The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831)

When the publication of a novel results in a major restoration effort for a centuries old Gothic church that features as a significant secondary character, it must be a special book. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is Victor Hugo’s first novel that established him as one of the greatest French writers.

The story is set in Paris in 1482 during the reign of Louis XI. The beautiful gypsy Esmeralda captures the hearts of many men, including those of Captain Phoebus and Pierre Gringoire, but especially Quasimodo and his guardian Archdeacon Claude Frollo. Frollo is torn between his obsessive lust for Esmeralda and the rules of Notre Dame Cathedral. He orders Quasimodo to kidnap her, but Quasimodo is captured by Phoebus and his guards, who save Esmeralda. Gringoire, who attempted to help Esmeralda but was knocked out by Quasimodo, is about to be hanged by beggars when Esmeralda saves him by agreeing to marry him for four years. The following day, Quasimodo is sentenced to be flogged and turned on the pillory for two hours, followed by another hour's public exposure. He calls for water. Esmeralda, seeing his thirst, approaches the public stocks and offers him a drink of water. It saves him, and she captures his heart. Later, Esmeralda is arrested and charged with the attempted murder of Phoebus, whom Frollo attempted to kill in jealousy after seeing him trying to seduce Esmeralda. She is sentenced to death by hanging. As she is being led to the gallows, Quasimodo swings down by the bell rope of Notre-Dame and carries her off to the cathedral, temporarily protecting her – under the law of sanctuary – from arrest. Frollo later informs Gringoire that the Court of Parlement has voted to remove Esmeralda's right to the sanctuary so she can no longer seek shelter in the cathedral and will be taken away to be killed. Clopin, the leader of the Vagrants, hears the news from Gringoire and rallies the homeless citizens of Paris to charge the cathedral and rescue Esmeralda. When Quasimodo sees the Vagrants, he assumes they are there to hurt Esmeralda, so he drives them off. Likewise, he thinks the king's men want to rescue her, and tries to help them find her. She is rescued by Frollo and Gringoire. But after yet another failed attempt to win her love, Frollo betrays Esmeralda by handing her to the troops and watches while she is being hanged. When Frollo laughs during Esmeralda's hanging, Quasimodo pushes him from the height of Notre Dame to his death. With nothing left to live for, Quasimodo vanishes and is never seen again. Quasimodo's skeleton is found many years later in the charnel house, a mass grave into which the bodies of the destitute and criminals were indiscriminately thrown, implying that Quasimodo had sought Esmeralda among the decaying corpses and lay beside her, himself to die. As the guards attempt to pull the embracing skeletons apart, his skeleton crumbles to dust.

This book is hard to judge, mainly because when the narrative and drama is going it is great but early on Hugo liked to focus on other things namely architecture then it was hard to read. While Hugo’s descriptions of Notre Dame are fantastic and are necessary considering its central importance to the book, however the history of Paris and its architecture was a tangent that slowed things down enough to make the book feel like a drag. Hugo’s characters were extremely well-written from the hypocrite Frollo to the love-sick Esmerelda to superficial jerk Phoebus and the book’s titular character Quasimodo.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame features a fantastic narrative, however some of Victor Hugo’s decisions early in the book make it struggle to get through as it veers away from any narrative flow. However, I did enjoy the book overall and would recommend it for people to read yet with a warning about things early so they are prepared to either endure it or plan skip parts of the book. ( )

What a strange little novel; it literally has a bit of everything from witchcraft and religious extremeism with just a dash of romance and adventure. Even though I apparently read an abridged version of the story, I'm pretty sure that I didn't miss much since all the varying storylines fit together by the end. ( )

The novel presents us with the stories of three tragic and lonely figures. Claude Frollo, arch deacon of Notre Dame, Esmeralda, a charming gypsy, and Quasimodo, a disfigured bell ringer and Frollo's adopted son.

1482, the hated Quasimodo, a monster, is crowned king of fools in a high-pitched celebration that speaks of the evil purifier of post-revolutionary France, where the thirst for blood was not quenched and there was an interaction between superstition and the strength that made life short and brutal. Enter Esmeralda, a dancing and innocent gypsy and you have the scene prepared for the dissolution of innocence. Claude Frollo, arch-deacon of Notre-Dame and protector of Quasimodo, becomes obsessed with lust in his soul and performs many shocking and brutal schemes to force Esmeralda's reciprocity. Meanwhile, Esmeralda frustrates her fake husband (the poet Pierre Gringoire) and surrenders to Captain Phoebus, a heartless playboy. The situation is complicated when Frollo attacks the life of Phoebus and Esmeralda is judged as a witch. Quasimodo can choose between his father figure (Frollo) and Esmeralda, the only person who showed him pity, despite his monstrous appearance. The very melodramatic plot is to discuss essential topics, such as a treatise on culture as a whole and, surprisingly for modern readers, the evolution and importance of architecture.

Hugo began to elaborate this iconic novel as an examination of Gothic architecture, which he was convinced was the culmination of a style that demonstrated the true creative verve of humanity and, at the time of writing, was falling into neglect and being replaced by what he saw as inferior modifications. Hugo forces his argument and his characters often become walking symbols of his feelings about architecture and, in particular, of modernization. ( )

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One of my favourite books of all time. A tale of love in its many cruel forms. ( )