Sanctuary does not evade us, yet we all spend a lifetime chasing its elusive shadow.
Apparently, this is my hundredth post on this blog, this address. So let's break out the champagne. Woohoo.
You can get drunk. I'm not touching any alcohol. I'm resigned to the fact that I may never learn to like it.
Anyway, I've just finished reading "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". Those of you immersed fully in the Disney version and have not an inkling of the original story, here are a few facts:
1. Captain Phoebus is no hero. He's a casanova and a heartless brute. It doesn't help that I have an agenda against guys (don't get me wrong; I'm still heterosexual, but I think I may be harbouring the mind of a feminist... hopefully, I'm wrong in that second aspect).
2. Frollo is no judge. He's a priest. And he started out as a really nice man.
3. Esmeralda has never had ill-humour toward Phoebus. Love at first sight for her. Honestly, she's a real fool. But that's humanoid emotion for you. We're all guilty; it's just the extent.
4. The mob have no brains.
5. Quasimodo isn't cute and cuddly from the start.
6. Quasimodo and Phoebus don't know each other. They only meet once.
7. In the movie, Notre Dame herself is personified, to a wonderful effect; in the book, Notre Dame is merely a place and a tool.
Yep... that's all the stuff to note that I can contrive... meanwhile...
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a better book than The Count of Monte Cristo on account of a stronger beginning and a wonderful ending, something that The Count of Monte Cristo quite failed in (though the intrigue of the content quite made up for it).
The story is not so much about Quasimodo as it is about disillusion, obsession, blind devotion, foolishness, selfishness, cowardice and skewed conscience in the people surrounding Notre Dame, all of which are binding threads used by Cruel Fate in a tapestry of tragedy.
There is no main protagonist in the story, although Quasimodo serves as the pivotal pillar despite his minimal appearances. The main antagonist is, of course, Frollo. The story follows many characters in their quest for some desired existance, or some sanctuary (a keyword to note in this novel, though it appears only once), none of whom actually achieve it (other than Phoebus and Clopin). Some like Pierre, are peacefully satisfied with the alternative thrown at them. Most others go through living hell, fighting a losing battle against Fate's tapestry.
In some sense, perhaps, Fate herself is the main character of the story.
Quasimodo is not very likeble from the start, while Frollo is originally a scholar priest of compassion, though, toward the end of the story, I believe many of you will agree that Quasimodo was the wiser one in his actions. His depiction in the last third of the novel, so starkly different was it from the impression given from the start. Frollo tends the other way, being such a learned person in the first quarter and declining quickly after.
Esmeralda is a very young girl, so one might forgive her for her foolish dreams of love and calvary. Yet her many other actions reflect a maturity beyond her years, in spite of her childish temperement, and this casts less sympathy on her rabid infatuations with the notions of love.
Let's not touch on Phoebus, shall we? I think you roughly know the character, from what I've already described.
There is a link between Quasimodo and Esmeralda, a fatal one established some fifteen years before the story took place, one that set the stone rolling for the ultimate tragedy. Neither Esmeralda nor Quasimodo are ever aware of it, and neither will you readers be, if you're not observant enough, so subtly it is presented. If you realise what this link is, however, the ending is all the more poignant in it's literary symbolism.
Clopin is exactly as he is in the movie, save the theatrics. He is a leader of the Truands, and rightly so. He won't have you rallying for his cause, but he has the Truands rallying for his cause, with a dignity, presence, charisma and command that you will find on no one else save this minor character, Clopin.
Pierre, also a minor character, is one more likely to rouse your attention. There's a chinese term for a person like him and that's 现实... perhaps likable... more irritating than hateful. Poor soul was saved from the gallows by Esmeralda, but he would eventually bring her to it. His saving grace is his affection for Esmeralda's goat, Djali.
Worth a read? OF COURSE. I just wish I could describe it in as much detail as I did the Phantom of the Opera. Looks like I'm losing my words.
You can get drunk. I'm not touching any alcohol. I'm resigned to the fact that I may never learn to like it.
Anyway, I've just finished reading "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". Those of you immersed fully in the Disney version and have not an inkling of the original story, here are a few facts:
1. Captain Phoebus is no hero. He's a casanova and a heartless brute. It doesn't help that I have an agenda against guys (don't get me wrong; I'm still heterosexual, but I think I may be harbouring the mind of a feminist... hopefully, I'm wrong in that second aspect).
2. Frollo is no judge. He's a priest. And he started out as a really nice man.
3. Esmeralda has never had ill-humour toward Phoebus. Love at first sight for her. Honestly, she's a real fool. But that's humanoid emotion for you. We're all guilty; it's just the extent.
4. The mob have no brains.
5. Quasimodo isn't cute and cuddly from the start.
6. Quasimodo and Phoebus don't know each other. They only meet once.
7. In the movie, Notre Dame herself is personified, to a wonderful effect; in the book, Notre Dame is merely a place and a tool.
Yep... that's all the stuff to note that I can contrive... meanwhile...
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a better book than The Count of Monte Cristo on account of a stronger beginning and a wonderful ending, something that The Count of Monte Cristo quite failed in (though the intrigue of the content quite made up for it).
The story is not so much about Quasimodo as it is about disillusion, obsession, blind devotion, foolishness, selfishness, cowardice and skewed conscience in the people surrounding Notre Dame, all of which are binding threads used by Cruel Fate in a tapestry of tragedy.
There is no main protagonist in the story, although Quasimodo serves as the pivotal pillar despite his minimal appearances. The main antagonist is, of course, Frollo. The story follows many characters in their quest for some desired existance, or some sanctuary (a keyword to note in this novel, though it appears only once), none of whom actually achieve it (other than Phoebus and Clopin). Some like Pierre, are peacefully satisfied with the alternative thrown at them. Most others go through living hell, fighting a losing battle against Fate's tapestry.
In some sense, perhaps, Fate herself is the main character of the story.
Quasimodo is not very likeble from the start, while Frollo is originally a scholar priest of compassion, though, toward the end of the story, I believe many of you will agree that Quasimodo was the wiser one in his actions. His depiction in the last third of the novel, so starkly different was it from the impression given from the start. Frollo tends the other way, being such a learned person in the first quarter and declining quickly after.
Esmeralda is a very young girl, so one might forgive her for her foolish dreams of love and calvary. Yet her many other actions reflect a maturity beyond her years, in spite of her childish temperement, and this casts less sympathy on her rabid infatuations with the notions of love.
Let's not touch on Phoebus, shall we? I think you roughly know the character, from what I've already described.
There is a link between Quasimodo and Esmeralda, a fatal one established some fifteen years before the story took place, one that set the stone rolling for the ultimate tragedy. Neither Esmeralda nor Quasimodo are ever aware of it, and neither will you readers be, if you're not observant enough, so subtly it is presented. If you realise what this link is, however, the ending is all the more poignant in it's literary symbolism.
Clopin is exactly as he is in the movie, save the theatrics. He is a leader of the Truands, and rightly so. He won't have you rallying for his cause, but he has the Truands rallying for his cause, with a dignity, presence, charisma and command that you will find on no one else save this minor character, Clopin.
Pierre, also a minor character, is one more likely to rouse your attention. There's a chinese term for a person like him and that's 现实... perhaps likable... more irritating than hateful. Poor soul was saved from the gallows by Esmeralda, but he would eventually bring her to it. His saving grace is his affection for Esmeralda's goat, Djali.
Worth a read? OF COURSE. I just wish I could describe it in as much detail as I did the Phantom of the Opera. Looks like I'm losing my words.
posted by 2P | 2:26 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home