#william hay

[film-o-teka]

Doom Asylum, 1988

[film-o-teka]

Doom Asylum, 1988

[film-o-teka]

Doom Asylum, 1988

[horrorheid]

Doom Asylum

[horrorheid]

Doom Asylum

[girlgangs-and-disability-blog]

Deformity: Fiction and Reality

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s mega-hit musical, the Phantom of the Opera has just reached its thirty-year anniversary. For thirty years, people have fallen in love with the story of the Phantom, the deformed musical genius who falls in love with a beautiful, talented, yet naïve opera singer Christine Daae. Now while Phantom isn’t the only media with a deformed protagonist, (The Hunchback of Notre Dame anyone?) it’s certainly one of the most popular. When the musical ends every night, there’s no doubt the sound of more than a few crying females as the Phantom learns to put someone else’s needs above his own and let his love go. But with the Phantom now celebrating thirty years, it’s actually reminded me of another individual. William Hay was an eighteenth-century gentleman who lived with a severe curvature of the spine in England. Despite this, he didn’t have to live in isolation under the London Opera house. Instead, he was actually a representative, and because of his upper-class upbringing, he was able to get a fantastic education. Since Phantom is now thirty, and since William Hay is a fascinating figure that is often forgotten, today on the blog, we are going to discuss William Hay in conjunction with the Phantom.

As stated above, Hay was given a great education. We don’t know about the Phantom’s life prior to the stint of the opera, however, but from what we can gather, he didn’t have a happy upbringing. Interestingly, in Susan Kay’s reimaging of the Phantom’s story, (Whose real name is actually Erik.) she goes into great detail about Erik’s early life. Though his mother cannot bring herself to fully love him because of his deformity, she notes of his genius, particularly in music, and hires a teacher for him. Kay’s Erik, like Hay then, received an education. A great one in fact. In Hay’s article, he notes that men who are deformed often cannot work in the fields or as a sailor, and instead must use their mind to get ahead (31). Since Erik cannot work without wearing a mask in the Kay novel, (and wearing a mask in public is just plain weird and draws attention to itself.) Erik does indeed use his mind to get ahead.

Hay differs from Erik in the sense that he has a crooked back, while Erik’s face is described as looking like a corpse. “For men despise what appears less beautiful” Hay writes (33) of himself, and sadly we can see the same things happen to Erik. Bad things happen to him in the musical, and in the Kay novel. In the musical, once Christine sees who he is behind the mask, she cries out in horror, and later tells her suitor Raul about how horrible he looks. However, Christine also talks about his voice and his music, and how they transformed her into another plain of existence. His mind overcomes his face in a way, much like how Hay was able to be respected in England for his mind.

Of course, Phantom is a love story, and though Hay goes into the pros and cons of being deformed in his essay, he very briefly speaks of what it is like to be with a woman. “I am in Purgatory in the confines of Paradise” he sadly writes (47). He can be in the presence of a lady but he cannot fully be with her, and that is what happens to the Phantom in the show, particularly in the “Music of the Night” scene. He is with Christine, but he is not “fully” with her. His music is, but not his full self. His full-self has been torn down by other people believing he is disgusting and worthy of hating because of his deformity. We sadly don’t see a catharsis for Hay in the essay, but at the end of Phantom, the Phantom gets his catharsis through Christine’s redemptive kiss. Even though he lets her go, he knows he is worthy of redemption. His deformity does not define him, just as Hay notes his deformity does not either. From both Hay and the Phantom, we should learn that as cheesy as it sounds, true beauty lies in the soul and mind.

-Cheyenne Kauha

Works Cited Hay, William. Deformity: An Essay. Ed. Kathleen James Cavan, University of Victoria Press, 2004. Kay, Susan. Phantom. Llumina Stars, 2011. Print.

@jasonsfarr

[whyilovetoronto]

Why I Love The Architects of Toronto

Henry Langley

Birth: November 26, 1836 (Toronto)

Death: January 9, 1907 (Toronto at the Necropolis Cemetery)

Biography: A born Torontonian, Henry Langley began his career in architecture through an apprenticeship with William Hay. His first venture as an architect was with Hay’s old partner Thomas Grundy, but became a prominent architectural figure when he joined the firm Langley, Langley (Edward Langley, his brother) and Burke (who was his nephew) in 1872. Langley stayed with the firm until he decided to retire.

Langley’s foray in architecture was churches in which he built a reported 70 across Ontario. He was so famous with his work for churches that he would be called upon to alter and expand them.    

Even though Langley was known predominantly for his churches he did dabble in residential and public spaces including Post Offices and the homes of William McMaster and Robert Simpson.

Langley even taught some other prominent Toronto architects who will be featured in the coming weeks including Frank Darling, and J.C.B. Horwood. Langley was the founder the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and the Ontario Association of Architects.

Langley died today in 1907 and was buried in the Necropolis Cemetery located in Cabbagetown. Langley was responsible for the church, superintendents lodge and gates that reside on the property.

Notable Buildings featured by Why I Love Toronto   

Bank of British North America (now The Irish Embassy)

McMaster Hall (The Royal Conservatory of Music with Burke)

Metropolitan Methodist Church

St. Michael’s Cathedral (Spire with Grundy)

Toronto Necropolis Chapel

Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church (with Burke)

Sources: 

Ontario Plaques

Heritage Oshawa

Toronto Public Library

Images:

Henry Langley

Plaque

Irish Embassy

McMaster Hall

Trinity-St. Paul's United Church

Necropolis Chapel   

[bilbo-blog1]

Italy as a failed state where the government is unable to mobilize its citizens to do what is needed -- a failure of organized political communities. Developed states can fail just as undeveloped ones do.

One might make some interesting comparisons to the U.S.