Zion Center of Knowledge School

The Hunchback of
Notradame
Written by: Victor Hugo

Mychylle Lorenzo D. Cruz

TITLE: The Hunchback of Notradame
AUTHOR: Victor Hugo
SETTING: The story dates back to January 6, 1482 in Paris, France, the day of the 'Festival of
Fools' in Paris

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.

Clopin Trouillefou
Clopin disrupts Gringoire's play and later turns out to be not just a simple beggar, but "King" of
the vagabonds. He tries to save La Esmerelda from being hanged but Quasimodo thinks that
Clopin is trying to kill her.

Louis XI 
The King of France in 1482. Louis XI is a heartless monarch who lives in the Bastille instead of
the Louvre. He pardons Gringoire for attacking Notre Dame but orders La Esmerelda's
execution.

Djali 
La Esmerelda's goat. Djali can perform magic tricks and spell the name Phoebus out of a group
of letters. At La Esmerelda's trial Djali is accused of being possessed by the devil.

Fleur-de-Lys de Gondelaurier
One of Phoebus's admirers, she later becomes his wife. She also humiliates La Esmerelda by
mocking her clothes.

Master Florian Barbedienne

The deaf judge who condemns Quasimodo to torture.

Master Jacques Charmolue  

One of Claude Frollo's associates. Jacques prosecutes and then tortures La Esmerelda to get her
to confess to killing Phoebus. He later had her executed.
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 next day, Quasimodo is put on trial and sentenced to two hours of torture in the Place de
Grève. He suffers both the pain of being stretched and pulled apart as well as being publicly
humiliated by the crowd of people, who hate him for his ugliness. He begs for water, but no one
answers his pleas until La Esmerelda comes forth and brings him something to drink. Nearby, a
recluse called Sister Gudule, screams at La Esmerelda for being a "gypsy child- thief" and
blames her for her daughter's kidnapping fifteen years earlier. A few months later, La Esmerelda
is dancing in front of Notre Dame and Phoebus calls her over to him. She has fallen in love with
him and blushes when he asks her to meet him later that night. Frollo watches them from the top
of Notre Dame and becomes insanely jealous of Phoebus. His obsessive lust for La Esmerelda
has made him renounce God and study alchemy and black magic. In his secret cell at Notre
Dame, he plans to trap La Esmerelda like a spider catching a fly with its web. Later that night he
follows Phoebus to his tryst with La Esmerelda and stabs Phoebus repeatedly. He escapes and La
Esmerelda is captured by the King's guard.

After being tortured at her trial, La Esmerelda falsely confesses to killing Phoebus and being a
witch. She is sentenced to hang in the Place de Grève. Frollo visits her in jail and declares his
love. He begs her to love him and show him some pity but she calls him a "goblin-monk" and a
murderer, refusing to have anything to do with him. Before her execution, La Esmerelda is
publicly humiliated in front of Notre Dame. Looking across the square, she suddenly sees
Phoebus and calls out his name. He actually survived the murder attempt but doesn't want
anyone to know that he was injured. He turns away from La Esmerelda and enters the house of
his bride-to-be. Just then, Quasimodo swings down on a rope from Notre Dame and carries her
back to the cathedral, crying out "Sanctuary!" He had fallen in love with her when she brought
him water and had been planning her escape all along.
La Esmerelda is safe from execution just as long as she stays inside the cathedral. At first, she
finds it hard to even look at Quasimodo, but they form an uneasy friendship. Even though he is
deaf, he enjoys being around her when she sings. Meanwhile, a group of vagabonds resolves to
save La Esmerelda after hearing that Parliament has ordered that she be removed from Notre
Dame. But when Quasimodo sees them attack the cathedral, he thinks they have come to kill La
Esmerelda and he fends them off as best he can, killing a large number of them. Frollo has used
the attack as a diversion to sneak La Esmerelda out of the cathedral. He offers her two choices:
she can either say she loves him or be hanged. She demands to be executed and he leaves her
with Sister Gudule. To their astonishment, they discover that they are mother and daughter.
Gudule tries to protect La Esmerelda, but it is too late. Back at Notre Dame, Quasimodo goes to
the top of the north tower to find her. Gazing off into the distance, he sees the figure of La
Esmerelda in a white dress hanging from the scaffold. He bellows out in despair and grabs Frollo
by the neck. Holding him up in the air, Quasimodo sighs with grief and then throws Frollo down
to his death. Looking at La Esmerelda hanging off in the distance and Frollo's wrangled corpse
down below, Quasimodo cries out: "There is everything I ever loved!" Quasimodo is never seen
again. Years later when a gravedigger stumbles across La Esmerelda's remains, he finds the
skeleton of a hunchback curled around her.

LESSONS LEARNED:

The story depicts a very simple, but meaningful lesson for everybody. It is that of not judging
the appearance of other people. The real person in each one of us lies within the heart and mind
of each and every person. The physical appearance is just a bonus from above, but it does not
necessarily mean that one should boast of his being handsome or fair skinned. God has given us
different gifts and we must all treasure and share them.