Project: A book review

"The Hunchback of Notre Dame"

The topics include :
1) Victor Hugo’ s background and his quotes.
2) Plot lines.
3) Characters development.
4) The Hugo’ s symbolism and metaphor used .
5) Most important themes.
6) Top quote.
7) Differences between the novel and the film.
8) Moral lessons.
 Victor Hugo’ s background
Victor Hugo was born on 26 February 1802 in Besancon, France.
He was the youngest son of the family. Travelling with his father to different countries,
young Hugo developed a liking for nature and beauty. At the age of 20, his first volume of
poetry ‘Odes et Poésies Diverses’ was published. His major works were the Gothic novel,
‘Notre-Dame de Paris’ (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) and ‘Les Misérables’. Adèle
Foucher with whom he had 5 children died in 1868. To honor his entering his 80th year in
1881, celebrations across France were organized which included the largest parade in
French history. His mistress, Juliet Drouet died too in 1883. On 22 May 1885 at
the age of 83, Victor Hugo breathed his last. His body was rested in state beneath the Arc de
Triomphe before burial in the Panthéon. The house where he stayed in Vianden,
Luxembourg, in 1871 has also become a memorial museum.
Victor Hugo was a renowned poet, novelist and playwright of the Romantic Movement in
19th century France.
Hugo’ s quotes
 Plot lines
During the Festival of Fools in Paris, Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre Dame, is
elected the Pope of Fools for being the ugliest person in Paris.
La Esmerelda, a gypsy street dancer is suddenly attacked by Quasimodo and Frollo.
A few months later La Esmeralda has fallen in love with Phoebus and Frollo becomes jealous.
One night he follows Phoebus with La Esmerelda and stabs Phoebus repeatedly. He escapes and
La Esmerelda is captured by the King's guard. Quasimodo carries her back to the cathedral. Frollo
offers La Esmeralda two choices: she can either say she loves him or be hanged. Sister Gudule
and La Esmeralda turn to be mother and daughter. Quasimodo sees the figure of La Esmerelda
in a white dress hanging from the scaffold. He grabs Frollo by the neck and then
throws him down to his death. Quasimodo cries out: "There is everything I ever
loved!"
Years later when a gravedigger stumbles across La Esmerelda's remains, he finds the
skeleton of a hunchback curled around her.
Characters
 Characters
Quasimodo
Quasimodo is an abandoned child
left at Notre Dame and adopted by
Frollo.
 He is hideously deformed and is
also deaf. His heart is pure, and
this purity is linked to the
cathedral itself.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."
La Esmeralda
 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.
Characters
 Characters
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. 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.
Phoebus
 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, but he recovers.
He ends up marrying Fleur-de-
Lys.
 His first name is Greek for "the
sun." 
 The Hugo’ s symbolism
Gold
 Gold is associated with alchemy,
God, and humanity’s quest for
knowledge throughout The
Hunchback of Notre Dame.
 In the novel, just as Frollo fails to
make gold, Frollo’s obsession turns
him into a monster rather than
making him divine, so gold
symbolizes both the desire to
understand God and the dangers of
trying to do so.
The Cathedral
 The Cathedral – a symbol of
hope.
 Despite the adversities it has
faced, Notre-Dame continues to
symbolize the spirit of Paris.
 The cathedral of Notre Dame
symbolizes the city of Paris and
the whole of medieval society.
 The Hugo’ s symbolism
Esmeralda’ s shoe
 Esmeralda’s shoe is a symbol of
her innocence throughout the
novel.
 Esmeralda’s shoe is also
associated with her dancing and
her lightness on her feet.
 Throughout the novel,
Esmeralda’s shoe represents her
attempts to flee from the
powers of darkness that pursue
her, as well as her desire to be
joyful and free.
Quasimodo – a metaphor and a symbol

