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The Hunchback of Notre Dame

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The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Notre-Dame de Paris) is an 1831 French novel written by Victor Hugo. It is set in 1482 in Paris, in and around the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. The book tells the story of a poor Gypsy girl (La Esmeralda) and a misshapen bell-ringer (Quasimodo) who was raised by the archdeacon (Claude Frollo). The book was written as a statement to preserve the Notre Dame cathedral and not to 'modernize' it, as Hugo was thoroughly against.

Plot introduction

Hugo began to write Hunchback in 1829. The agreement with his original publisher, Gosselin, was that the book would be finished that same year. However, Hugo was constantly forced to delay due to other projects. By the summer of 1830, Gosselin demanded the book to be completed by February 1831. And so beginning in September of 1830, Hugo literally worked non-stop on the project. He bought a new bottle of ink, a woolen cloak, and cloistered himself in his room refusing to be bothered or to leave his house (except for nightly visits to the cathedral). The book was finished six months later.

Explanation of the novel's title

Hugo finished the book just as he was running out of ink. This tempted him to title the work What There Is in a Bottle of Ink. He eventually decided against it and called the book Notre-Dame de Paris. English translations of the book are often titled The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which have led some to believe that Quasimodo is the main character. Hugo never liked this title, preferring the original Notre-Dame de Paris. He gave this title because he considered the cathedral itself to be the main "character" of the story. The story takes place around and inside the church, and Hugo spent much time describing the building as well as decrying its abandonment after the abuse it suffered during the French Revolution; during the Revolution, the church had been viewed as a symbol of the old regime and was pillaged and vandalized by angry mobs.

Plot summary

In fifteenth century Paris, the townspeople are celebrating the festival of Epiphany where Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer, is elected the Pope of Fools. Quasimodo later attempts to kidnap the beautiful gypsy, Esmeralda, with whom Frollo, his guardian, has grown increasingly obsessed. Esmeralda is saved by Captain Phoebus, with whom she falls madly in love. Quasimodo is put on trial for the attempted kidnapping of Esmeralda, and he is put in the stocks by a deaf judge who misinterpreted Quasimodo's own deafness. Afterwards, Esmeralda has pity on Quasimodo and brings him water to ease his suffering.

Meanwhile, Esmeralda falls in love with Phoebus and he plans to enjoy her advances, in spite of the fact that he is marrying another woman, Fleur-De-Lis. During the rendezvous between Phoebus and Esmeralda, Frollo watches, having shadowed Phoebus on the way there. In a jealous rage, Frollo stabs Phoebus, just as he and Esmerelda are about to kiss, and flees. Esmeralda faints, and the arriving soldiers accuse her of stabbing Phoebus, and of being a witch. Esmeralda is brought to trial and convicted for Phoebus' murder, even though he survived. Frollo visits her in her cell and confesses his love. He offers to help her escape, but she believes life without Phoebus is not worth living. Frollo again tried to save her before her execution, and just before she is about to be hanged, Quasimodo dramatically storms down from the cathedral, takes her and runs back in, claiming the right of sanctuary. While at the cathedral, Esmeralda is still repulsed by Quasimodo's ugliness, but nonetheless uses him to try and bring Phoebus back to her, whom she has found out is alive. When Quasimodo fails to persuade Phoebus to come to Esmerelda, Phoebus refuses- he wants nothing more to do with Esmerelda. Esmerelda is angry with Quasimodo for failing, and they are estranged.

The Parlement of Paris votes to strip Esmeralda of her sanctuary. In an attempt to save Esmeralda from the Parliament, the thief clans of Paris, led by Clopin Trouillefulle, organize an assault on the cathedral. This leads to an enormous riot in which Quasimodo, thinking that they are trying to harm Esmerelda rather than help her, flings down stones, timber, and molten lead. Esmeralda escapes with the playwright Gringoire and a disguised Frollo. After they are gone, even more tragically, Quasimodo helps the King's Archers search the Cathedral for Esmerelda, thinking they are helping her. Fortunately, Esmerelda has already gone, and is able to keep her life a little longer. Frollo reveals himself and says he will save her life, on condition that she loves him. When she refuses him, Frollo tosses her to Sister Gudule, a gyspy-hating recluse- earlier in the book we learnt that she hated gypsies because they cannibalised her infant daughter- and storms off to Notre Dame. The recluse confessed earlier that she hated Esmerelda above all gypsies. But the tables are turned, in a scene of dramatic irony, when Gudule realises that Esmerelda is, in fact, her daughter. The recluse attempts to hide her daughter, but when she hears the mention of Phoebus, Esmeralda jumps up excitedly, crying his name, and exposes her presence to the soldiers looking for her. Phoebus watches the whole thing from the home of his fiancée and does nothing. The soldiers proceed to hang Esmeralda, though Gudule resists them and is killed in the process. From the cathedral, Quasimodo sees Esmeralda hanged. He witnesses the dejected Frollo and thinks that the archdeacon was the cause of the girl's death. In a fit of rage, Quasimodo shoves him off a balcony, before abandoning Notre-Dame. Eighteen months later, in a repository of executed criminals, Quasimodo's skeleton is found hugging the skeleton of Esmeralda- they are not named, but we are told enough to guess. Quasimodo must have gone to where Esmerelda's body was, and commited suicide there in order to be with her.

