YMMV / The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The original novel

• Common Knowledge:
  • Many portray Clopin as Roma, but he isn't. He is their leader, but on the technicality that the Duke of Egypt, the leader of Paris' Roma population, answers to him.
  • Would you believe us if we told you that it actually wasn't Quasimodo's deformities that the peasants ostracized him for, but his red hair? Such were the prejudices of actual Medieval Parisians.
  • Also, despite what most adaptations are famous for, the original novel attempts no commentary on prejudice or the Beauty Equals Goodness trope; it's actually, of all things, just an architecture nerd's Author Appeal.
  • Even Victor Hugo's Self-Adaptation the opera "La Esmeralda" is subject to this, with many saying the ending was changed to be happier. True, the ending is different and Phoebus exonerates Esmerealda, but he dies of his wound not long after and she vows to follow him, meaning she will be committing suicide, and Frollo turns out to be a complete Karma Houdini. Some happy ending.
  • Similarly, Frollo's Adaptational Villainy in the Disney version is played up so much you'd think he was practically heroic in the original novel. While he's certainly more sympathetic in his treatment of Quasimodo he's still a thoroughly unlikable misogynist who is arguably worse towards Esmerelda- while in the Disney version he wants to burn her primarily to quell his own desire for her and during Hellfire seems to have a moment of disgust at himself for giving in to temptation, in the book he seems motivated more out of resentment and If I Can't Have You…. Noticeably his biggest regret after he thinks he's executed her is that her legs were visible to the crowd, because he believes nobody else should look at her in any sort of sexual manner.
• Crazy Is Cool: Clopin who runs a Parody of the King's Court with fake ministers with phony titles, and constantly has fake injuries. Yet also gets a Dying Moment of Awesome during The Siege.
• Die for Our Ship: Frollo/Esmeralda fans of any of the adaptations are eager to kill off Phoebus for the sake of this ship. Then again, even if you don't support this ship, almost every Hunchback of Notre Dame fan would gladly see novel Phoebus die.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: At one point Frollo tries convincing Pierre to swap clothes with Esmeralda so he will die in her place and she will escape- a plot point much like the ending to A Tale of Two Cities.
• Jerkass Woobie: Claude Frollo is an educated and enlightened man who grows darker out of his self-inflicted disappointment in himself for not raising his brother Jehan to be as faithful or hardworking as himself and his later uncontrollable lust for Esmeralda, which is based more clearly in his sexual frustration as a priest than in later adaptations.
• Moral Event Horizon: Frollo firmly crosses it when he hand Esmeralda over to hang on false charges after she rejects him for the final time. Quasimodo turns on him for this and sends him to his death.
• Narm: The subplot about Esmeralda's mother is melodrama at its very worst; it's simply bad things happening to the poor woman over and over until she dies, being little more than a "Shaggy Dog" Story we're meant to treat with the utmost reverence. It's not just because of the racism this subplot has been excised from virtually every adaptation- it also just isn't particularly good or interesting.
• Older Than They Think: Victor Hugo's Self-Adaptation the opera "La Esmeralda" features many things that would appear in later adaptations.
  • Phoebus undergoing Adaptational Heroism originates with that opera. His Death by Adaptation that appears in the 1939 film also originates with the opera but rather than being in the middle it happens at the end where he dies of his wound after Esmeralda has been exonerated. Him being Promoted to Love Interest also originates with the opera.
  • Esmeralda escaping execution originates with the opera but she does not have time to enjoy it. After Phoebus dies Esmeralda vows to follow him, which of course means she will commit suicide so they can be Together in Death.
  • Clopin undergoing Adaptational Villainy such as in the 1923 film also originates with the opera where he was an accomplice of Frollo's in a second abduction of Esmeralda that never ended up being carried out.
  • Pierre Gringoire, King Louis, Jehan Frollo and a good many others being adapted out also originate with the opera but in the case of Jehan some aspects of his character were incorporated into his brother Claude.
  • Claude Frollo being Spared By Adaptation originates with the opera as he does in the 1923 and 1939 as well, especially odd since in the opera he does not undergo Adaptational Heroism and is basically a Karma Houdini by the end. Quasimodo too survives to the end but this has more to do with him having been Demoted to Extra in contrast to the adaptations that keep him alive in the end and have him as a major character.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The relationship between Quasimodo and Frollo is barely if at all explored- indeed, they interact only a handful of times. Given that the emotional climax of the novel is Quasimodo pushing Frollo from the belltower it comes off as a lot less impactful than it should do.
• Values Dissonance:
  • Sexual obsession in a priest? Bad, wrong, dangerous. Sexual obsession of a man in his thirties for a 16-year-old girl? No prob.
  • The depiction of the Roma people in the book has not aged well, although it's still a Zig-Zagging example. While Esmeralda's persecution as a witch is portrayed as wrong, near the end of the novel, it's revealed by birth she was French, and was exchanged with Quasimodo (who is actually Romani by birth), although his persecution is also portrayed as wrong. The other Romani in the novel are portrayed as part of the lower class in the Cour des Miracles (Slums), who survive by begging and pickpocketing, but then again these are living conditions thrust upon many an oppressed minority in real life. Clopin, their leader, is depicted as an Anti-Hero, who while possessing a heroic side, is hostile towards the Middle class, and threatens to hang Gringoire for trespassing in the Cour des Miracles, but Clopin is nevertheless still depicted in a better light than the then-current King of France. At several points, they are referred to as the "Egyptians," which reflects the real-life misconception that the Romani people originate from Egypt, which is the origin of the "Gypsy" moniker, but it's important to remember that bigotry and ignorance aren't the same thing.
  • Reality Is Unrealistic way regarding Quasimodo. As per the attitudes of Medieval Parisians, the peasants take no issue at all with Quasimodo's physical deformities; it's his red hair of all things that they ostracize him for.
• Values Resonance:
  • In a deeply metaphorical way, when Victor Hugo wrote Frollo's speech on how the printing press would destroy the church (ceci tuera cela) he was using hyperbole to make a point. Obviously the church itself was not literally destroyed. His point was that by allowing people to take the printed scripture into their home the physical church was going to suffer from it. The very base concept is that something which helped propel the religion into more homes could also chip away the relevance of one of its previously important facets. Frollo's position as a priest adds to this because if less people attend the physical church there is less money and incentive to maintain the physical church's structure. ^note  We will note Hugo was a big fan of gothic architecture and in his day some parts of Notre Dame de Paris weren't properly maintained or in some cases cheaply altered because of the points Frollo makes. Less people came, maintaining the physical church wasn't as important. Frollo was given some Author Tract here as these were among Hugo's actual views even if Frollo perhaps as a character took it a little more personally. Hugo wrote a longer essay on this subject to those interested where he also held some views that the printing press had taken away some creative people who might have otherwise been architects into other careers. Thankfully though if you have been to Notre Dame De Paris in modern times it is much better maintained today then it was when Hugo wrote all of this. In fact his writing on the subject is believed to have helped kick off the first major reconstruction effort. Fast forward to the earlier days of the internet you would have found people following on Frollo's coat tail with wondering could it do the same to the printed book or at least do some damage to elements contained in them? On one hand thanks to the internet it's a lot easier for us to get our eyes on the text of a work like "Hunchback" but with so many other distractions and options a lot of people would agree reading stories from the past is one of those facets of the printed book that has less prominence as before the internet. Exactly how many tropers are on this very page for the Disney film and have never read this story to know what this example is even about?
  • In a more straightforward regard, its depiction of institutional misogyny holds up very well- Frollo's Entitled to Have You attitude is always portrayed as unequivocally wrong and not once does the story play into Victim-Blaming tropes. Corrupt authority figures using their position of power to harass women is a problem just as prevalent in the 2020s as it was in the 1480s.

