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The Hunchback Of Notre Dame
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"We shall not attempt to give the reader an idea of that tetrahedron nose - that horse-shoe mouth - that small left eye over-shadowed by a red bushy brow, while the right eye disappeared entirely under an enormous wart - of those straggling teeth with breaches here and there like the battlements of a fortress - of that horny lip, over which one of those teeth projected like the tusk of an elephant - of that forked chin - and, above all, of the expression diffused over the whole-that mixture of malice, astonishment, and melancholy. Let the reader, if he can, figure to himself this combination."
The ''other'' famous novel by Victor Hugo. Written in 1831, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame is a rich, meandering tale that addresses messy relationships, fate, and the future of architecture in 1482.
The titular character is Quasimodo, the deaf, one-eyed, hunchbacked, monstrously ugly bell-ringer of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Abandoned outside the church at the age of four, he was taken in out of kindness by the Archdeacon of Josas, Claude Frollo, who raised him in the church and introduced him to the bells.
When the hitherto chaste Frollo sees the gypsy girl Esmeralda dancing in the street one day, he finds himself stricken with lust, and doesn't know how to deal with it. So, sure as Love Makes You Evil, he grabs Quasimodo (for muscle) and tries to kidnap her. The attempt is foiled by Phoebus, Captain of the Archers. It is spectacularly not foiled by lovable slacker-poet Pierre Gringoire, who gets knocked out trying to save the girl.
Later that night, however, Esmeralda temporarily marries the poet, to save his life from her friends at the Court of Miracles. That doesn't mean she's going to let her new "husband" touch her, mind you, or that she's going to give up her dreams of marrying Phoebus. Phoebus likes the look of her, himself, and although he's already engaged to his teenage cousin Fleur-de-Lys, he's not opposed to a bit on the side.
Esmeralda's kindness to Quasimodo when he is in the stocks for the kidnapping attempt (Frollo having let him take the fall) makes her an angel in Quasimodo's mind, and he is henceforth devoted to her. This eventually, and painfully, puts him in conflict with Frollo, whose combination of lust and loathing for Esmeralda makes him increasingly unstable.
Amidst the drama and tragedy resulting from everybody's fatal obsessions, Hugo includes leisurely chapters on the architecture of Paris and the expected impact of the newly-developed printing press. Hugo himself considered the Cathedral to be the main character, as per the novel's French title Notre Dame de Paris.
Disney inexplicably made this into a children's movie in 1996. Obviously, they changed things a bit. The film was, in 1999, translated into German for a Broadway-style musical, which backtracked a bit and is somewhat Darker And Edgier than the film. There's also a French-language rock opera called Notre Dame de Paris, starring Quebecois singing sensation Garou, and it's very close to the book. Many other adaptations exist with varying levels of decay, most famously two Universal film versions. The first was released in 1923 with Lon Chaney as Quasimodo ( an appropriate piece of casting), and the second in 1939 with Charles Laughton in the role.
The Hunchback Of Notre Dame novel provides examples of the following tropes:
The Novel
- All Love Is Unrequited
- Alternative Character Interpretation: This happens the most to Quasimodo and Frollo. In the book, Quasimodo is rather mean and hates most people. In the films, he is usually put in a more sympathetic light. The exact opposite usually happens to Frollo. In his book form, he is, for the most part, benevolent but sexually frustrated. While he is an antagonist, he is also often considered a tragic anti-hero. However, in the films he is usually made into an all-out evil, sexually depraved monster.
- Author Filibuster: But they're interesting.
- Author Stand In: Gringoire.
- Burn The Witch: Esmeralda is charged with witchcraft, among other offenses.
- Come To Gawk
- Contrived Coincidence: mostly in the sub-plot about Esmeralda's search for her mother.
- Doorstop Baby: Quasimodo was abandoned outside the church and adopted by Frollo.
- Downer Ending
- Death Is Dramatic
- Driven To Suicide: Quasimodo, having seen or participated in the deaths of everyone he loves
- Family Unfriendly Death: the amount of detail in Frollo's last moments was slightly nauseating, especially when you're used to portrayals in which death by falling is quick and clean
- Fleur De Lis: The name of a character, among other things
- Gentle Giant: Semi-averted. Except to the people he loves (all two of them), Quasimodo is unsociable, violent, and mean.
