Beauty Close Reading Structure Chart (Hugo 205-211)

"However, Paquette's child had more that was pretty about it besides its feet. I saw her when she was only four months old; she was a love! She had eyes larger than her mouth, and the most charming black hair, which already curled. She would have been a magnificent brunette at the age of sixteen! Her mother became more crazy over her every day. She kissed her, caressed her, tickled her, washed her, decked her out, devoured her! She lost her head over her, she thanked God for her. Her pretty, little rosy feet above all were an endless source of wonderment, they were a delirium of joy! She was always pressing her lips to them, and she could never recover from her amazement at their smallness. She put them into the tiny shoes, took them out, admired them, marvelled at them, looked at the light through them, was curious to see them try to walk on her bed, and would gladly have passed her life on her knees, putting on and taking off the shoes from those feet, as though they had been those of an Infant Jesus."

‘The tale is fair and good,’ said Gervaise in a low tone; ‘but where do gypsies come into all that?’

‘Here,’ replied Mahiette. ‘One day there arrived in Reims a very queer sort of people. They were beggars and vagabonds who were roaming over the country, led by their duke and their counts. They were browned by exposure to the sun, they had closely curling hair, and silver rings in their ears. The women were still uglier than the men. They had blacker faces, which were always uncovered, a miserable frock on their bodies, an old cloth woven of cords bound upon their shoulder, and their hair hanging like the tail of a horse. The children who scrambled between their legs would have frightened as many monkeys. A band of excommunicates . . . [Chantefleurie] was very much frightened by the Egyptians, and wept. But her mother kissed her more warmly and went away enchanted with the good fortune which the soothsayers had foretold for her Agnes. She was to be a beauty, virtuous, a queen. So she returned to her attic in the Rue Folle-Peine, very proud of bearing with her a queen. The next day she took advantage of a moment when the child was asleep on her bed, (for they always slept together), gently left the door a little way open, and ran to tell a neighbor in the Rue de la Séchesserie, that the day would come when her daughter Agnes would be served at table by the King of England and the Archduke of Ethiopia, and a hundred other marvels. On her return . . . The child was no longer there, the place was empty. Nothing remained of the child, but one of her pretty little shoes. She flew out of the room, dashed down the stairs, and began to beat her head against the wall, crying: 'My child! Who has my child? Who has taken my child? . . . During her absence, a neighbor had seen two gypsies ascend up to it with a bundle in their arms, then descend again, after closing the door. After their departure, something like the cries of a child were heard in Paquette's room. The mother, burst into shrieks of laughter, ascended the stairs as though on wings, and entered.--A frightful thing to tell, Oudarde! Instead of her pretty little Agnes, so rosy and so fresh, who was a gift of the good God, a sort of hideous little monster, lame, one-eyed, deformed, was crawling and squalling over the floor. She hid her eyes in horror. 'Oh!' said she, 'have the witches transformed my daughter into this horrible animal?' . . . It was the monstrous child of some gypsy woman, who had given herself to the devil . . . La Chantefleurie flung herself upon the little shoe, all that remained to her of all that she loved. She remained so long motionless over it, mute, and without breath, that they thought she was dead” (205-211).
 

