The construction of Notre Dame de Paris began in 1163, during the reign of Louis VII. The foundation stone was laid by Pope Alexander III. However, this place has never been empty. Before the appearance of the Catholic cathedral, it was the site of the Basilica of Saint Stephen, the first Christian church in Paris. And even earlier - the temple of Jupiter, made in the Gallo-Roman style. The basilica stood on its foundation. Bishop Maurice de Sully was the initiator of the construction of the cathedral in the eastern part of the Cité on the Seine.
Construction and restoration
The construction took a long time and in stages, and each step reflected a certain period of the culture of medieval France. The date of completion of all buildings is 1345. True, under Louis XIII, in 1708-1725, the cathedral choir was completely changed. And during the years of the French Revolution, in July 1793, the Convention declared the need to remove from the face of the earth the symbols of all kingdoms, as a result of which all the statues of kings, including those in notre Dame Cathedralwere beheaded. He himself at that moment had the status of the Temple of Mind.
This was the reason for the restoration, which was carried out in the 19th century. Despite the coronation in the cathedral of Napoleon and his wife Josephine, everything was in a state of decline. The decision was almost made to demolish all buildings, but in 1831, Victor Hugo's novel of the same name was published. With him, the writer inspired the French to preserve the old architecture and, in particular, this cathedral. The decision was made for a large-scale restoration, which began in 1841 under the direction of Viollet-le-Duc. It is characteristic that at that moment the restorers did not set themselves the goal of restoring exactly the cathedral that was before the start of the revolution. New elements have appeared - a gallery of chimeras and a spire with a height of 23 meters. The adjacent buildings were also demolished, resulting in the formation of a modern square in front of the cathedral.
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Features of the cathedral
It is a complex architectural composition. The oldest building is the Portal of St. Anne, which is located on the right side of the complex. The Doomsday portal is located in the center; its construction dates back to 1220-1230. The northern portal of Our Lady was built in the 13th century. It is located on the left. The southern portal of the temple was also built in the 13th century. This is a transept, and it is dedicated to St. Stephen, who is considered the first martyr of Christianity. The south tower houses the Emmanuel bell, which weighs 13 tons and has a tongue of 500 kg.
The façade of the temple, facing the square, is of legendary grandeur. Vertically it is delimited by ledges in the wall, and horizontally it is divided by galleries. In the lower part there are three portals mentioned above. Above them there is also an arcade with statues of the kings of ancient Judea. According to the Catholic tradition, from the inside, the walls do not contain any murals or ornaments, and the only sources of illumination in the daytime are the lancet windows with stained-glass windows.
Notre Dame Cathedral today ...
Currently, the cathedral is state-owned, and the Catholic Church has a permanent right to hold services. It houses the chair of the Archdiocese of Paris. The archbishop himself conducts liturgies only on especially solemn occasions, sometimes on Sundays. On ordinary days, the responsibility for worship lies with the rector, who is appointed by the archdiocese. On simple days of the week and on Saturday, four Masses are celebrated in the cathedral and one Vespers is held. On Sunday, there are five masses, as well as Matins and Vespers.
The largest organ in France is installed in the cathedral. It has 110 registers and over 7,400 pipes. The titular organists play the organ. Traditionally, each of them participates in services for three months a year.
Along with such churches as in Barcelona, \u200b\u200bthe Intercession Cathedral in Moscow, Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice, Milan Cathedral, St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, is known all over the world and attracts thousands of tourists ...
The XXI century made its sad contribution to the history of the cathedral - the fire practically destroyed the building of the XII century. People in different countries of the world have started talking about restoration and restoration, ready to help and take part in this process, expressing their love and respect for the work of those who were involved in the construction of this world architectural masterpiece.
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The exhibition of models "World Architectural Masterpieces" presents to the guests of the ethnographic park miniature copies of buildings under the protection of UNESCO. The exposition is located on the second floor of the pavilion of the Peace Street "Around the World", above the People's Friendship Square. Here you can admire the pyramids of Giza and the Japanese Himeji Palace, the Chinese "Forbidden City" Gugun and the Aztec Pyramid of the Sun, the Bavarian Neuschwanstein Castle and the French Chateau Chambord, the Indian Mahabodhi Temple and the Roman Pantheon, the Tower of London and the Moscow Kremlin. Miniature models are made of high-quality polymer material by Chinese craftsmen on a special order from ETNOMIR.
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Educational institution
Mogilev State University named after A.A. Kuleshova.
Faculty of Slavic Philology
Department of Russian and Foreign Literature
Course work
The compositional role of Notre Dame Cathedral in the novel of the same name by V. Hugo
Female students
4 courses of group "B"
Russian branch
1. Introduction
2. Pages of history
3. "Notre Dame Cathedral"
Conclusion
List of sources used
1. Introduction
Victor Marie Hugo is a great French poet. He lived a long life and, thanks to his unprecedented talent, left a legacy of a huge number of works: lyric, satirical, epic poetry, drama in poetry and prose, literary - critical articles, a huge number of letters. His work extends over three quarters of the 19th century. His influence on the development of French literature is colossal. Some critics compare him with A.S. Pushkin in Russian literature. V. Hugo is the founder and leader of French revolutionary romanticism. He was a romantic from the beginning of his literary career and remained so until the end of his life.