- Go Through Me: Quasimodo's solution to his dual loyalties to Frollo and Esmeralda.
- The Grotesque: Quasimodo.
- Historical Domain Character: King Louis XI. Gringoire was also a real person.
- I Want My Beloved To Be Happy: Quasimodo does what he can to make Esmeralda happy, including acting as a messenger to Phoebus, whom he knows to be a jerk.
- Joker Jury: Gringoire's trial in the Court of Miracles.
- Karma Houdini: Phoebus, who has no problem taking advantage of Esmeralda's innocence, or letting her die on trumped up charges.
- Kill Em All: Seriously. Who doesn't die in this book? Gringoire, Djali, Phoebus and Fleur-de-Lys. And that's about it.
- Knight In Shining Armor: Phoebus more or less fits this trope, especially in Esmeralda's eyes. He's still a jerk, though.
- Lost In Imitation: Quasimodo's role has been exaggerated and romanticized in the public mind though many adaptations, and the architectural themes minimized.
- Love Dodecahedron: Frollo, Quasimodo, Phoebus, and Gringoire are all attracted to Esmeralda, who is married to Gringoire, but has eyes only for Phoebus, who is engaged to Fleur-de-Lys.
- Love At First Sight: Esmeralda for Phoebus, Frollo for Esmeralda (albeit a lot less purely).
- Love Makes You Evil: Frollo's unhealthy obsession with Esmeralda drives the plot.
- Market Based Title: Published in the original French as Notre-Dame de Paris, invariably published in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.
- My Name Is Not Durwood: Phoebus can't be bothered to remember Esmeralda's name, so he usually just takes a stab at it.
- Non Human Sidekick: Believe it or not, Djali, Esmeralda's adorable, intelligent goat, is not a Disney creation.
- Oedipus Rex: Both Quasimodo and his father-figure are in love with the same woman.
- Orphans Plot Trinket: Esmeralda has an amulet which is supposed to help her find her mother.
- Promotion To Parent: Frollo's parents die while he's a young man, leaving him to raise his baby brother, and then Quasimodo, whom he adopts.
- Rescue Romance: Esmeralda and Phoebus.
- Right Hand Versus Left Hand: See The Siege, below.
- Roma: Esmeralda but not really. Probably Quasimodo, by birth.
- Seeking Sanctuary: Everyone knows this scene.
- Shoo Out The Clowns: Jehan's death acts as a gigantic "Bad End Incoming" flag.
- Shown Their Work: Let's just say Victor Hugo's novels are educational.
- The Siege: Quasimodo bravely and single-handedly defends the cathedral against an armed horde. Who were trying to rescue Esmeralda. Oops.
- Sinister Minister: Frollo, but only because love made him evil.
- So Beautiful Its A Curse: If Esmeralda was unattractive, none of the bad things in the novel would've happened.
- Stalker With A Crush: Frollo again. Quasimodo, too. And Esmeralda is this to Phoebus.
- Taking The Heat: Only Quasimodo is punished for the initial kidnapping attempt.
- The Tramp: The entire Court of Miracles.
- Together In Death: Quasimodo and Esmeralda.
- Values Dissonance: Sexual obsession in a priest? Bad, wrong, dangerous. Sexual obsession of a man in his thirties for a sixteen-year-old girl? No prob.
- Also, this is not an anti-racist story. The Parisians' mistreatment of Esmeralda is treated as literary irony: they're wrong to treat her as they do, because she's really one of them. Their treatment of real "Gypsies" is completely excusable: it's clearly established that "Gypsies" really are dangerous — thieves and con artists who will readily steal children. If you think Victor Hugo loved gypsies and was protesting their mistreatment, go and read The Man Who Laughs.
- What about when Paquette immediately starts saying "I love the Egyptians" after learning that they didn't eat her daughter? Also, the gypsies are trying to save her, and Quasimodo (part gypsy) is sort of sympathetic. Also, the comprachios in the story are never specifically referred to as gypsies.
- Virgin Power: Esmeralda has an amulet which is supposed to help her find her mother, but believes it will only work so long as she is a virgin.
- Wrongly Accused: Esmeralda is arrested for stabbing Phoebus, which was actually done by Frollo in a fit of jealousy. She never clears her name, and is hanged for it.
1996 Disney adaptation
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