	Linguistic	Semantic	Structural	Cultural
Examples	“The tale is fair and good” (208).	“Instead of her pretty little Agnes, so rosy and so fresh, who was a gift of the good God, a sort of hideous little monster, lame, one-eyed, deformed, was crawling and squalling over the floor. She hid her eyes in horror” (210).	“My child! Who has my child? Who has taken my child?” (210)	“‘The tale is fair and good,’ said Gervaise in a low tone; ‘but where do gypsies come into all that?’   ‘Here,’ replied Mahiette. ‘Oned day there arrived in Reims a very queer sort of people. They were beggars and bagabonds who were roaming ober the country, led by their duke and their counts’” (208).
Analysis	This simple quote suggests to the audience that the following information, given later in the passage, will be in the form of a story. This form includes description, setting, dialogue, etc. In addition, this style was used to inconspicuously insert foreshadowing into the story If the author had merely described the story himself, it wouldn’t be nearly as memorable and therefore fail to create a memorable foreshadow for the audience.	This quote depicts how even though beauty is short-lived, the characters will o almost anything to obtain it and stop at nothing to shun the opposite. It is understandable that the woman is upset by the loss of her daughter, but instead of caring for a child who is under such a similar circumstance, all she can do is turn away in revulsion.	In this example, the repetition and dialogue are used to emphasize emotion. Repetition of “my child shows the disbelief that the woman feels after loosing her daughter. Dialogue is especially used to emphasize emotion because it can show the audience how a person is truly feeling by what they say during stressful situations and their interactions with others.	The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is considered a piece from the Romantic era. Throughout the period of Romanticism, new ideas were spurred from stories of the past. Therefore, this passage is written in the form of a frame narrative to emphasize how the actions of the past affect our future and that history repeats itself.

Beauty Close Reading Analysis Chart

Passage #2 From Novel (Hugo 205-211)	Analysis of Close Reading
"However, Paquette's child had more that was pretty about it besides its feet. I saw her when she was only four months old; she was a love! She had eyes larger than her mouth, and the most charming black hair, which already curled. She would have been a magnificent brunette at the age of sixteen! Her mother became more crazy over her every day. She kissed her, caressed her, tickled her, washed her, decked her out, devoured her! She lost her head over her, she thanked God for her. Her pretty, little rosy feet above all were an endless source of wonderment, they were a delirium of joy! She was always pressing her lips to them, and she could never recover from her amazement at their smallness. She put them into the tiny shoes, took them out, admired them, marvelled at them, looked at the light through them, was curious to see them try to walk on her bed, and would gladly have passed her life on her knees, putting on and taking off the shoes from those feet, as though they had been those of an Infant Jesus."   ‘The tale is fair and good,’ said Gervaise in a low tone; ‘but where do gypsies come into all that?’   ‘Here,’ replied Mahiette. ‘One day there arrived in Reims a very queer sort of people. They were beggars and vagabonds who were roaming over the country, led by their duke and their counts. They were browned by exposure to the sun, they had closely curling hair, and silver rings in their ears. The women were still uglier than the men. They had blacker faces, which were always uncovered, a miserable frock on their bodies, an old cloth woven of cords bound upon their shoulder, and their hair hanging like the tail of a horse. The children who scrambled between their legs would have frightened as many monkeys. A band of excommunicates . . . [Chantefleurie] was very much frightened by the Egyptians, and wept. But her mother kissed her more warmly and went away enchanted with the good fortune which the soothsayers had foretold for her Agnes. She was to be a beauty, virtuous, a queen. So she returned to her attic in the Rue Folle-Peine, very proud of bearing with her a queen. The next day she took advantage of a moment when the child was asleep on her bed, (for they always slept together), gently left the door a little way open, and ran to tell a neighbor in the Rue de la Séchesserie, that the day would come when her daughter Agnes would be served at table by the King of England and the Archduke of Ethiopia, and a hundred other marvels. On her return . . . The child was no longer there, the place was empty. Nothing remained of the child, but one of her pretty little shoes. She flew out of the room, dashed down the stairs, and began to beat her head against the wall, crying: 'My child! Who has my child? Who has taken my child? . . . During her absence, a neighbor had seen two gypsies ascend up to it with a bundle in their arms, then descend again, after closing the door. After their departure, something like the cries of a child were heard in Paquette's room. The mother, burst into shrieks of laughter, ascended the stairs as though on wings, and entered.--A frightful thing to tell, Oudarde! Instead of her pretty little Agnes, so rosy and so fresh, who was a gift of the good God, a sort of hideous little monster, lame, one-eyed, deformed, was crawling and squalling over the floor. She hid her eyes in horror. 'Oh!' said she, 'have the witches transformed my daughter into this horrible animal?' . . . It was the monstrous child of some gypsy woman, who had given herself to the devil . . . La Chantefleurie flung herself upon the little shoe, all that remained to her of all that she loved. She remained so long motionless over it, mute, and without breath, that they thought she was dead” (205-211).	In The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Victor Hugo is able to show the shallow nature of his characters and how their pasts can come to repeat themselves through the use of a frame narrative and dialogue.       The style of this particular passage is that of a frame narrative. “The tale is fair and good” (208) suggests that there is relevant information within the story that will be important later on in the novel. In this particular story, description, dialogue, setting etc. are all used because they relate very similarly to those same characteristics of the novel. Therefore, this story, told by one of the characters, is used to inconspicuously insert foreshadowing and irony into the story. If the author had merely described the story himself; it wouldn’t have been so memorable and would have failed to create a notable foreshadow/ironic effect. This technique emphasizes how a story is presented can have a major affect on how it is perceived.       In addition, through the use of a frame narrative, the author reveals to the audience the true nature of his characters. The quote, “Instead of her pretty little Agnes, so rosy and so fresh, who was a gift of the good God, a sort of hideous little monster, lame, one-eyed, deformed, was crawling and squalling over the floor. She hid her eyes in horror” (210 reveals how even though beauty is short-lived, the characters will do almost anything to obtain it and stop at nothing to shun the opposite. It is understandable that the woman is upset by the loss of her daughter but instead of caring for a child who is under such a similar circumstance, all she can do is turn away in revulsion. The use of a frame narrative creates a sense of irony and therefore reveals the shallow nature of the characters.       The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is considered a piece from the Romantic era; a time depicted as a literary, artistic and intellectual movement that created new ideas by studying those of the past. That is specifically one of the reasons this passage is written in the form of a frame narrative. Based on the quote, “‘the tale is fair and good,’ said Gervaise in a low tone; ‘but where do gypsies come into all that?’ ‘Here,’ replied Mahiette. ‘One day there arrived in Reims a very queer sort of people. They were beggars and vagabonds who were roaming over the country, led by their duke and their counts’” (208) the passage is written in this form to emphasize how the actions of the past affect our future and that they can repeat themselves.       Therefore, through the use of a frame narrative and dialogue, Hugo is able to show the shallow nature of his characters and how their pasts can come to repeat themselves.