"Notre Dame Cathedral" written by V. Hugo in 1831 became the best example of a historical novel, which has absorbed a picturesquely recreated diverse picture of medieval French life.
V. Scott's critical appraisal, caused by the French writer’s disagreement with the creative method of the “father of the historical novel,” testified that Hugo was striving to create a historical novel of a special type, seeking to open a new sphere of the fashionable genre.
In this novel, I hoped that everything would be historically clear: setting, people, language, and this is not important in the book. If she has dignity, it is only because she is a figment of the imagination.
Hugo's worldview could not but be influenced by the events that took place around him. From this side, as a bold ideological and artistic innovation, and interesting is the novel "Notre Dame Cathedral, which was a response to modern Hugo political events, although he refers in his work to the Middle Ages, to the end of the 15th century."
Notre Dame Cathedral itself is an important link for all the characters, all the events of the novel, being an expression of the soul of the people and the philosophy of the era.
Abbot Lamennais, although he praised Hugo for his richness of imagination, but reproached him for his lack of Catholicism.
Hugo is not afraid of extremely bright, dazzling colors, thickening, exaggeration. But Hugo's novel rises immeasurably above the murky stream of "horror novels." Everything in the novel has a real, completely "earthly" explanation. The author's goal is to awaken in the reader a sense of beauty, a sense of humanity, to awaken a protest against the nightmares of the past, still gravitating over the present.
The novel won the hearts of readers not only in France, but all over the world.
2. Pages of history
V.G. Belinsky wrote: "Alas! Immediately after the July incidents, this poor people inadvertently saw that their situation had not improved at all, but had deteriorated significantly. Meanwhile, this entire historical comedy was invented in the name of the people and for the good of the people!"
The July Revolution had a serious impact on French writers, helping them define their political and creative principles.
The desire to comprehend the past era forced many writers to turn to the historical past. Outlining the image of Paris in the 15th century, Hugo depicts the social conflicts of the past, popular hostility to the royal power, to the feudal lords, to the Catholic clergy. This helped the writer to better comprehend the present, see its connection with the past, find those wonderful traditions in which the undying folk genius is embodied.
Belinsky called the 19th century "predominantly historical", meaning the wide interest in history that arose after the French bourgeois revolution and its reflection in fiction. The validity of this definition is confirmed, in particular, by French literature, where many historical dramas and historical novels were created in the first decades of the 19th century.
Interest in national history was generated in France by the political struggle caused by the bourgeois revolution of the 18th century. Passion for history was characteristic at that time both of the representatives of the liberal bourgeoisie and the ideologists of the reactionary nobility. However, trying to comprehend the course of national history, representatives of different classes came to deeply different conclusions. The nobility, hoping for the return of former privileges, drew from the past - as well as from the irreconcilable conflicts of the present - arguments against revolution; the bourgeoisie, peering into the lessons of history, argued the need to expand its privileges.
The emerging romantic literature begins to depict the historical past of France, interest in which was supported not by the mere curiosity of readers, but by those social transformations that were generated by the bourgeois revolution.
The progressive writers, in contrast to the neoclassicists who drew their plots from ancient history and mythology, turned to the past times of the life of their people. At the same time, the writers are greatly influenced by, on the one hand, Walter Scott, and on the other hand, by the French bourgeois historians of the restoration period, who tried to reveal the essence of events in their consistent development and put forward the problem of historical laws.
The development of bourgeois historiography in France in the 20s of the XIX century was marked by the appearance of a number of works, which reflected the idea of \u200b\u200bprogress in the forward movement of human society. Augustien Thierry, characterizing his principles of historical research, noted: “Each of us, people of the XIX century, knows much more than Veli and Mably, even more than Voltaire himself, about various uprisings and victories, about the collapse of the monarchy, about decline and rise dynasties, about democratic revolutions, about progressive movements and reactions. "
The idea of \u200b\u200bthe lawfulness of historical development, put forward by the scholarly historians of the 1920s, fully corresponded to the interests of the bourgeois class at a time when its positions were not yet finally conquered and consolidated. This created fertile ground for the objective embodiment of the idea of \u200b\u200bsocial development in the French historical novel, created by writers of a progressive trend. The new concept, based on the lessons of the past, was supposed to justify the rule of the bourgeois class. At the same time, the romantics of the reactionary camp write a number of works full of gloomy pessimism in assessing historical events connected, in one way or another, with democratic movements.
