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Our Lady of Paris The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a tragic romance about a young deformed man named Quasimodo, and his troubles with love, and his master. The story starts in 1482 in Paris. The Festival of Fools is taking place and Quasi is crowned the Pope of Fools, for being so ugly. When Claude Frollo, Quasimodo's master, sees him at the procession, he immediately tells Quasi to go back with him. A man named Gringoire sees Esmeralda, a beautiful gypsy, performing he instantly falls in love with her. He decides to follow her and then he sees her being attacked by Frollo and Quasimodo.
He tries to help, but Quasi knocks him out, as Frollo escapes. Quasi is captured by the police, who are led Phoebus, and is sentenced to two hours of torture. Esmeralda falls in love with Phoebus, and this makes Frollo extremely jealous. He follows them one night, and stabs Phoebus, then escapes. The police arrest Esmeralda for the murder of the police captain, even though he is not actually dead.
She is sentenced to death. Quasi saves her by taking her to the Cathedral and claiming sanctuary. Frollo comes up with a plan to take Esmeralda, and succeeds. Esmeralda is hanged, and when Quasi finds out, he kills Frollo and disappears. Two years later, when a gravedigger comes across Esmeralda's remains, he finds a skeleton of a hunchback wrapped around her.
Claude Frollo is a static character. He is a priest at Notre Dame and is known as the Archdeacon Claude Frollo. He is the antagonist of the story, although he is not the stereotypical bad guy. He doesnt spend all his life hating everyone, rather he shows love and compassion for both his brother and Quasimodo.
He teaches them both to read and write, but with Quasimodo being deaf, it is very difficult to teach him anything. Frollo's brother Jehan is a terrible student, and is a drunk and an addicted gambler. He throws all his money away on alcohol and gambling. So since Frollo cannot teach either of the two people he is closest to, he becomes depressed, and deems himself a failure. Claude is also madly in love with the gypsy woman Esmeralda.
He does everything in his power to try to make her love him, but she will not. However hard he tries, he can not win her over. The more he attempts to do better in teaching Quasi and Jehan, or to get Esmeralda to love him, the more they everyone suffers, including Frollo himself. Quasimodo is tortured because of him, and Esmeralda is tortured and eventually hanged because of Frollo's crime.
Frollo is a static character in the fact that he does not change his ways throughout the novel. He is always generally compassionate towards Quasimodo, but he is a coward. When he and Quasi assault Esmeralda, Quasi protects him by attacking Gringoire. When this happens, Claude chicken-heartedly runs away, leaving Quasimodo to be captured by the police. The same thing happens when Frollo stabs Phoebus out of jealousy and love for Esmeralda. He leaves the one he loves to be captured by the police, in the same cowardly way that he did to Quasimodo.
Not once in the story does Frollo attempt to take responsibility for his actions, or try to redeem himself after he leaves the two people to be punished for his conduct. Claude Frollo can be characterized as a childish control-freak. He is always trying to dominate Quasimodo's life without letting him have any say at all. At the Festival of Fools, when he told Quasi to come with him, he automatically went, and did not argue. With Esmeralda, he is the same way. He is jealous because she loves Phoebus and not himself.
When he tries to save her life by telling her she can live if she declares her love for him, and she denies him, and has her hanged because if he cant have her, then no one can. He commits this act out of jealousy and ignorance. If he would have realized that the more he wanted Esmeralda to love him, the more it caused her pain and suffering, he would have been much better off. One of his stronger qualities is that he never brakes down and gives up. He is always consistent in this matter, despite anything that happens, especially with his loved ones.
He always wants them to be happy, but it did not make any difference. The more he tries, the unhappier they all become. The major theme in the story is ignorance. People judge others by what they look like on the outside, but take no time to get to know them and see what they are really like. In the story, Quasimodo is despised by the people of Paris because of his monstrousness. No one actually knows anything about him except for Frollo and Esmeralda.
If the people of Paris had taken the time to get to know who he really is, their contempt for him would disappear. Frollo is the exact opposite. People assume that he is an honest and truthful man, just because he is a priest. They know nothing of him either, and just infer what they think is true. In truth, he is a priest, but he acts like Beelzebub would himself.
He is in the church and is practicing all the black magic that he claims to shun. Also, his lust for Esmeralda is another thing he claims to be against. Situational irony is reflected many times throughout the story. One example can be compared to the theme. Frollo's appearance and occupation portray him as an honest man, but he is truly an evil, wicked man, with very little love for anyone but himself. Quasimodo is deformed, ugly, and despised by society, but he is the kindest character in the book.
The most profound situation of irony is the fact the church is supposed to be a place of safety, but in the story, it is not. Frollo practices black magic there, and even breaks in to capture Esmeralda. Another instance of situational irony is that in the beginning of the book, Frollo shuns women, and especially gypsies. But, when he sees Esmeralda he falls in love with her. This is not only ironic that he falls in love with her, but that she is a gypsy as well. The inside beauty of the main characters can be compared to the mightiness and grace of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.
Of the Gothic type cathedrals the Notre Dame de Paris is considered a masterpiece of earlier gothic architecture. However, even thought the cathedral is considered gothic, it has some characteristics of earlier Romanesque style. The cathedrals south side overlooks the Seine River and displays one of the famous rose windows. Its west side features rose window, the portals, and many sculptures.
The famous rose window was designed in a rayon nant style. It was called the rose window in description of its radiating spokes. The window was built by Jean de chelles. Featured in the center are the virgin and child, surrounded by a figure of prophets.
The second circle shows the 32 Old Testament kings, while the outer circle depicts 32 high priests and patriarchs. It is one of the many cathedrals dedicated to a Biblical character; it is dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus. In fact Notre-Dame is translated from French to be "Our Lady." The first cornerstone was laid in 1163. Later, in 1183, the high alter was completed.
Everything but the roofing was completed in 1196. The cathedral was finally completed in the 14 th century. It is still considered Gothic in design for it has pointed arches instead of domed walkways; the roofs are pointed as well. The basic construction of these and the majority of the walls had been completed but it wasn't until nearly 40 to 60 years later when the buttresses and other such accessories were added.
The cathedrals of the gothic period as we see are the marvelous representation of the architecture of that time as well as of the later developments in this field. They played major political and economical role of the region, through it major needs and interaction with the people, guilds, government, Pope in Rome. They represent an unforgettable tour to the past through the stone and glass. Bibliography: Hugo, Victor: "The Hunchback of Notre Dame. " New York, Penguin Books, 1996. Evenson, Norma. Paris: A Century of Change 1878 - 1978, NewHaven, 1979.
Mcluhan, Marshall: Understanding the World of Victor Hugo. Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 1994 Weaver, Warren: Symbol of Cathedral in the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Urbana: U. Illinois Press, 1949
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