The Gipsy girl is scared upon seeing that face the first time. It is not the face of a human-being. It is the face of a beast instead. Yes, she has never seen such a terribly ugly face in her life. It is the face of Quasimodo - the hunchback of Notre Dame.
Abandoned as a baby and adopted by the Claude Frollo - the Archdeacon of Notre Dame, due to his deformed figure, he confines himself within the walls of Cathedral where his daily job is to ring the bell, the job which makes him deaf. One of the rare occasions on which he ventures outside the Cathedral is when he obeys Claude Frollo to kidnap Esmeralda - the Gipsy girl who has infatuated his adoptive father.
The failed attempt to kidnap her has changed his life. He is arrested, sentenced to be whipped and tied down under the heat of the sun. And it is she - the Gipsy girl with compassionate heart - has approached and offered him water. He turns his head away at first in a sulk and then slowly opens his mouth for the stream of water from her hands; and at the moment - a predestined moment - he has, for the first time in his life, realized that he has fallen in love with her - a pitifully unconditional love. After he comes back to the Cathedral, people realize something has changed in him. The bells ring louder with a seemingly happy - sounding echo.
It would be better for him if he didn’t meet her. It would be better for him if it was someone else, not her, who approached and gave him water. Even though he is of deformed figure, even though he can’t hear, he was happy with his life in his own world, in which the echo of ringing bell sounded like some kind of music to him. Since falling in love with her, he painfully realizes that, with his unusual look, he is not really a man in its true meaning, even though he constantly assures himself that he is not a beast either.
It would be better for him if he didn’t meet her. It would be better for him if it was someone else, not her, who approached and gave him water. Even though he is of deformed figure, even though he can’t hear, he was happy with his life in his own world, in which the echo of ringing bell sounded like some kind of music to him. Since falling in love with her, he painfully realizes that, with his unusual look, he is not really a man in its true meaning, even though he constantly assures himself that he is not a beast either.
Upon realizing that, he bursts out crying for the first time in his life - the tears of love. Esmeralda is later charged with the attempted murder of Phoebus, whom Frollo attempted to kill in jealousy, and is sentenced to death by hanging. Right at the moment the rope is going to put on her head, with all efforts he can have, with all climbing skills he has learnt, he risks his life swinging down by the bell rope of Notre Dame and carrying her away from execution site. He doesn't hesitate to throw out of the window of Notre Dame his adoptive father - whom he has reserved his love and devotion to - upon finding that he is attacking Esmeralda. Esmeralda is finally saved and returns to her people leaving him alone with Notre Dame. There may be nothing more touching than seeing him sitting there leaning himself against a pole of Notre Dame, hopelessly watching her moving away forever out of his life.
The love story of the hunchback of Notre Dame is the one of the game of fate. While heartlessly distorting the figure of a human being, fate cruelly keeps his heart intact with all loving desires. The instinct of loving and being loved is one of the basic ones of a human being, which helps him to realize that he is really living instead of a mere existence. On contrary, for the hunchback of Notre Dame, the moment he falls in love marks the beginning of the tragedy of his life, the beginning of a heart-breaking process, in which every moment he lives on, becomes one of torture and punishment. There is probably nothing more painful and bitter than that.
However, we have learnt in the way he loves something adorable. Despite the hopelessness of loving desires, he keeps on loving with an unconditional love, in which he finds the ultimate goal of his life now is to protect the one he loves, sacrificing his life for her living, which also means finally watching her happy with another man - the man of her life. There is also probably nothing more sacred and noble than that.
The love story of the hunchback of Notre Dame is the one of the game of fate. While heartlessly distorting the figure of a human being, fate cruelly keeps his heart intact with all loving desires. The instinct of loving and being loved is one of the basic ones of a human being, which helps him to realize that he is really living instead of a mere existence. On contrary, for the hunchback of Notre Dame, the moment he falls in love marks the beginning of the tragedy of his life, the beginning of a heart-breaking process, in which every moment he lives on, becomes one of torture and punishment. There is probably nothing more painful and bitter than that.
However, we have learnt in the way he loves something adorable. Despite the hopelessness of loving desires, he keeps on loving with an unconditional love, in which he finds the ultimate goal of his life now is to protect the one he loves, sacrificing his life for her living, which also means finally watching her happy with another man - the man of her life. There is also probably nothing more sacred and noble than that.
01/29/2011
Jeffrey Thai
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