Interest in the historical theme appears in Hugo already in the early period of creativity, when he wrote the first version of the story "Bug-Jargal". Historical figures and events appear in his odes, in the novel "Hann the Icelander", in the drama "Cromwell" and other works.
In the second half of the 1920s, several dozen historical novels and dramas were published in France. The vast majority of these works were soon forgotten, but the best of them were destined to play a role in literature. Balzac's famous novel "Chouans, or Brittany in 1799" (1829) belongs to such the best examples of the historical genre. Referring to the events of the recent past, Balzac created a realistic picture of the struggle of the republican troops against the monarchical uprising of the Brittany peasants led by the nobles.
Romantic criticism paid great attention to the works of the historical genre, she argued that the plots of historical novels can be drawn from different centuries.
In addition to Balzac's Chouans, in the late 1920s and early 1930s, novels, stories, memoirs appeared, depicting the events of the French bourgeois revolution of the 18th century still memorable to people of that time. This era was of particular interest to progressive romantics. As noted, in the 1920s, French writers and critics of various schools devote exclusive attention to the historical novels of W. Scott. Although many of Walter Scott's artistic techniques were reflected in the creative practice of novelists of the 1920s, one should not nevertheless exaggerate the degree of his influence on French writers and mix the historical works created by the "Scottish bard" with historical novels that grew up on French national soil.
In an article devoted to a critical analysis of the novel "Quentin Dorward" (1823), Hugo praises the work of the Scottish novelist. He believes that W. Scott created a novel of a new type, in which he combined a psychological and adventurous, historical and everyday life, philosophy of history, Gothic, dramatic action and lyrical landscape, that is, all types of artistic creation. At the same time, giving an enthusiastic assessment of "Quentin Dorward", Hugo emphasizes that the possibilities of the historical novel are by no means exhausted by the works of W. Scott. He considered the historical novel, represented by W. Scott's samples, as a transitional form "from modern literature to grandiose novels, to the majestic epics in verse and prose that our poetic era promises and gives us."
Believing that the French historical novel will differ significantly from the novels of W. Scott, Hugo wrote: “After the pictorial but prosaic novel by W. Scott, it remains to create another novel, in our opinion, even more beautiful and grandiose. This novel is both a drama and epic, pictorial and at the same time poetic, real and at the same time ideal, truthful and monumental, and it will lead from Walter Scott back to Homer. "
"Heavy as an elephant and light as an insect"
Anatole France
Notre-Dame de Paris, a monument of early French Gothic (see Gothic), which became a model for many churches in France and other countries. Located in Paris on the Ile de la Cité.
It is a 5-nave basilica (length 130 m, width 108 m, interior height 35 m) with a short transept and two towers flanking the western façade (height 69 m). For P.'s architecture. from. a combination of features of the Romanesque style (see Romanesque style) (horizontal division of facades, partially unfinished wall surfaces, simplicity of architectural decor) with a new, Gothic understanding of the building's space and the use of new structures (pointed arch, Arkbutans) is characteristic.
The cathedral began in 1163, mostly completed by 1257 (the choir was completed around 1177, the transept and nave by 1196; the western facade - around 1200-50, sculpture of the 1st half of the 13th century; the transept was redesigned in the 2nd half of the 13th century. , architect Jean from Chel, Pierre from Montreuil). Fragmentary stained-glass windows (roses of the western, southern and northern facades, 13th century) and sculpture (on the facades, about 1165-1225; in the choir, 13-14th centuries) have survived. The cathedral has been heavily renovated during the 19th century restoration. (started in 1845, J. B. Lassus, E. E. Viollet-le-Duc), however, retains the organic integrity of the architectural appearance.
Notre Dame Cathedral, along with the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower, is part of the must-see triad of Paris. That is why a multilingual crowd is always noisy on Papertnaya Square, street musicians and jugglers entertain the venerable audience, camera shutters click, the portal doors open and close, letting in many people who want to go inside, there is a line of people eager to climb to the very top for a fee and feel like Quasimodo ... Notre Dame is still the focus of Parisian life.
It is difficult to imagine that two hundred years ago the cathedral was completely neglected. The famous revolution died down, flooding the country with blood and destroying numerous castles, palaces and monasteries in the struggle against the legacy of the accursed past. The cathedral also got it. At first, the illiterate rebels decided that the statues on the facade - the Old Testament kings - depicted the hated kings of France and threw them to the ground. Then the rest of the sculptures followed. Bells and church utensils were melted down, the altar was desecrated and plundered, and then dedicated to the Goddess of Reason, invented by the leaders of the revolution. Her role at the festivities was played by an actress with a dubious reputation. The newly invented cult did not last long and died out along with the revolution.
For many years, the cathedral stood dilapidated, plundered and dilapidated, until in 1831 the famous novel by Victor Hugo appeared, which marked the revival of interest in the historical heritage and Gothic art in particular and drew attention to the deplorable state of the great architectural monument.
