouth, a tiny red eyebrow covered his tiny left eye, and an ugly wart hung over his right, his teeth were crooked and looked like battlements of a fortress wall that hung over a cracked lip and a split chin. In addition, Quasimodo was lame and hunchbacked, his body was bent in an incredible arc. “Look at him – a hunchback. He will go - you see that he is lame. Look at you - crooked. If you talk to him, you are deaf,” jokes the local ringleader Kopenol.
This is how the clownish pope of 1482 turns out to be. Quasimodo is dressed up in a tiara, a mantle, handed a staff and raised on an impromptu throne in his arms to carry out a solemn procession through the Parisian streets.
Beauty Esmeralda
When the election of the clownish pope comes to an end, the poet Gringoire sincerely hopes for the rehabilitation of his mystery, but it was not there - Esmeralda begins her dance on the Greve Square!
The girl was short in stature, but seemed tall - her slim figure was so slender. Her dark skin gleamed golden in the sunlight. The tiny foot of a street dancer stepped lightly in her elegant shoe. The girl fluttered in a dance on a Persian carpet, casually thrown under her feet. And every time her radiant face appeared before the bewitched spectator, the look of her large black eyes blinded like lightning.
However, the dance of Esmeralda and her learned goat Djali is interrupted by the appearance of the priest Claude Frollo. He tears off the “royal” robe from his pupil Quasimodo and accuses Esmeralda of quackery. Thus ends the festivities in the Place de Greve. The people gradually disperse, and the poet Pierre Gringoire goes home ... Oh, yes - he has no home and no money! So the unfortunate scribbler has no choice but to just go wherever his eyes look.
Scouring the Parisian streets in search of lodging for the night, Gringoire reaches the Court of Miracles, a place of accumulation of beggars, vagabonds, street performers, drunkards, thieves, bandits, thugs and other wicked people. Local residents refuse to accept the midnight guest with open arms. He is offered to pass the test - to steal a wallet from a scarecrow hung with bells, and to do it so that none of the bells make a sound.
The writer Gringoire fails the test with a crash and dooms himself to death. There is only one way to avoid execution - to immediately marry one of the residents of the Court. However, everyone refuses to marry the poet. Everyone except Esmeralda. The girl agrees to become Gringoire's fictitious wife, provided that this marriage does not last longer than four years and does not impose marital duties on her. When the newly-made hubby still makes desperate attempts to seduce his pretty wife, she bravely takes out a sharp dagger from her belt - the girl is ready to defend her honor with blood!
Esmeralda cherishes her innocence for several reasons. First, she firmly believes that the amulet in the form of a tiny booty, which will point her to her true parents, only helps virgins. And secondly, the gypsy is recklessly in love with Captain Phoebus de Chateauper. She is ready to give her heart and honor only to him.
Esmeralda met Phoebus on the eve of her impromptu marriage. Returning after a performance in the Court of Miracles, the girl was seized by two men and rescued in time by the handsome police captain Phoebus de Chateaupert. Looking at the savior, she fell in love desperately and forever.
Only one criminal was caught - it turned out to be the Notre Dame hunchback Quasimodo. The kidnapper was sentenced to a public beating at the pillory. When the hunchback was thirsty, no one gave him a helping hand. The crowd rolled with laughter, because what could be more amusing than beating a freak! His secret accomplice, the priest Claude Frollo, was also silent. It was he, bewitched by Esmeralda, who ordered Quasimodo to kidnap the girl, it was his unshakable authority that forced the unfortunate hunchback to remain silent and endure all the torture and humiliation alone.
Esmeralda saved Quasimodo from thirst. The victim took out a jug of water to her captor, the beauty helped the monster. Quasimodo's embittered heart melted, a tear slipped down his cheek, and he fell in love with this beautiful creature forever.
A month has passed since the events and fateful meetings. Esmeralda is still ardently in love with Captain Phoebus de Chateauper. But he has long cooled down to the beauty and resumed relations with his blonde bride Fleur-de-Lys. However, the windy handsome man still does not refuse a nightly date with a beautiful gypsy. During a meeting, someone attacks the couple. Before losing her senses, Esmeralda only manages to make out the dagger raised above Phoebus's chest.
The girl came to her senses already in the prison dungeon. She is accused of attempt on the life of a police captain, prostitution and witchcraft. Under torture, Esmeralda confesses to all the crimes allegedly committed. The court sentences her to death by hanging. At the last moment, when the doomed woman has already ascended the scaffold, she is literally pulled out of the hands of the executioner by the hunchback Quasimodo. With Esmeralda in his arms, he rushes to the gates of Notre Dame, shouting "asylum"!
The girl, alas, cannot live in captivity: she is frightened by a terrible savior, tormented by thoughts of her lover, but most importantly, her main enemy is nearby - the rector of the Cathedral, Claude Frollo. He is passionately in love with Esmeralda and is ready to exchange faith in God and his own soul for her love. Frollo invites Esmeralda to become his wife and run away with him. Having been refused, he, despite the right to a "sacred refuge", steals Esmeralda and sends her to a lonely tower (Rat Hole) under the protection of the local recluse Gudula.
Half-crazy Gudula hates gypsies and all their offspring. A little less than sixteen years ago, the gypsies stole her only child from her - the beautiful daughter Agnes. Gudula, then called Paquette, went mad with grief and became the eternal recluse of the Rat Hole. In memory of her beloved daughter, she only had a tiny bootie of a newborn. What was Gudula's surprise when Esmeralda took out a second bootie of the same kind. A mother has finally found her stolen child! But now the executioners, led by Claude Frollo, approach the walls of the tower to take Esmeralda and take her to her death. Gudula protects her child to the last breath, dying in an unequal duel.
You've probably heard of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, based on which more than ten adaptations have been made, and the plot of which is addictive from the very first page.
The talented work of Victor Hugo "The Man Who Laughs" touches upon the problem of human cruelty and heartlessness, which can destroy human lives and other people's happiness.
This time, Esmeralda is executed. Quasimodo fails to save his beloved. But he takes revenge on her killer - the hunchback throws Claude Frollo off the tower. Quasimodo himself lies down in the tomb next to Esmeralda. They say he died of grief near the body of his beloved. Many decades later, two skeletons were found in the tomb. One, hunched over, hugged the other. When they were separated, the hunchback's skeleton crumbled to dust.