The Spider and the Fly Close Reading Analysis Chart

Passage #1 From Novel (Hugo 273-274)

Analysis of Close Reading

“Dom Claude, lost in his own thoughts, was not listening. Charmolue, following the movement of his eyes, saw that his stare was fixed on a large spider's web, which hung like a tapestry in the window. Just then, a giddy fly, looking for the March sun, flew into the net and was entangled. It’s struggles aroused the huge spider, which suddenly bounded from his central cell, and with one lurch caught the fly, which he bent in two with his fore-feelers; then with his hideous sucker he attacked its head. ‘Poor fly!’ said the kin’s attorney of the ecclesiastical court, and he raised his hand to save it. The archdeacon, as though awakened from sleep, held back Jacques’ arm with convulsive violence. ‘Master Jacques,’ he cried, ‘leave the fly to fate!’ The attorney turned about quite terrified. He felt as if his arm had been seized by iron pincers. He haggard, fiery eyes of the priest remained fix on the horrible little group, the fly and the spider.  ‘Oh, yes!’ continued the priest, in a voice which seemed to proceed from the depths of his being, ‘that’s the symbol of everything. She flies, she is joyous, she is just born; she seeks the spring, the open air, liberty: oh, yes! But let her come in contact with the fatal network, and the spider issues from it, the hideous spider! ‘Poor dancer! Poor fated fly! Master Jacques, leave it alone-it’s fate! Alas, Claude, you are the spider! Claude, you are also the fly! You flew toward knowledge, toward the lights, toward the sun; you only wanted to reach the pure air, the broad light of eternal truth. But rushing toward the dazzling window which opens into another world, a world of brightness, intelligence, and knowledge-blind fly! You did not see the subtle spider’s web, spread by destiny between the light and you; you flew into it, wretched fool, and now you struggle, with crushed head and torn wings, between the iron antennae of Fate! Master Jacques! Let the spider alone! Thou went flying towards learning, light, the sun. Thou hadst no other care than to reach the open air, the full daylight of eternal truth; but in precipitating thyself towards the dazzling window which opens upon the other world, --upon the world of brightness, intelligence, and science--blind fly! Senseless, learned man! Thou hast not perceived that subtle spider's web, stretched by destiny betwixt the light and thee--thou hast flung thyself headlong into it, and now thou art struggling with head broken and mangled wings between the iron antennae of fate! Master Jacques! Master Jacques! Let the spider work its will!’   ‘I assure you,’ said Charmolue, who was gazing at him without comprehending him, ‘that I will not touch it. But release my arm, master, for pity's sake! You have a hand like a pair of pincers.’    The archdeacon did not hear him. ‘Oh, madman!’ he went on, without removing his gaze from the window. ‘And even couldst thou have broken through that formidable web, with thy gnat's wings, thou believest that thou couldst have reached the light? Alas! That glass farther on, that transparent obstacle, that crystal wall harder than brass, which separates all philosophies from the truth, how could you have passed through it? O vanity of knowledge! How many wise men come from afar to dash their heads against you! How many systems come buzzing to rush pell-mell against that eternal window!’”