The restoration by the decree of the king was entrusted to the young architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, whose name later turned out to be associated with the huge success of France in the restoration of ancient monuments. Since then, the constant concern of the authorities has been to preserve the cathedral in its original form. So, for example, literally in recent years, a large-scale restoration and cleaning of the facade has been carried out, which returned its original light color to the stones.
Although the temple was under construction for many years, the original plan was respected, which, by the way, was a great rarity among Gothic cathedrals. The facade is characterized by symmetry and harmony, poise and tranquility, austerity and clarity. It is clearly divided into three parts, both vertically and horizontally - an original modular grid is obtained, a kind of proportional lattice.
The lower tier is formed by three portals: the Mother of God, the Last Judgment and St. Anne (from left to right). Attention is drawn to a slight deviation from complete symmetry - a triangle above the tympanum of the northern (left) portal - the very error, the taste of which turns calculation into art. The sculptural decoration of the portals is worthy of detailed consideration.
Above the portal tier there is a pronounced horizontal - a gallery of kings in the niches of the arcature belt. These are the very 28 figures of the kings of Judah, the ancestors of Christ, who were thrown to the earth by the rebellious mob. It separates the lower tier from the middle tier, where the windows are located. A round stained glass window with a diameter of almost 10 meters is a symbol of divine infinity inscribed in a square, a symbol of the earthly world. This combination was intended to remind devoted viewers of the mystery of God who became man. On the balustrade in front of the rose window is a statue of the Madonna supported by two angels. On the same level, exactly above the side portals, are the images of Adam (left) and Eve (right). This composition was intended to remind of the original sin of the ancestors and its atonement by Jesus Christ.
In addition to the famous rose window, on the second tier, attention is drawn to double arched windows, which, being surrounded by a lancet draft, echo the forms of the portals located under them. And the small round windows of the second tier, located above the arched windows, in turn correspond to the central rosette window. Such a rhythmic coordination of forms, as it were, holds together all the elements of the facade.
An additional confirmation of this is the elongated double openings of the towers, corresponding both with the windows of the second tier and with the portal doors. But these are already elements of the third tier, on the way to which the eye encounters another strong horizontal - a high through arcature.
In the same way as horizontally, the facade is clearly divided into three parts and vertically. Buttresses protruding from the wall act as dividers. Here, by the way, a slight violation of symmetry was also allowed: the left tower is slightly wider than the right one. It is interesting that the opening between the towers on the third tier is perceived as the same natural element of the facade as the main body of the wall.
The general impression was remarkably expressed by the Russian art critic Yevsey Rotenberg: “The facade of Notre Dame demonstrates not so much the rise of architectural forms as their sequential belt ascent and the corresponding relief, from a frankly heavy portal bottom through a kind of balance of masses and openings in the second window tier to an openwork ultralight crowning arcature and, further, to the tower volumes.
Unlike many other Gothic churches, the facade of Notre Dame has a sense of the weight of the architectural mass: it is no coincidence that some sections of the wall were left without decor - their tangible heaviness in contrast is set off by openwork forms.
Indeed, the later Gothic architecture was characterized by such an aspiration upward, which is not at all characteristic of the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Its main façade demonstrates an amazing balance of vertical and horizontal lines, which has no equal in all French Gothic.
Inside the temple, an unusual surprise awaits the attentive viewer: the three-part facade corresponds not to a three-nave, but to a five-nave main building! This "pairing" is done so delicately that the bulk of the audience simply does not notice. In the eastern part of the cathedral, double side naves continue evenly around the main apse, which makes it possible for pilgrims (and now tourists) to walk around the altar without interfering with worship. At one time, it was the task of accommodating a large number of pilgrims in the church that gave rise to the need for bright churches of a large volume, which ultimately led to the appearance of the Gothic pointed vault.
Note the massive pylons in the second row, counting from the entrance. Their reinforced structure is designed to support the weight of the towers of the main façade. Chapels are located along the perimeter of the entire cathedral, which were built between the buttresses in the XIII-XIV centuries.
Probably the most impressive sight in the interior of the cathedral is the stained glass rose windows in both wings of the transept. The northern rose, preserved from the 13th century, depicts Old Testament characters around the Virgin Mary. The plot of the southern rose is Jesus Christ surrounded by saints and angels. Here the stained glass windows were replaced during the 19th century restoration.
The sculptural image of Notre Dame, to which the cathedral is dedicated, is located in the middle of the cross, at the right column separating the altar part from the choir bypass. Symmetrically to it, a statue of St. Dionysius. On the right, behind the altar, is the entrance to the treasury, where, among other relics, the crown of thorns and other sacred objects that once resided in Sainte-Chapelle are kept. On the left, behind the altar, is a curious model of an unfinished cathedral, which reveals the construction techniques of the Middle Ages.
