The Hunchback of Notre
Dame: Character Analysis
Quasimodo (Writing In Role)
I,
Quasimodo, am the main character and the protagonist of the novel; I am the
most fascinating character. With my hunched back, one-eyed and disfigured face,
and my deafness, I am the perfect example of ugliness. In appearance, I seem to
be almost half-human and half-beast. No wonder the citizens of Paris think I am
the devil.
As
an infant, I was abandoned by my own mother, who found my deformed body
horrifying and painful. Belonging to a group of gypsies, my mother exchanged me
for the lovely infant daughter of Paquette. When Paquette discovers that her
own baby has been kidnapped and replaced with the little hunchback, she refuses
to do anything with him. Being orphaned, I was given over to the church at
Notre-Dame. The churchwomen, who have always supported the cause of abandoned
babies and found suitable homes for them, many took one look at this deformed
infant and proclaim him to be the devil. Since no one would adopt me, Claude
Frollo, one of the priests of Notre-Dame decides that he will keep the deformed
baby and raise him.
Under
the guidance of Frollo, I try to learn to speak and take responsibility of
ringing the great bells of the cathedral. Even though their loud noises cause me
to completely go deaf, I think of the bells as his friends. Because of my ugliness
no one other than Frollo will have anything to do with me. In fact, I must
endure the insults and accusations of the people of Paris. As a result, I feel
sad, isolated, and lonely.
Entirely
committed to the man who has raised him, I adore Claude Frollo and will do anything
for him. When Frollo asks me to kidnap La Esmeralda, I do so thinking nothing
about the fact that Frollo deserts me, leaving me to take all the blame for his
crime. When arrested and sentenced for public beating, I was unconcerned; for I
am sure Frollo will save me. While I am on the edge ready to endure my
punishment, I am delighted to see Frollo amongst the audience and sure I will
be spared. The priest, however, shows his true personality, by disappearing
into the crowd and pretending not to know me. I feels totally rejected when my
own beloved master ignores his needs.
After
I was flogged, beaten and miserable as I beg for water, but no comes to aid.
Finally La Esmeralda, the beautiful gypsy street performer who he tried to
kidnap for Frollo, steps forward to give me something to drink. Her kindness
towards him awakens feelings that Claude Frollo had never portrayed. I fall
instantly and deeply in love with La Esmeralda.
Now
that I am devoted to La Esmeralda, I do heroic deeds. When she was about to be
hanged for a crime she did not commit, I race up and snatch her away from death.
To ensure her safety I carry her into the Cathedral of Notre-Dame for safety.
As long as she remains inside the church, authorities cannot seize her. When
Frollo, the evil priest, tries to get a hold of La Esmeralda, I come to her
rescue, fighting my master. A mob of gypsies from the Court of Miracles come to
get her, I bring them to me by throwing a beam, rocks, and molten lead at them.
In spite of his efforts, La Esmeralda is still stolen from her cell by
Grignoire and Claude Frollo. I realize that my beloved is being hanged because
of Frollo, I charge my master and pushes him to his death from the tower of
Notre-Dame. The priest and La Esmeralda lay dead before his eyes, I realize
that I am totally alone in the world; the only people he has ever loved are gone.
Sad and miserable, I mourn myself to death and die in the vault of Montfaucon,
clinging to the dead body of my beloved La Esmeralda.
Quasimodo Quotes
Quasimodo mentions that his master is Claude Frollo
as he says, “At the moment when he stood forth from the crowd,Gringoire, who
had not noticed him up to that time, recognized him:
“Hold!” he said, with an exclamation
of astonishment. “Eh! ’tis my masterin Hermes, Dom Claude Frollo, the
archdeacon! (Hugo, 63) At this point in the novel Quasimodo considers Frollo as
his guardian and the one that will be his inspiration. Frollo acted as a role
model to Quasimodo as no one was willing to take him in. Quasimodo never knew
what Frollo was going to do to him in the future.
At
one point in the novel Quasimodo became responsible for ringing the bells of
the cathedral. Coppenole says, ““He! I recognize him,” exclaimed Jehan, who
had, at last, descended
from his capital, in order to see
Quasimodo at closer quarters, “he’s the
bellringer of my brother, the archdeacon.
Good-day, Quasimodo!”” (Hugo, 46) As Coppenole says that he rings the bell for
Frollo which the bells have become his good friend as no one in the town would
accept him, even though the bells made him deafer he still enjoyed their
presence.
