"Notre Dame Cathedral": art never gets old

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

"Notre Dame Cathedral" is a truly immortal work written by the famous French writer Victor Hugo. Almost two centuries have passed since its writing, however, many people in all corners of the planet are still reading this fascinating novel. The work has everything the reader needs: an exciting plot, vivid pictures of the life of the past years, a dramatic interweaving of destinies and the eternal problem of protecting a person from the injustice of the surrounding world. That is why Notre Dame Cathedral has not lost its relevance today.

At first glance, the storyline is clear, and the characters of the main characters do not cause ambiguous opinions. But only at first glance. Gypsy Esmeralda is blind in her love for Phoebus. He is handsome and charming, but behind his appearance lies the soul of a real martinet and heliporter. Claude Frollo is both a negative character and a character loved by thousands of readers. The archdeacon is extraordinarily intelligent, though helpless against his own feelings. He did a lotto destroy the young gypsy, and even more so to save her. Gringoire is fascinated not so much by Esmeralda as by her young goat… And against the background of all this, the image of the hunchback Quasimodo: the most touching and vivid of all. In appearance, he is a freak, he turns out to be more beautiful than all the handsome men in his actions!

Separately, it is worth mentioning the paintings drawn by Hugo. What is only the chapter, where the whole of Paris opens before us from a bird's eye view! Generally speaking, description plays a very important role in Notre Dame Cathedral. Readers have a complete sense of presence. Even if you've never been to Paris, read this novel and you'll want to come back… It's even interesting how many author's landmarks of "that" Paris have been preserved today?

The work touches some thin strings in the soul. Not even its plot - to tell the truth, it is uncomplicated. Feelings, tears, drama. And - sometimes subtle humor. All these plot signs are fully contained in the Notre Dame Cathedral. Feedback from readers suggests that behind this external simplicity lies a surprisingly complete and rich work - about beauty and history, about culture and art. By the way, it was Hugo's humor that became the reason for negative reviews after numerous productions and adaptations of the novel, where the scriptwriters repeatedly misrepresented and turned it inside out, simplifying their work.

Take, at least, the Cathedral itself, which deserves, if not the title of a separate character, thenseparate storyline. Its very majestic form, built brick by brick of events and feelings, personifies the whole of France. The cathedral helps the needy, provides them with protection and shelter. And at that time, this was exactly what ordinary people lacked … Recall that at the time of writing the novel, the revolution was raging in the country with might and main, the anxious days of the reign of the bourgeois monarchy had come.

Genuine art never gets old. That is why a story that played out in the distant past (in fact or only in the imagination of Victor Hugo) excites hearts to this day.