The interior of Notre Dame Cathedral, being a work of early Gothic, demonstrates not only the innovations of this style in the form of a ribbed vault, but also the legacy of the previous era. The walls of the middle nave have not yet undergone complete decomposition into columns; they look quite massive, and even rest on round Romanesque pillars. It is not surprising that the illumination of the temple is clearly insufficient, despite attempts to improve it, which were made soon after the completion of construction.
Well, the brighter the sunlight will be perceived when you again go out into the street from the doors of the north portal. Take a last look at the facade to capture it in your memory: it will become the tuning fork with which you will check the sound of the music of all other Gothic temples frozen in stone.
Literature: “Notre Dame Cathedral cannot be called a complete, integral monument with a definite character. This is no longer a Romanesque temple, but it is also not a completely Gothic temple. This is an intermediate building. No sooner had the Saxon architect erected the first pillars of the nave, than the lancet vault, taken out of the Crusades, triumphantly lay on the wide Romanesque capitals designed to support only a semicircular vault. Since that time, indivisibly dominating, the lancet vault defines the shape of the entire cathedral as a whole. Unassuming and modest at the beginning, this vault unfolds, increases, but still restrains itself, not daring to rush the points of its arrows and high arches into the heavens. He seems to be constrained by the neighborhood of heavy Romanesque pillars. Each side, each stone of the venerable monument is not only a page of the history of France, but also the history of science and art "
V. Hugo "Notre Dame Cathedral"
History: Construction began in 1163, under Louis VII of France. The main altar of the cathedral was consecrated in May 1182, by 1196 the nave of the building was almost finished, work continued only on the main facade. By 1250, the construction of the cathedral was mostly completed, and in 1315 the interior decoration was also completed. Construction of the western pediment, with its distinctive two towers, began around 1200.
The main creators of Notre Dame are two architects - Jean de Chelles, who worked from 1250 to 1265, and Pierre de Montreuil, who worked from 1250 to 1267.
During the construction of the cathedral, many different architects took part in it, as evidenced by the western side and towers differing in style and height. The towers were completed in 1245 and the entire cathedral in 1345.
Architecture: The cathedral reveals a duality of stylistic influences: on the one hand, there are echoes of the Romanesque style of Normandy with its characteristic powerful and dense unity, and on the other, innovative architectural achievements of the Gothic style are used, which give the building a lightness and give the impression of a simple vertical structure. The height of the cathedral is 35 m, length - 130 m, width - 48 m, the height of the bell towers - 69 m, the weight of the Emmanuel bell in the eastern tower is 13 tons, its tongue is 500 kg.
Culture: It is impossible to overestimate the importance of Notre Dame for Paris, France, and indeed the whole world. Birth of Paris, location 0 km. all the roads of France, a cultural beacon and a spiritual sanctuary, a place of pilgrimage for tourists from all over the world - a small part of the contribution of Notre Dame to the culture of France.
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The novel Notre Dame de Paris, created on the verge of sentimentalism and romanticism, combines the features of a historical epic, a romantic drama and a deeply psychological novel.
The history of the creation of the novel
Notre Dame Cathedral is the first historical novel in French (the action, as conceived by the author, takes place about 400 years ago, at the end of the 15th century). Victor Hugo began hatching his idea back in the 1820s, and published in March 1831. The preconditions for the creation of the novel were a rising interest in historical literature and in particular in the Middle Ages.
Romanticism began to form in the French literature of that time, and with it romantic tendencies in cultural life in general. So, Victor Hugo personally defended the need to preserve ancient architectural monuments, which many wanted to either demolish or rebuild.
There is an opinion that it was after the novel "Notre Dame Cathedral" that supporters of the demolition of the cathedral retreated, and an incredible interest in cultural monuments and a wave of civic consciousness in the desire to protect ancient architecture awakened in society.
Characteristics of the main characters
It is this reaction of society to the book that gives the right to say that the cathedral is the real protagonist of the novel, along with people. This is the main place of events taking place, a mute witness to the dramas, love, life and death of the main characters; a place that, against the background of the transience of human lives, remains as motionless and unshakable.
The main characters in human form are the gypsy Esmeralda, the hunchback Quasimodo, the priest Claude Frollo, the military Phoebus de Chateauper, the poet Pierre Gringoire.
Esmeralda unites the rest of the main characters around her: all of the listed men are in love with her, but some are disinterested, like Quasimodo, others furiously, like Frollo, Phoebus and Gringoire, experiencing carnal attraction; the gypsy herself loves Phoebus. In addition, all the characters are linked by the Cathedral: Frollo serves here, Quasimodo works as a bell ringer, Gringoire becomes a priest's apprentice. Esmeralda usually speaks in front of the Cathedral Square, while Phoebus looks out the windows of his future wife Fleur-de-Lys, who lives near the Cathedral.
