In this novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831), Victor
Hugo talks about the life of his characters in the city of Paris.This story takes place in the late-fourteenth century.
With
inequality all around it was hard for a person to gain respect
without good looks or social status. In this paper I will
mainly discuss the story of Quasimodoe Esmeralda, and
their struggle in this story Quasimodoe's mother was a
gypsy. She could not take care of him any longer so she left
him in front of a church. Gypsies were not liked at this time,
but the church was highly respected. Being it that
Quasimodo's mom had left him on front steps of the church
the king could do almost nothing. Quasimodoe could not
leave the church due to the fact that he was deformed and
ugly.
Quasimodo grew very lonely and bored up in that bell
tower all by him self. He was looking down one day and set
eyes upon a young woman named Esmerelda. On the day of
fools Quasimodo saw this young lady and decided to go do!
wn and take a closer look at this woman. It was a holiday,
feast of fools, when he decided to go down.
When the
people saw him they were horrified. He got whipped and
lectured by his master. Well, to make a long story short
Esmerelda ends up dyeing, and Quaismodo runs away and
is never seen or heard of again. They state that in the end
they find two skeletons lying in each others arms. One the
body of a lady (Esmerelda), and the other the body of a man
who was deformed (Quaismodo).
It also states that the
woman was hung, but the man died because he had come
there by himself and died there. There are many examples of
Historical Significance in this book. One of which is the
power of the church. The church mostly controlled
everything back then. My second example is the way that
they talked.
They sounded more sophisticated back then. It
states on page 139, Sunday in the year of my lord 1467.My third fact is the fact that they didnt like gypsies back
then. They wanted to kill all of the gypyses. It states in the
end that they end up killing Esmerelda. My fourth fact is the
way that they dressed.
My fifth fact is that it states on page
65 that America had not yet been discovered. My sixth fact
is the food that they had back then. It states on pages 98-99
the next minute, there was on the table a loaf of rye bread,
a slice of bacon, some wrinkled apples, and a jug of beer.My seventh fact is the jobs that the people had. The mail
characters had jobs like poets, bell ringers, popes, kings,
and so on as it lists the kings servants on page 45.
My eighth
statemen! t is the fact that when the people saw Quasimodo
the women had to turn their heads. The transportation was
mostly horses back then. The printing press was a big fear
back then as it states on page 174, it was the fear of an
ecclesiastic before a new force, the printing press. My ninth
fact is the architecture had back then with all the cathedrals
and what not.
(fifth paragraph on page 10) My tenth
statement is the fact that social inequality was a big factor
back then. My eleventh and final fact is that all of this takes
place during the restoration and romanticism and revolution
period (1815-1850) as it states in our world history book.This book was a very good book. It only had a few
problems.
The author used to much detail and that made the
story boring. He would also wander off and start describing
something else more vividly. Victor Hugo should have kept
just on the story of Esmerelda and Quasimodo. The end of
the story was the best part. In all the book was an ok book.This book was a good novel after all.
It was an action and
romance story that mainly consisted of two people,
Quasimodo and Esmerelda. It reminded me of the short
story Beauty and the Beast.
Book Reports
