The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

The beginning of Easter is known as Quasimodo Sunday, and 16 years before the beginning of the story, old women gathered outside Notre-Dame. As was customary, a child was left on a nearby bench for adoption by kindly strangers. On this occasion, the old women noted how a certain abandoned baby was particularly ugly. They discussed whether the baby was a miracle or “a real monster” (154). Rich and wise people passed over the chance to adopt the child, until a young priest named Claude Frollo appeared and took the baby into his care. The women shared rumors about Frollo supposedly being “a sorcerer.”

Frollo descended from a wealthy family. Highly educated, he was always a somewhat solitary figure. He worked hard in school and yearned for knowledge, taking in science and medicine as well as religion. He studied ancient languages and art, dedicating his life to the pursuit of knowledge. At age 19, he became an orphan when both his parents died of the plague, and he began caring for his brother, Jehan. Through Jehan, he learned to care about than just studying. He devoted himself to raising young Jehan, learning about the importance of love, and he took his vows as a priest to fund his brother’s education. Entering Notre-Dame as a chaplain, he became popular. During this formative period, he adopted the disfigured baby, naming him Quasimodo in honor of the day they met.

In 1482, Quasimodo is 20, and Frollo has become archdeacon of Notre-Dame. Quasimodo is the appointed bell-ringer. He considers the cathedral his home and has “an indefinable close bond” (163) with Note-Dame, to the point that he is almost a part of the cathedral. He rings the bells like a language of his own and clambers up and down Notre-Dame’s familiar walls with ease, staying hidden lest his appearance terrify outsiders. Isolated from the world, he speaks only to Frollo and, even then, only through a kind of sign language, since the ringing of the bells has made Quasimodo deaf. He is depressed, and people mock his attempts to communicate. Inside the cathedral, he is so alone that he is almost like a prisoner and begins to lose his mind, unable to comprehend the world beyond the walls of Notre-Dame. He avoids people, talking instead to the statues and gargoyles inside the cathedral. To Quasimodo, Notre-Dame may as well be the entire world. Marie, the cathedral’s biggest bell, excites him when it rings. He can feel and even hear the massive Marie ringing. From outside, people see Quasimodo clambering through the rafters. His presence adds credence to the association between the cathedral, Frollo, and witchcraft. Some even speculate that Quasimodo is a demon, but he is more akin to Notre-Dame’s soul. The novel notes that without him, Notre-Dame would feel almost abandoned, like a “skeleton” without flesh.

Quasimodo loves Notre-Dame, and he loves Frollo, who adopted and raised him. He is thankful that Frollo found him the job as bell-ringer and taught him a “mysterious sign language” (171). Therefore, he does anything Frollo asks. He happily puts himself in harm’s way for Frollo and protects him at all costs; their relationship is something like that between a master and a dog.

When Quasimodo is 20, Frollo is 36. Serious and domineering, Frollo remains determined to help Jehan, despite his younger brother’s wayward lifestyle. Frollo enrolls Jehan in the same university that he attended but is horrified by Jehan’s reputation as a prankster who gets into drunken fights throughout Paris. This leads Frollo to further immerse himself in his own studies as a distraction from his brother’s behavior. Since Frollo is not permitted to marry, his only real relationships are with Jehan and Quasimodo. He becomes zealous in his beliefs, resolving to push the boundaries of “permissible” human knowledge. People gossip that this desire has pushed him toward more unnatural practices. Frollo, the great student, lingers around the Holy Innocents cemetery, where his parents (and alchemist Nicholas Flamel) are buried. People believe that he has become obsessed with Flamel, who is said to have discovered the philosopher’s stone. Frollo is one of the few who can decipher the strange symbols carved into Notre-Dame’s facade, which—stories suggest—point to the location of Flamel’s treasure. Frollo and Quasimodo are bound by their mutual love for Notre-Dame. Frollo has a private office there, to which only he has the key. Many suspect Frollo of witchcraft, but he is forthright in pursuing witches and devil worship, trying anyone accused of such practices to distract from the rumors that surround him. People gossip that Quasimodo is a demon sent to drag Frollo down to Hell. Frollo grows old and bitter, torn apart by hidden inner conflict. He becomes less forgiving, particularly toward women (especially Romany women).

Consequently, people fear both Quasimodo and Frollo, the former for his strength and the latter for his severity. Although people mock them from afar, no one dares to get too close. Regardless, the two men are often too lost in thought to notice.