Esmeralda is a serene child of the streets, unaware of her attractiveness. She dances and performs in front of the Cathedral with her goat, and everyone around, from the priest to the street thieves, gives her their hearts, worshiping her like a deity. With the same childlike spontaneity with which a child reaches for brilliant objects, Esmeralda gives her preference to Phoebus, the noble, brilliant Chevalier.
The external beauty of Phoebus (coincides with the name of Apollo) is the only positive trait of an internally ugly military man. A deceitful and dirty seducer, a coward, a lover of booze and foul language, only in front of the weak is he a hero, only in front of the ladies - a gentleman.
Pierre Gringoire, a local poet who was forced by circumstances to plunge into the thick of French street life, is a bit like Phoebus in that his feelings for Esmeralda are physical attraction. True, he is not capable of meanness, and he loves both a friend and a person in a gypsy, setting aside her feminine charm.
The most sincere love for Esmeralda is nourished by the most terrible creature - Quasimodo, the bell ringer in the Cathedral, who was once picked up by the archdeacon of the temple, Claude Frollo. For Esmeralda, Quasimodo is ready to do anything, even love her quietly and secretly from everyone, even give the girl to a rival.
Claude Frollo has the most difficult feelings for the gypsy. Love for a gypsy is a special tragedy for him, because it is a forbidden passion for him as a priest. Passion does not find a way out, so he either appeals to her love, then pushes her away, then pounces on her, then saves from death, finally, he himself hands the gypsy to the executioner. Frollo's tragedy is caused not only by the collapse of his love. He turns out to be a representative of the passing time and feels that he is outliving along with the era: a person receives more and more knowledge, moves away from religion, builds the new, destroys the old. Frollo holds the first printed book in his hands and understands how it dissolves without a trace in the centuries along with the handwritten folios.
The plot, composition, problems of the work
The novel takes place in the 1480s. All the actions of the novel take place around the Cathedral - in the "City", on the Cathedral and Greve squares, in the "Yard of Miracles".
There is a religious performance in front of the Cathedral (the author of the mystery is Gringoire), but the crowd prefers to watch Esmeralda dance on the Place de Grève. Looking at the gypsy, Gringoire, Quasimodo, and Frollo's father fall in love with her at the same time. Phoebus meets Esmeralda when she is invited to entertain a group of girls, including Phoebus's bride, Fleur de Lys. Phoebus makes an appointment with Esmeralda, but the priest also comes on the date. Out of jealousy, the priest wounds Phoebus, and Esmeralda is accused of this. Under torture, the girl confesses to witchcraft, prostitution and the murder of Phoebus (who actually survived) and is sentenced to be hanged. Claude Frollo comes to her in prison and persuades her to flee with him. On the day of his execution, Phoebus watches the execution of the sentence with his fiancée. But Quasimodo does not allow the execution to take place - he grabs the gypsy and runs to hide in the Cathedral.
The entire "Yard of Miracles" - a haven for thieves and beggars - rushes to "free" their beloved Esmeralda. The king learned about the riot and ordered the execution of the gypsy at any cost. When she is executed, Claude laughs a devilish laugh. Seeing this, the hunchback rushes at the priest, and he breaks down, falling from the tower.
Compositionally, the novel is looped: first, the reader sees the word "rock" inscribed on the wall of the Cathedral, and plunges into the past for 400 years, at the end - sees in a crypt outside the city two skeletons intertwined in their arms. These are the heroes of the novel - a hunchback and a gypsy. Time has erased their history into dust, and the Cathedral still stands as an indifferent observer of human passions.
The novel depicts both private human passions (the problem of purity and meanness, mercy and cruelty) and national passions (wealth and poverty, the isolation of power from the people). For the first time in European literature, the personal drama of the characters develops against the backdrop of detailed historical events, and private life and the historical background are so interpenetrating.
INTRODUCTION
The personality of Victor Hugo is striking in its versatility. One of the most widely read French prose writers in the world, for his compatriots he is, first of all, a great national poet, reformer of French verse, drama, as well as a patriotic publicist, politician-democrat. But there is one novel that won for him not only all French, but also worldwide fame as a novelist. This is the novel "Notre Dame Cathedral" by AV Lunacharsky. Victor Hugo. The creative path of the writer. M., 1931 p. 19.
Hugo began work on this novel two days before the start of the July Revolution, that is, on July 25, 1830. The book was published on March 16, 1831 - in the troubled days of unrest and the defeat of the archbishop's palace by the people. Turbulent political events led to the novel's character, which was historical in form, but deeply modern in ideas. Captured by the revolutionary fervor of the French people, the writer strove to find in the distant history the rudiments of his future great actions, he strove to explore those profound shifts that are taking place in the consciousness, in the souls of people in times of troubles, at the break of two eras.
Hugo conceived his novel as an epic picture of medieval Paris, bearing in mind the state of morals, beliefs, arts, and finally, civilization of the 15th century E.M. Victor Hugo. M., 1976 p. 33.
