The Hunchback of Notre Dame

THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME
Victor Hugo
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 Esmeralda, a
gypsy street dancer, and decides to follow her home. After rounding a corner, she is suddenly
attacked by Frollo Gringoire and Quasimodo rushes to help her but is knocked out by Frollo 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
Quasimodo when La Esmeralda 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 Esmeralda comes forth and brings him something to drink.
Nearby, a recluse called Sister Gudule, screams at La Esmeralda for being a “gypsy child-thief”
and blames the for her daughter’s kidnapping fifteen years earlier. A few months later, La
Esmeralda 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
Esmeralda has made him renounce God and study alchemy and black magic. In his secret cell
at Notre Dame, he plans to trap La Esmeralda like a spider catching a fly with its web. Later that
night he follows Phoebus to his tryst with La Esmeralda and stabs Phoebus repeatedly. He
escapes and La Esmeralda is captured by the King’s guard.
After being tortured at her trial, La Esmeralda 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
Esmeralda 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 Esmeralda 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 Esmeralda 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 Esmeralda 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 Esmeralda and he fends them off
as best as he can, killing a large number of them. Frollo has used the attack as a diversion to
sneak La Esmeralda out of the Cathedral. Frollo has used the attack as a diversion to sneak La
Esmeralda 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
Esmeralda, 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 Esmeralda 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 throws Frollo down to his death. Looking at La Esmeralda
hanging off in the distance and Frollo’s wrangled corpse down below, Quasimodo cries out:
“Therecis everything I ever loved!” Quasimodo is never seen again. Years later when a
gravedigger stumbles across La Esmeralda’s remains, he finds a skeleton of a hunchback
curled around her.

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Meanwhile, a group of vagabonds resolves to save La Esmeralda after hearing that

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