ESSAY ABOUT QUASIMODO
INTRO
This essay is written about the well known
character Quasimodo. It is dedicated to awakening
the people to the reality they are living in. In the essay there is a comparison
between the literature and movie character Quasimodo.
It is the social cause insipred by Victor Hugo,
that is motivating to write this essay about a dark gothic character namely Quasimodo.
QUASIMODO CHARACTER COMPARISON
Quasimodo is strange image, created by the
french novelist Victor
Hugo, putting the fear in Parisians
with his scary outlook. In his literary gothic fiction work “The Hunchback of
Notre-Dame” (adaptation from 1849th
of Hugo`s roman “Notre-Dame de Paris”), Victor Hugo presents Quasimodo as an
elected from the crowd Pope of the Fools. The detailed description of
Quasimodo`s character vision is presenting a monster, bringing darkness
everywhere… leaving the reader any chance for fantasy, on the contrary – to
imagine if it`s possible. Finding Quasimodo in it`s own reality – cruel,
nightmarish and dark, the character is humiliated, moked and likened to the
devil. Primarly the reader`s idea about the character`s vision is ugly, creepy,
crowded by the crowd and exhibited. Because of the custom procession it has to
be presented parade through the galleries of the palace, as well as on the
streets and public places in Paris. Quasimodo
lives in the Cathedral Notre-Dame, where is bell-ringer. The description as
one-eyed, deaf, lame, hunchbacked makes the character completely asocial in the
societies of the Late Middle Ages Rmantic Time.
The movie role of Quasimodo is played by the
american actor of the 20th century Lon Chaney in the eponymous
horror film from 1923rd - “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame”, directed by
Wallace Worsley. The actor is embodied in the character of Quasimodo
skillfully by creative fusion of costume elements and make up, typically for Chaney as he has played diverse horror-character movie
roles. The costume of Quasimodo is characterized by it`s monstrous vision: one-eyed,
hunchbacked, lame and deaf with protruding growth teeths. Lon Chaney
has played this particular role really good, immersioning in Quasimodo
and developing the character confirming that Quasimodo
is synonim of “a courageous heart beneath a grotesque exterior.”
The difference between the two subjects of this
essay may be made through several main criterias which are developed here
below: Firstly the idea for the image as a whole is served directly to the film
spectator, as the reader has to build and develop own idea in the process of
reading of Hugo`s work. It requires diligence while sifting Quasimodo`s
character from the rest. The development of the character in the two art works
is different – in the movie it is dynamic while in the book it is a process.
Frightening and horrific vision of Quasimodo is
striking, as in the book it is developed through the other characters.
My choice to write an essay about Quasimodo, is because there is terrible opposition between
darkness and light – from on side the light of the Cathedral Norte-Dame and on
the other darker side - the inhuman. This character could hardly impress
somebody, but because of the strong impression it is worthy for writing an
essay.
Victor Hugo has written this gothic novel for
the soul purpose of protecting gothic architecture from that time, which has
been replaced by new modern buildings. Maybe Hugo
succeeded to raise awareness of this major problem, which we face again
nowadays. Through this fictional and chimeric image of Quasimodo
we can pay attention to the social values, which are actually the beauty of the
passing era.
CONCLUSION
As today in the new 21st century we
may see the architectural invasions, it was the same over the centuries and in
the old-world. It can be hardly imagined Quasimodo`s character and indeed it
requires courage to play similar role. Most important is to feel the protection
towards our social values as we are the builders of our world, be it through an
image of a monstrous creature.