Notre Dame Cathedral by Victor Hugo is often studied and discussed, both in our country and around the world. In the novel, you can find both a social layer, both romantic and historical. This versatility has attracted both readers and researchers for more than a century and a half.
In French romantic literature, Notre Dame Cathedral was an outstanding work of the historical genre. With the power of creative imagination, Hugo strove to recreate that truth of history, which would be an instructive instruction for modernity.
Victor Hugo managed not only to reveal the social contradictions of that time, but to convey the flavor of the era. To this end, he carefully studied all the historical works, chronicles, charters and other documents from which it was possible to glean information about the customs and political convictions of the French Middle Ages during the time of Louis 11 Eunin E.M. Victor Hugo. Moscow, 1976, p. 33. But in the novel, the historical "outline" serves only as a general basis for the plot, in which fictional characters act and the events created by the author's fantasy develop. In fact, only one historical event is indicated in the novel (the arrival of the ambassadors for the marriage of the Dauphin and Marguerite in January 1842), and the real characters (Louis 13, Cardinal of Bourbon, ambassadors) are pushed into the background by numerous fictional characters. All the main characters in the novel - Claude Frollo, Quasimodo, Esmeralda, Phoebus - are fictionalized by him. Only Pierre Gringoire is an exception: he has a real historical prototype - he lived in Paris in the 15th - early 16th centuries. poet and playwright. The plot of the novel is not based on any major historical event, and only detailed descriptions of Notre Dame Cathedral and medieval Paris can be attributed to real facts. The truth of a historical novel is not in the accuracy of facts, but in fidelity to the spirit of the times. With special attention Hugo treats the vocabulary of his characters. This is most clearly seen in the way the novel's vocabulary was developed, reflecting the language spoken by all strata of society in the 15th century. For example, the songs of the people of that time:
Jean Balue, our cardinal,
I lost count of the dioceses,
He's quick.
And his Verdun friend
Lost, as you can see, suddenly
Everything to the thread. Hugo V. Notre Dame Cathedral. M., 2003 p. 456
hugo roman cathedral our lady of paris
terminology from the field of architecture, quotations from Latin, archaisms, argos of the crowd of the Court of Miracles, a mixture of Spanish, Italian and Latin are encountered. In the understanding of the author of the novel, the people are not just a dark ignorant mass, a passive victim of the oppressors: they are full of creative strength and will to fight, the future belongs to them. Although Hugo did not create a broad picture of the popular movement in France in the 15th century, he saw in the common people that irresistible force that, in continuous uprisings, showed indomitable energy, achieving the desired victory. The image of the awakening people is embodied in Quasimodo. The scene in which Esmeralda gives the sufferer to drink at the pillory of Quasimodo is full of secret meaning: this people languishing in slavery receives a life-giving breath of freedom. If, before meeting with Esmeralda, the hunchback was as if one of the stone monsters of the cathedral, not quite human (in accordance with the Latin name given to him - Quasimodo, “almost”, “as if”) Hugo V. Notre Dame Cathedral. M., 2003 p. 163 then, having fallen in love with her, he becomes almost a superman. The fate of Quasimodo is a guarantee that the people will also come to life. The people, in the understanding of the author of the novel, are a formidable force, in whose blind activity the ideas of justice break through (only “vagabonds” were able to speak out in defense of the innocently convicted Esmeralda). In the scenes of the storming of the cathedral by the masses, Hugo's allusion to the future assault on the Bastille in 1789, to the revolution predicted to King Louis XI by the Ghent stocker Jacques Copenola “... tower, when soldiers and citizens with a growl rush at each other in mortal combat - then this hour will strike ”Hugo V. Notre Dame Cathedral. M., 2003 p. 472. These scenes contain a hint of the continuity of events of the distant past and the present, which is reflected in the writer's thoughts about his time, captured in the third and fourth books of the novel. This was facilitated by those turbulent political events (the July Revolution, cholera riots, the defeat of the archbishop's palace by the people), during which the "Cathedral" was created.
The traits of romanticism in the novel manifested themselves in a sharp opposition of positive and negative characters of the heroes, an unexpected discrepancy between the external and internal content of human nature. Hugo uses detailed comparisons, metaphors, antitheses, and shows amazing ingenuity in the use of verbs. The style and composition of the novel are contrasted: for example, the ironic solemnity of the court sessions is replaced by the simple humor of the crowd at the festival for the festival of jesters; the melodramaticism of the chapter "The Slipper" (the scene of recognition) - the horrifying scene of Quasimodo's torture on the Place de Grève; Esmeralda's romantic love for Phoebus is given in contrast to Claude Frollo's love for Esmeralda.
A sign of romanticism is also the exceptional character shown in extraordinary circumstances. The main characters of the novel - Esmeralda, Quasimodo, Claude Frollo - are the embodiment of one or another human quality.