The
child of Paquette was exchanged for Quasimodo watches her child with a keen eye
as she says, “I don’t want that to happen to me
which happened to Paquette la
Chantefleurie.”
(Hugo, 196) People heard what happened to the child of Paquette and they feared
that their child would also be kidnapped. Quasimodo would eventually have to be
told that he was never wanted even by his own parents that they would exchange
him for a beautiful infant.
La Esmeralda
In
contrast to Quasimodo, the beast in the novel, La Esmeralda is the beauty. La
Esmeralda reaches out to others in time of need. She saves Gringoire from
execution by marrying him, even though she really doesn’t know the playwright.
When Quasimodo has been flogged and on the pillory and begs for water, she is
the only one who is willing to help him.
La
Esmeralda was born to a young country girl named Pacquette and was stolen by a
band of gypsies when she was an infant. She was raised by them in the Court of
Miracles which was a gypsy community in Paris. As a young adult, she becomes a
street entertainer performing tricks with her pet goat. With her physical
loneliness, she always attracts a crowd. Las Esmeralda, not realizing her own
beauty, believes the people are charmed by her performance.
Her
beauty and kindness, variety of men fall in love with La Esmeralda. Grignoire
loves her because she saves him from execution in the Court of Miracles by
marrying him. Although she is his wife, La Esmeralda makes it clear that their
relationship is only nonphysical. Claude Frollo falls in love with her for her
beauty and lusts her body. He is determined that if he can’t her for his own,
no one else will have her either. Quasimodo falls in love with her because she
is the only person who has ever shown him kindness. He becomes her savior and
protector. Captain Phoebus pretends to love La Esmeralda so he can seduce her.
Like
Quasimodo, Esmeralda is innocent. She allows herself to be seduced by Phoebus,
thinking he will love her forever. Quasimodo loves La Esmeralda, she loves the
captain. She thinks Phoebus is dead, but she is still devoted to him. When she
learns that he is alive and hears his voice when he comes to arrest him, she
emerges from hiding, for a chance to Phoebus in an effort to win back his love.
La
Esmeralda loves Phoebus; Frollo stabs him in La Esmeralda’s presence. She was
blamed for the crime and is sentenced to death. About to be hanged, Quasimodo
rescues her from death because she has been kind to him in the past. He carries
her into Notre-Dame for sanctuary and ministers to her needs. Quasimodo
protects her from the advances of Frollo and fights off the mob of gypsies who
come to take her away. During the fighting, Frollo and Grignoire steal La
Esmeralda from her cell. The evil priest tells her that she must love him or he
will turn her over to the authorities. La Esmeralda chooses death.
Frollo
goes to find the King’s army to arrest La Esmeralda; he puts her in Rolande’s
tower in a cell with Paquette. Two discover that La Esmeralda is the long last
daughter, stolen from her crib by gypsies. As the mother and daughter are
reunited, the soldiers arrive to take La Esmeralda away to her death. Paquette
fights to save her daughter, one of the soldier’s strikes and kills her. La
Esmeralda is the lead to the pillory and hanged before a large crowd. Frollo
and Quasimodo see the execution from the tower of Notre Dame.
La
Esmeralda is an important, sympathetic and tragic figure in the novel, she is a
static character. Unlike Quasimodo, who under goes significant changes, she
essentially stays the same throughout the book.
La Esmeralda Quotes
La Esmeralda agreed to marry Grignoire to save his
life from being flogged. When Grignoire says, “What’s the meaning of this, of the
Esmeralda?” said Gringoire, wringing his hands in despair. “Ah, good heavens!
it seems to be the turn of the windows now.” (Hugo, 48). When Grignoire shows
this kind of disrespect to La Esmeralda this shows that this relationship can’t
actually happen as it was just as a favor. La Esmeralda agreed to marry him to
save his life from being beaten. The relationship between Grignoire and La
Esmeralda is just as a favor to save his life.
La
Esmeralda was a street dancer and was loved by the people in Paris. One of the
people walking by commented, “is la Esmeralda! a celestial creature! a street
dancer! so much, and so little!” (Hugo, 90) This passerby was saying that La
Esmeralda can do many things but there is so little effort put into all her
work. The people love La Esmeralda for her street dancing as there’s lots of
effort put into dancing and everyone loves it. The passerby doesn’t just want
La Esmeralda to street dance but spread out her wings and extend her effort
into other things for people to enjoy.
