“ Oh! love! . . . That is to be two and to be but one. A man and a woman mingled into one angel. It is heaven. ”
Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831). copy citation
| Author | Victor Hugo |
|---|---|
| Source | The Hunchback of Notre-Dame |
| Topic | love heaven unity |
| Date | 1831 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translation by Isabel F. Hapgood in 1888 |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2610/2610-h/2610-h.htm |
Context
“«Yes,» replied the gypsy; «it is to be brother and sister; two souls which touch without mingling, two fingers on one hand.»
«And love?» pursued Gringoire.
«Oh! love!» said she, and her voice trembled, and her eye beamed. «That is to be two and to be but one. A man and a woman mingled into one angel. It is heaven.»
The street dancer had a beauty as she spoke thus, that struck Gringoire singularly, and seemed to him in perfect keeping with the almost oriental exaltation of her words. Her pure, red lips half smiled; her serene and candid brow became troubled, at intervals, under her thoughts, like a mirror under the breath; and from beneath her long, drooping, black eyelashes, there escaped a sort of ineffable light, which gave to her profile that ideal serenity which Raphael found at the mystic point of intersection of virginity, maternity, and divinity.” source
«And love?» pursued Gringoire.
«Oh! love!» said she, and her voice trembled, and her eye beamed. «That is to be two and to be but one. A man and a woman mingled into one angel. It is heaven.»
The street dancer had a beauty as she spoke thus, that struck Gringoire singularly, and seemed to him in perfect keeping with the almost oriental exaltation of her words. Her pure, red lips half smiled; her serene and candid brow became troubled, at intervals, under her thoughts, like a mirror under the breath; and from beneath her long, drooping, black eyelashes, there escaped a sort of ineffable light, which gave to her profile that ideal serenity which Raphael found at the mystic point of intersection of virginity, maternity, and divinity.” source
Meaning and analysis