Esmeralda symbolizes the moral beauty of the common man. Hugo endows this heroine with all the best features inherent in representatives of the people: beauty, tenderness, kindness, mercy, innocence and naivety, incorruptibility and loyalty. Handsome Phoebus and his fiancee Fleur-de-Lys personify high society, outwardly brilliant, inwardly devastated, selfish and heartless. The focus of dark and gloomy forces is Archdeacon Claude Frollo, a representative of the Catholic Church. In Quasimodo, the democratic humanistic idea of \u200b\u200bHugo was embodied: outwardly ugly, rejected by his social status, the bell ringer of the cathedral turns out to be a highly moral person. This cannot be said about people occupying a high position in the social hierarchy (Louis XI himself, knights, gendarmes, arrows, courtiers). It is in Esmeralda, in Quasimodo, the outcasts of the Court of Miracles that Hugo sees the folk heroes of the novel, full of moral strength and genuine humanism.
Notre Dame was the greatest achievement of Hugo, the young leader of the Romantics. According to the historian Michelet, "Victor Hugo built next to the old cathedral another - a poetic cathedral as strong in its foundation as the first, and raised its towers just as high" Lunacharsky A.V. Victor Hugo. The creative path of the writer. M., 1931 p. 19.
It is not for nothing that the depiction of the cathedral occupies a central place in the novel. The Christian Church played an important role in the system of serfdom. One of the main characters - the archdeacon of the cathedral Claude Frollo - embodies the gloomy ideology of the churchmen. A stern fanatic, he devoted himself to the study of science, but medieval sciences were closely associated with mysticism and superstition. A man of extraordinary intelligence, Frollo soon felt the powerlessness of this wisdom. But religious prejudices did not allow him to go beyond it. He experienced "the horror and amazement of an altar servant" before printing, as well as before any other innovation. He artificially suppressed human desires in himself, but could not resist the temptation that a gypsy girl caused him. The fanatical monk became violent, cynical and rude in his passion, revealing his baseness and cruelty to the end.
The gloomy image of the Cathedral appears in the novel as a symbol of Catholicism, which has suppressed man for centuries. The cathedral is a symbol of the enslavement of the people, a symbol of feudal oppression, dark superstitions and prejudices that hold the souls of people captive. No wonder that in the darkness of the cathedral, under its arches, merging with bizarre marble chimeras, deafened by the hum of bells, Quasimodo lives alone, "the soul of the cathedral", whose grotesque image personifies the Middle Ages. In contrast, the charming image of Esmeralda embodies the joy and beauty of earthly life, the harmony of body and soul, that is, the ideals of the Renaissance, which followed the Middle Ages. The breakdown of eras passes through destinies, through the hearts of the heroes in "Cathedral". It is no coincidence that Esmeralda is compared with the Mother of God throughout the novel. Light comes from her. This is how the author metaphorically suggests: the deity of modern times is freedom, in the image of Esmeralda is the promise of future freedom.
Rock, the death of heroes is the Middle Ages. The aging, obsolete era, feeling the approach of its end, the more furiously it pursues a new life. The Middle Ages takes revenge on Esmeralda for being free, and Quasimodo for freeing himself from the power of the stone. The laws, prejudices, habits of the Middle Ages kill them.
Hugo did not idealize the Middle Ages, as did many writers of romanticism; he truthfully showed the dark sides of the feudal past. At the same time, his book is deeply poetic, full of ardent patriotic love for France, for her history, her art, in which, according to the writer, the freedom-loving spirit of the French people lives.
CONCLUSION
The brightness of the colors with which medieval life is portrayed is much more drawn from the romantic imagination than from the original sources Lunacharsky A.V. Victor Hugo. The creative path of the writer. M., 1931 p. 19.
Notre Dame Cathedral is built on the contrasts of good and evil, mercy and cruelty, compassion and intolerance, feeling and reason, the novel is filled with whole, big characters, strong passions, exploits and martyrdom in the name of convictions.
The romantic hero Quasimodo changes according to the classical scheme - a hero with an extraordinary character changes in an exceptional situation.
Hugo stands for simplicity, expressiveness, sincerity of poetic speech, for the enrichment of her vocabulary by including folk utterances as opposed to classicism.
The historicism of the novel is more in the "aura" of the Middle Ages created by the author (through speech, architecture, names, rituals) than in the description of real historical events or characters.
The novel is constructed as a system of polar oppositions. These contrasts are not just an artistic device for the author, but a reflection of his ideological positions, the concept of life.
Notre Dame Cathedral has become one of the best examples of the historical novel, incorporating a picturesquely recreated diverse picture of medieval French life.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- 1. Hugo V. Notre Dame Cathedral. M., 2003
- 2. Evnina E.M. Victor Hugo. M., 1976
- 3. Lunacharsky A.V. Victor Hugo. The creative path of the writer. M., 1931
- 4. Meshkova V.I. creativity of Victor Hugo. Saratov, 1971
