The Hunchback o
The Hunchback o
The Hunchback o
NOTRE DAME
VICTOR HUGO
SUMMARY
• During the 1482 Festival of Fools in Paris, Quasimodo, the hunchback
of Notre Dame, is elected the Pope of Fools for being the ugliest
person in Paris. He is hoisted on a throne and paraded around Paris by
the jeering mob. Pierre Gringoire, a struggling poet and philosopher,
tries unsuccessfully to get the crowd to watch his play instead of the
parade. Archdeacon Claude Frollo appears and stops the parade and
orders Quasimodo back to Notre Dame with him. Looking for
something to eat, Gringoire admires the graceful beauty of La
Esmerelda, a gypsy street dancer, and decides to follow her home.
After rounding a corner, she is suddenly attacked by Quasimodo and
Frollo. Gringoire rushes to help her but is knocked out by Quasimodo
as Frollo runs away. The King's Archers, led by Phoebus de
Chateaupers arrive just in time and capture the hunchback. Later that
night, a group of beggars and thieves are about to hang Gringoire
when La Esmerelda comes forward and offers to save his life by
"marrying" him for four years only.
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame is set in Paris during the 15th century.
The story centres on Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer of Notre-
Dame Cathedral, and his unrequited love for the beautiful dancer La
Esmeralda. Esmeralda, born Agnès, is perceived to be a French Roma
girl. Her biological mother is a former prostitute once known as
Paquette la Chantefleurie but now known as Sister Gudule; her
paternity is unknown. Fifteen years before the events of the novel, a
group of Roma kidnapped the infant Agnès from her mother’s room.
Esmeralda has no knowledge of her kidnapping: she lives and travels
with the Roma as if she is one of them. Quasimodo first meets
Esmeralda at the Feast of Fools, an annual festival parodying
ecclesiastical ritual and cardinal elections. During the festival,
Quasimodo is elected “Pope of the Fools” and subsequently beaten by
an angry mob. Esmeralda takes pity on him and offers him a drink of
water. Quasimodo thereafter falls in love with the dancer and decides
to devote himself to protecting her.
CHARACTERS
• Quasimodo - The hunchback of Notre Dame. Quasimodo
is an abandoned child left at Notre Dame and adopted
by Archdeacon Claude Frollo. Hideously deformed, he
has a giant humpback, a protrusion coming out of his
chest, and a giant wart that covers one of his eyes. He is
also deaf. His heart is pure, and this purity is linked to
the cathedral itself. Indeed, his love for Notre Dame's
bells and for the beautiful sound of their ringing
represents his only form of communication. The whole
of Paris ironically enjoys Quasimodo's singing while at
the same time detesting him for his ugliness. His name
literally means "half-made."
• Archdeacon Claude Frollo - A priest at Notre Dame, Frollo is also the
novel's antagonist. However, he is not a typical evil character bent on
causing pain and suffering; instead, he is very bright and
compassionate. He dearly loves his brother, Jehan and does everything
in his power to make Jehan happy after their parents die. He extends
the same compassion to Quasimodo, who he tries to mold into a
scholar just like his brother by teaching him how to read and write.
Hugo explains Frollo's descent into black magic and madness through
his failure to bring up both Jehan and Quasimodo. Jehan drinks and
gambles all his money away, completely neglecting his studies, while
Quasimodo's deafness makes it virtually impossible to teach him
anything. The hunchback thus becomes both a symbol of failure for
Frollo as well as a powerful tool of vengeance to wreak his frustrations
out on the world. His obsessive lust for La Esmerelda causes her to be
executed and Quasimodo to be tortured. No matter how hard he tries
to make her love him, he only ends up causing her pain.
• La Esmerelda - The lost daughter of Sister
Gudule, La Esmerelda is a beautiful gypsy street
dancer. Along with her goat, Djali, she charms
everyone she meets with her stunning looks and
magic tricks. She keeps an amulet and other
trinkets around her neck to help her find her
parents.
• Pierre Gringoire - A struggling playwright and
philosopher. La Esmerelda saves him from being
hanged by a group of vagabonds and agrees to
"marry" him for four years. He later joins the
vagabonds and unwittingly helps Frollo hand La
Esmerelda over to the authorities.
• Phoebus De Chateaupers - The captain of the
King's Archers, he saves La Esmerelda from
Quasimodo. He does not love her, but tries to
seduce her and a number of other women as
well. Frollo stabs him and everyone leaves him
for dead. He recovers but fails to speak up when
La Esmerelda is sentenced to death for his
murder. He ends up marrying Fleur-de-Lys de
Gondelaurier. His first name is Greek for "the
sun
• Sister Gudule - La Esmerelda's long lost mother.
She is a miserable recluse living in the Tour
Roland, who hates to hear the sound of children
playing. She is convinced that gypsies ate her
adoptive daughter, Agnes, fifteen years earlier.
She hates La Esmerelda and is convinced that
she is a child thief, but when she learns that she
is actually her daughter, Gudule gives her life to
save her.
• Jehan Frollo - Claude Frollo's brother. Jehan is a
horrible student who gambles and drinks all his
money away. He decides to join the vagabonds and
Quasimodo kills him as he attacks Notre Dame.