The stage musical

• Broken Base:
  • Whether or not the musical keeping truer to the book's original ending by having Esmeralda really die at the end (averting the film's Disney Death) was a good decision or not is debated between viewers. Half disliked the film's original happy ending and were happy to see it, and felt it was more in-tone with the rest of the (mostly) grim and serious story. The other half that dislike the change feel that it wasn't properly set up and was simply made for the sake of being grim. Arguments generally boil down to whether the film was too lighthearted or the musical was too dark.
  • Similarly, it's debated whether later productions' addition of lines at the end revealing that Quasimodo died in the crypts below Notre Dame holding Esmeralda's body is an improvement, or if the more Bittersweet Ending of previous productions was better, where Quasimodo was implied to leave the cathedral with Phoebus to start a new life. Fans of the new ending prefer its faithfulness to the novel, while detractors find it too grim and think it clashes with the message of hope that Stephen Schwartz wrote into the show's lyrics.
• Catharsis Factor: In the original film, Quasimodo outright saves Frollo, and Frollo's death—falling from a crumbling gargoyle head as he tried to kill Esmeralda—was entirely his own fault. The stage musical changes this to have Quasimodo outright kill him by throwing him off the roof to avenge Esmeralda. Frollo's line of "And He shall smite the wicked and plunge them into the fiery pit!" is instead changed to Quasimodo's Badass Boast of "And the wicked shall not go unpunished!" It's an incredibly dark scene (and Quasimodo is crushed with grief afterwards) but it's just as satisfying as the original.
  Frollo: You don't want to hurt me!
  Chorus, to Quasimodo: Yes, you do.
• Improved Second Attempt: The gargoyles were by far the most unanimous criticism of the original film, as they served no purpose to the plot outside of comic relief that felt very out-of-place in the otherwise dark story. The fact that were proven to be alive in the climax was also criticized for being the only supernatural element of the plot. The stage adaptation keeps them, but makes it clear that their conversations are only in Quasimodo's head, and does away with the comic relief by instead having them voice the thoughts that Quasimodo won't say aloud.
• Retroactive Recognition: The Dame la Jolla Playhouse version of the musical (now available on YouTube) is the version most fans are familiar with and features Patrick Page—who would later play Hades in the Broadway run of Hadestown—as Frollo.

The 1997 film

• Alternate Character Interpretation: The old lady in "God Help the Outcasts" could be asking for someone to love her... but she also could be asking for someone she could love, or could share in God's love with.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Eventually, the line "Why I am not made of stone like thee" is put in this movie. This was criticized as an uninspired copy of the 1939 film.

---