La
Esmeralda has one of the most interesting names as a character in the novel.
She has no knowledge of where her name came from as a poet asked her, “Why are you called ‘la Esmeralda?’” asked the poet.” (Hugo, 94)
La Esmeralda is still yet to find out the reason she was given that name as a
child and I feel this is one of her long-term goals. She suspects her name was
from an amulet given from Grignoire which is written in Egyptian but we still
don’t know for sure why she was given that name.
Claude Frollo
In
the beginning of the novel, Frollo is portrayed in a favorable way. Serving as
one of the priests of Notre-Dame, he is an intellectual man who is able to
influence others and has become a great figure in the community. It proves that
he has a kind heart when he adopts and raises Quasimodo, the deformed and
orphaned infant that nobody else wants.
When
Claude Frollo was a youth, his own parents died. He was committed to raise his
younger brother, Jehan. He poured all his efforts and energy into making a man
out of Jehan. Unfortunately, Jehan becomes a worthless loser who constantly
begs his older brother for money. Frollo abandons him entirely.
As
a religious leader, Frollo becomes obsessed with La Esmeralda, the beautiful
gypsy street entertainer. He was determined to have her for his own. Frollo
tries to kidnap her by forcing Quasimodo to help in the attack. Grignoire and
others see what’s happening, Frollo runs away, leaving Quasimodo to be arrested
for attempted kidnapping. The hunchback is about to be whipped for the crime,
Frollo pretends not to know him and refuses to come to his aid.
Frollo
learns that La Esmeralda is in love with Phoebus; he goes to the Court of
Miracles and stabs the captain. La Esmeralda is arrested for the crime and
sentenced to die by being hanged. Frollo refuses to come to her aid and tell
the authorities the truth. As she is about to be executed, Quasimodo rescues La
Esmeralda and carries her into Notre-Dame for safety. Frollo finds out that she
is being taken care of in the tower of the cathedral; he tries to force himself
on her. Quasimodo must fight the priest to save La Esmeralda.
Manipulating
Grignoire, Frollo comes up with a sinister plan to free La Esmeralda. After he
kidnaps her from the tower cell in Notre-Dame, he tells her that she must love him
or he’ll turn her over to the authorities. She refuses, he gets angry and sends
the King’s army to arrest her and lead her to execution. La Esmeralda draws her
final breath while the evil priest laughs cruelly. Quasimodo charges his master
and pushes him off the balcony to his death below.
The
darkest character in the novel and nowhere in the books does he show any guilt
for his villainous actions. As a priest he should be showing virtue and
kindness; instead, he acts like the devil himself. He abandons is brother,
betrays Quasimodo, stabs Phoebus out of jealous, manipulate Grignoire, attacks
La Esmeralda and becomes the instrument of her death.
Claude Frollo Quotes
The
narrator for the novel slowly introduces the main characters, in terms of their
role in society, personality, etc. As the reader we got to know Frollo’s
significance to the Paris society as the narrator says, “One day I
met by luck, Dom Claude Frollo, the reverend archdeacon of Notre-Dame.” (Hugo,
96) Hugo wanted us to find out what he does which can help us predict how his
personality is going to be like. This method Hugo used really made me think
what kind of personality does Frollo have which was one later changed in the
novel.
When
Claude was kind enough to adopt Quasimodo the citizens thought he was crazy.
They were thinking what kind of person would adopt someone so hideous unless
they could transform him. Many of the citizens thought he was a sorcerer and
not a priest like when one of the ladies says, “I told you so, sister, — that
young clerk, Monsieur Claude Frollo, is a sorcerer.” (Hugo, 132) Many of the
ladies in there thought maybe Frollo was hiding his identity as sorcerer and
instead portraying as a priest. They thought he could change Quasimodo’s
physical appearance to something that was appealing.
Frollo was
always called to become a priest by his parents. They destined Frollo to become
a priest to do what is right and help society. When Hugo starts describing
Frollo we get hints of his parent’s personality like when he says, “Claude
Frollo had been destined from infancy, by his parents, to the ecclesiastical
profession.” (Hugo,
133) Frollo’s parents seem to be very religious and want to pass on the
traditions to Frollo so, they destined him to become a priest.