Characters in ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Pierre Gringoire is a struggling poet. He mistakenly finds his way into the "Court of Miracles", the secret lair of the Gypsies. In order to preserve the secrecy, Gringoire must either be killed by hanging, or marry a Gypsy. Esmeralda is willing to marry him, although it turns out she did not love him- she had fallen passionately in love with a soldier shortly before meeting him-, she only married him to save his life.

Clopin Trouillefou is the "King" of the band of the Gypsies and scalawags in Paris. He leads the attack on the cathedral in their attempt to liberate Esmeralda.

La Esmeralda is a Gypsy dancer. She is the center of the human drama within the story and is loved by both Quasimodo and Claude Frollo. She falls in love with Phoebus. Phoebus loves her in return at first, but their affair is brief- it is scuppered by a jealous Frollo.

Djali is Esmeralda's pet goat. She performs tricks that make people believe that Esmeralda is an enchantress. These tricks involve writing the word "PHOEBUS" in moveable letters, and tapping the number of beats to indicate the month and hour of the day. These tricks delight the townsfolk at first, at the feast of fools, but are later horrified by them, believing Esmerelda is a witch.

Quasimodo is the hunchback of Notre Dame. He lives in the bell tower of Notre Dame and rings the bells, which have made him become deaf. When he was a hideous and abandoned baby, he was taken in by Claude Frollo. Quasimodo's life within the confines of the cathedral and his only two outlets - ringing the bells and his love and devotion for Frollo - are described. He ventures outside the Cathedral twice in the book- first, he joins the feast of fools and is elected Pope for his real face, rather than a grimace, and later he tries to bring Phoebus to Esmerelda. It is revealed in the story that the baby Quasimodo was left by the gypsies in place of Esmeralda, who they abducted.

Claude Frollo is the Archdeacon of Notre Dame. Despite his celibacy vows as a priest, he finds himself madly in love with Esmeralda. He nearly murders Phoebus in a jealous rage. He is killed when he is pushed off the cathedral, and the gargoyle he clings to breaks. His depressing look and his refusal to be near women made the people of Paris shun him as a sorcerer. Ironically, then, he suffered very much the same treatment as Esmerelda.

Jehan Frollo is Claude Frollo's spoiled younger brother. He is a troublemaker and a student at the university. He is dependant on his brother for money, which he then proceeds to squander on alcohol. Quasimodo kills him during the siege of the cathedral.

Phoebus de Chateaupers is the captain of the King's Archers. He is loved by Esmeralda. He briefly returns her feelings, but refuses to have any more to do with her after being stabbed by Frollo- perhaps he really believed Esmerelda did it. His "murder" is the crime that Esmeralda is executed for.

Fleur-de-Lys de Gondelaurier A wealthy socialite engaged to Phoebus.

Sister Gudule is a recluse. She is obsessed with her lost daughter, who was cannibalised by gypsies as a baby, and devotes her life to mourning her. Her long lost daughter turns out to be Esmeralda.

Louis XI is the King of France. Appears briefly when he is brought the news of the rioting at Notre Dame.

Tristan L'Hermite- A friend of King Louis IX, who leads the band who go to capture Esmerelda.

Henriet Cousin- the hangman.

Florian Barbedienne is the judge who sentences Quasimodo to be tortured. He is also deaf.

Jacques Charmolue gets Esmeralda to falsely confess to killing Phoebus. He then has her executed.

