The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Victor Hugo's 1832 novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame has taken on a life of its own since publication, and I was interested to see how the perception of it has changed. There have been many film adaptations of the novel, but in reality they depict only a part of the book (much as the films of Les Miserables do). In point of fact, the title of the book in French is Notre Dame de Paris, and was written at a time when the cathedral in question was in great disrepair. Hugo wrote it as sort of rallying cry to have it repaired. Quasimodo, arguably Hugo's most famous character, is only a supporting player.

That being said, the book is best when dealing with Quasimodo, a foundling who is deformed and taken in by an archdeacon of the church, Claude Frollo. He becomes the bellringer, and knows every nook and cranny of the cathedral. The sound of the bells makes him deaf. "We shall not try to give the reader an idea of that tetrahedral nose, that horseshoe mouth; that little left eye obstructed with a red, bushy, bristling eyebrow, while the right eye disappeared entirely beneath an enormous wart; of those teeth in disarray, broken here and there, like the embattled parapet of a fortress; of that callous lip, upon which one of these teeth encroached, like the tusk of an elephant; of that forked chin; and above all, of the expression spread over the whole; of that mixture of malice, amazement, and sadness. Let the reader dream of this whole, if he can."

Most who have seen a film version or heard the story will know that Quasimodo saves a gypsy dancer, Esmerelda, from being hanged for witchcraft. There is much more to the story in the book, however. A character named Pierre Gringoire, who was a real person, a poet and philsopher, drifts through the book. He is about to be hanged on some ridiculous charge when he is offered clemency if someone will marry him. Esmerelda steps forward and does so. But she is in love with the dashing Captain Phoebus, who doesn't love her, but does try to rape her. Frollo, who is also in love with her, attacks Phoebus, but Esmerelda gets the blame and is about to be hanged when Quasimodo rescues her from the gallows. "A moment later, he re-appeared upon the upper platform, with the gypsy still in his arms, still running madly, still crying, Sanctuary! and the throng applauded. Finally, he made his appearance for the third time upon the summit of the tower where hung the great bell; from that point he seemed to be showing to the entire city the girl whom he had saved, and his voice of thunder, that voice which was so rarely heard, and which he never heard himself, repeated thrice with frenzy, even to the clouds: Sanctuary! Sanctuary! Sanctuary!"

Hugo is a writer who seems to have been paid by the word, and makes digressions that can sometimes infuriate. He goes on and on about the cathedral, but then again that tips the hand of his reason for writing the book. There are many characters introduced who have nothing to do with the main story, and there's a long chapter depicting the king, Louis XI, who comes across as a typically removed and capricious monarch.

But when the main story is being told, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is quite thrilling. The besr sections are when Quasimodo is pilloried, or when the "vagabonds" attack the church, trying to remove Esmerelda. Quasimodo holds them off the throwing chunks of rock down on them, and then pouring molten lead.

The novel also has its moments of humor, some of it mordant: "Kings like Louis XI are careful to clean the pavement quickly after a massacre." Or even some jokes that seem to have written by Henny Youngman: "Phoebus de Châteaupers also came to a tragic end. He married."

The Hunchback of Notre Dame has been into two fine films with legendary performances by Long Chaney and Charles Laughton. I think it may be do for another one. The simple premise, that appearances do not tell the entire story of a person, is still relevant today.