Essentially, Quasimodo, the

hunchback character, is a
metaphor for the cathedral.
He’s malformed and
misunderstood, but he’s
ultimately good-hearted.
Quasimodo, the deaf, pitiably
ugly protagonist of Victor
Hugo's novel "The
Hunchback of Notre Dame" .
He became a classic symbol
of a courageous heart beneath
a grotesque exterior.
 Most important themes
Loyalty, in various guises,
steers much of the novel's plot
action.
Quasimodo's intense loyalty to
Claude Frollo initially prevents
the hunchback from perceiving
his master's madness .
 Esmeralda is loyal to her
virtue because she believes that
so long as she is virtuous her
amulet has the power to restore
her mother.
Love comes in many forms in the
story.
Frollo's intense and obsessive love
of Esmeralda leads to his madness
and ultimately his destruction at the
hands of Quasimodo.
Esmeralda's unyielding love of
Phoebus blinds her to his
insincerity.
Quasimodo's pure love for
Esmeralda leads him to reconfigure
his life around her so that when she
dies he elects to join her in the tomb
rather than go on living.
 Top quote
 Quasimodo's reaction to Esmeralda's gift of a drink of water : "Then from that
eye, hitherto so dry and burning, was seen to roll a big tear, which fell slowly
down that deformed visage so long contracted by despair. Perhaps it was the
first that the unfortunate creature had ever shed." (p. 322)
 The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Novel
 Frollo is a priest.
 Frollo tries to be a good person but his
lechery towards Esmeralda turns him
into the novel's antagonist.
 Pierre Gringoire is the protagonist, an
author stand-in for Hugo, as he is a
struggling poet and playwright.
 Phoebus is an awful person.
 Phoebus does not rescue Esmeralda and
he marries Fleur-de-Lys.
 Esmeralda, born Agnes, was stolen by
the gypsies in exchange for Quasimodo.
Esmeralda is a gypsy by birth.
Disney movie
 Frollo is a judge.
 Frollo is established from the
beginning as an evil man.
 Quasimodo is the protagonist, and
Gringoire doesn't exist.
 Phoebus is a heroic, kind man.
 Both Esmeralda and Phoebus survive
and end up together.
 Esmeralda is a gypsy by birth.
Major And Minor Characters Condensed
 The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Novel
 Quasimodo is half-deaf and blind from the
bells and has no one to confide in.
 Victor Hugo's main message and goal are
expressed through Claude Frollo about
halfway through the novel in the
sentences: "The book will kill the
building.”
 Most characters die: Esmeralda,
Quasimodo, Frollo. Phoebus and Gringoire
both survive, but don't have particularly
happy endings.
 Esmeralda is hanged.
 Esmeralda’s end is more tragic.
Film
 Quasimodo is simply physically
deformed, and he confides in the
gargoyles who also live in the bell tower.
 The focus is the question: "Who is the
monster and who is the man?", which
instead looks at Frollo's internal monster,
and Quasimodo's goodness despite his
deformity.
 Most characters survive. The antagonist,
Frollo, dies by falling into the fire, but no
one else dies. Quasimodo is accepted by
the people of the city.
 Esmeralda’ s choice is either Frollo or
being burned at the stake.
 Esmeralda is more defiant.
 Moral lessons
 We should weigh people up very carefully, by their words, deeds and attitudes towards
others.
 Don’t let your life pass you by.
 Don't judge people based on their appearance.
 Sometimes you have to help people you don’t really want to.
 Who the monster is and who the man is depends on your point of view.
 Those who do wrong and are hypocritical will pay the price in the end.
 There is always someone who has it worse than you.
 Nothing is ever completely hopeless.
 It only takes one person to lead the way and start a trend of standing up against
immoralities.
 Be the encouragement in other people’s lives.
 Be happy for others even if you didn’t get what you wanted.
 Holding a grudge won’t change anything.
 The most unlikely hero can be found in all of us.
 Bibliography
 https://www-thefamouspeople-com.webpkgcache.com/doc/-/
s/www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/victor-hugo-31.php
 https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/hunchback/
 https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-hunchback-of-notre-dame/symbols
 https://www.historydefined.net/who-was-the-real-hunchback-of-notre-dame/
 https://www.britannica.com/topic/Quasimodo#:~:
text=Quasimodo%2C%20title%20character%2C%20the%20deaf,heart%20ben
eath%20a%20grotesque%20exterior
 https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-hunchback-of-notre-dame/themes
 https://
screenrant.com/hunchback-notre-dame-changes-disney-movie-original-story/
 https://
www.theodysseyonline.com/20-lessons-from-the-hunchback-of-notre-dame