This passage represents a portion of the dramatic monologue that Frollo is delivering. He is addressing Jacques during his speech, but Frollo is more speaking to himself than to his companion. He is revealing elements of his character such as his strong belief in Fate and his unwillingness to participate in free will, which would otherwise not be directly divulged to the reader without the use of a dramatic monologue. In addition, Hugo utilizes the use of a stream of consciousness. The speaker’s lack of ending punctuation in a quote such as this: “You did not see the subtle spider’s web, spread by destiny between the light and you; you flew into it, wretched fool, and now you struggle, with crushed head and torn wings, between the iron antennae of Fate!“ (273) shows his non-stop thought process. Frollo is attempting to justify his actions towards La Esmerelda while working through his though process and basing his actions on the spider and the fly.       The use emotion and descriptive detail can cause even the smallest of occurrences to become memorable. For example, “You flew toward knowledge, toward the lights, toward the sun; you only wanted to reach the pure air, the broad light of eternal truth. But rushing toward the dazzling window which opens into another world, a world of brightness, intelligence, and knowledge-blind fly! . . . You did not see the subtle spider’s web” (272). Hugo is describing the sun and air as knowledge and truth and using formal language to describe something so miniscule as a fly becoming caught in a spider’s web. This elevated language suggests determination and is eventually what leads Frollo into using fate as an excuse to trap La Esmerelda. Eventually, he will draw her into his web of destruction because that is the way he thinks Fate intends it to be.       Believing in fate causes a person to simply accept what has come to them therefore, saying little to change their circumstance. In the quote, “Poor dancer! Poor fated fly! Master Jacques, leave it alone-it’s fate! Alas, Claude, you are the spider! Claude, you are also the fly! . . . Master Jacques! Let the spider alone!” (273), Frollo speaks in short bursts filled with emotion to emphasize his want and his need to ensnare La Esmerelda. Hugo’s use of short fragments with copious punctuation affirms Frollo’s strong belief in fate and his future plans. Short fragments in dialogue also contribute to how a character is perceived. In this case, Frollo shows his eager determination and his inability to stay calm when contemplating his desires.       The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is considered a piece from the Romantic era. This era is depicted as a literary, artistic and intellectual movement that was a reaction to the Industrial Revolution. The quote above not only describes Frollo’s views on fate, but it uses formal language and expressive punctuation to address Hugo’s commentary on society. The Industrial Revolution, which spurred on Romanticism were two movements that provided an escape from reality and an opportunity to take one’s future into one’s own hands. However, Hugo is explaining how “wise men come from afar to dash their heads against you” (274) and try to change their life without the effects of fate.

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