Major themes

As stated by many critics and scholars, the Cathedral of Notre Dame appears to be the main setting, which is almost elevated to the status of a character. Indeed, the original French title of the book, Notre-Dame de Paris (literally, Our Lady of Paris) shows that the cathedral (and not Quasimodo) is the subject of the story. The book portrays the Gothic era as one of extremes of architecture, passion, and religion; which, despite being the cause of many problems, are seen by Hugo to be more authentic than the sentiments of his time. Like many of his other works, Hugo is also very concerned with social justice, and his descriptions of religious fanaticism are also examined. Another unique element of the book is the way in which Hugo changes the roles of protagonist and antagonist, hero and villain, between characters throughout the novel.

Literary significance and reception

The enormous popularity of the book in France spurred the nascent historical preservation movement in that country and strongly encouraged Gothic revival architecture. Ultimately it led to major renovations at Notre-Dame in the 19th century led by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. Much of the cathedral's present appearance is a result of this renovation.

Allusions and references

Allusions to actual history, geography and current science

In The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo makes frequent reference to the architecture of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.

He also mentions the invention of the printing press, when the bookmaker near the beginning of the work speaks of "the German pest."

Victor Hugo lived a few homes away from Victor of Aveyron, the first well-documented feral child. Although, the inspiration for Quasimodo's character is not directly linked to Victor of Aveyron.

Allusions in other works

The name Quasimodo has become synonymous with "a courageous heart beneath a grotesque exterior."

In an episode of The Sopranos, Bobby Baccalieri confuses world events and biblical prophecy by erroneously stating that "Quasimodo predicted all of this."

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

To date, all of the film and tv adaptations have greatly strayed from the original plot. The most famous actor to play the lead role of the Hunchback was Vinchenzo Hooker, a middle aged man who has since retired from theatre. Cast and crew from the film have been quoted to say "Vinchenzo played the role very naturally, no special effects were needed".

The Hunchback of Notre Dame has had a number of film adaptations:

It has also appeared on TV numerous occasions:

Musical theatre:

  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1993), an Off Broadway musical with music by Byron Janis, lyrics by Hal Hackady and book by Anthony Scully
  • In 1999, "Notre Dame de Paris (musical)" opened in Paris and became an instant success. It is considered the most successful adaptation of any novel except for "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Les Miserables." It was also adapted for the stage by Nicholas DeBaubien.
  • A rock musical version was released in Seattle, Washington in 1998 titled "HUNCHBACK" with music and script by C. Rainey Lewis. A 2 Disc CD of the songs from the show could be found in a handful of internet stores like amazon.com
  • A musical version, scored by Dennis DeYoung, will open in Chicago at the Bailiwick Reperatory in the summer of 2008

Publication history

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is widely available in English language editions.

  • 1978, USA, Penguin Classics ISBN 0140443533, Pub date 26 October 1978, paperback
  • 2001, USA, Signet Classics ISBN 0451527887, Pub date 10 April 2001, paperback
  • 2002, USA, Modern Library Classics ISBN 0679642579, Pub date 8 October 2002
  • 2006, USA, Ann Arbor Media ISBN 1587264021, Pub date 14 July 2006, hard cover

Sources, references, external links, quotations

References

Sources

External links

Quotations

  • A description of Quasimodo upon his election as the fool's pope: "We shall not attempt to give the reader an idea of that tetrahedron nose-that horse-shoe mouth-that small left eye over-shadowed by a red bushy brow, while the right eye disappeared entirely under an enormous wart-of those straggling teeth with breaches here and there like the battlements of a fortress-of that horny lip, over which one of those teeth projected like the tusk of an elephant-of that forked chin-and, above all, of the expression diffused over the whole-that mixture of malice, astonishment, and melancholy. Let the reader, if he can, figure to himself this combination." (p. 62)
  • On the connection between architecture and culture: "When a man understands the art of seeing, he can trace the spirit of an age and the features of a king even in the knocker on a door." (p. 184)
  • Quasimodo's reaction to Esmeralda's gift of a drink of water while he is being heckled on the pillory: "Then from that eye, hitherto so dry and burning, was seen to roll a big tear, which fell slowly down that deformed visage so long contracted by despair. Perhaps it was the first that the unfortunate creature had ever shed." (p. 322)
  • Quasimodo, explaining why he won't enter Esmeralda's cell: "The owl goes not into the nest of the lark." (p. 502)
  • After Esmeralda's execution: "Quasimodo then lifted his eye to look upon the gypsy girl, whose body, suspended from the gibbet, he beheld quivering afar, under its white robes, in the last struggles of death; then again he dropped it upon the archdeacon, stretched a shapeless mass at the foot of the tower, and he said with a sob that heaved his deep breast to the bottom, 'Oh-all that I've ever loved!" (p. 678)



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