Previous
Physique and Character
Find the Perfect Quote
LitCharts makes it easy to find quotes by
character
and theme. We assign a color and icon like this one
to each theme, making it easy to track which themes apply to each quote below.
Need another quote?
Need analysis on another quote?
Need analysis for a quote we don't cover?
Need analysis for a quote we don't cover?
Need analysis for a quote we don't cover?
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
Request it
Request it
Request analysis
Request analysis
Request analysis
Hop-Frog Quotes
I NEVER knew anyone so keenly alive to a joke as the king was. He seemed to live only for joking. To tell a good story of the joke kind, and to tell it well, was the surest road to his favor.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
In this passage, the narrator describes the king’s insatiable impulse to joke. The king’s actions in the story can be explained almost entirely by his fixation on joking, as he appears to be motivated only by his urge to joke. These first lines establish the importance of jokes to the story. The king, the main antagonist, is very inclined to joke. Consequently, he surrounds himself with other jokers. Although Hop-Frog, the protagonist, ultimately opposes the king and resists his authority, he, just like the king, is a committed joker, albeit one whose jokes are subversive. Naturally, as both Hop-Frog and Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asper
About the refinements, or, as he called them, the 'ghost' of wit, the king troubled himself very little. […] Over-niceties wearied him. He would have preferred Rabelais' 'Gargantua' to the 'Zadig' of Voltaire: and, upon the whole, practical jokes suited his taste far better than verbal ones.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
In this passage, the narrator explains that the king’s humor is crude and that he favors practical jokes to verbal ones. The narrator associates the king with the vulgar satire of French writer Rabelais over the philosophical writings of Voltaire. The king’s preference for vulgar practical jokes explains many of his actions during the story. Hop-Frog manages to convince the king to partake in his masquerade act by appealing to his preferences: Hop-Frog explains that his act is a prolonged practical joke that would frighten women. The king is so delighted by this confluence of things he enjoys that he Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque err
But although Hop-Frog, through the distortion of his legs, could move only with great pain and difficulty along a road or floor, the prodigious muscular power which nature seemed to have bestowed upon his arms, by way of compensation for deficiency in the lower limbs, enabled him to perform many feats of wonderful dexterity, where trees or ropes were in question, or any thing else to climb.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
This passage is from the narrator’s descriptions of the story’s important characters. It describes the physical characteristics of Hop-Frog, the dwarf jester and protagonist of the story. Hop-Frog has deformities of the lower body which prevent him from walking normally, but he also has an unusually strong upper body, seemingly by way of compensation. The passage foreshadows the details of Hop-Frog’s plot, the climax of the story; the narrator conspicuously notes Hop-Frog’s arm strength and suggests that he could dexterously climb just about anything, a fact that later becomes relevant when Hop-Frog quickly climbs up the chandelier-chain and sets the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam of
It happened to be the poor dwarf's birthday, and the command to drink to his 'absent friends' forced the tears to his eyes. Many large, bitter drops fell into the goblet as he took it, humbly, from the hand of the tyrant.
‘Ah! ha! ha!’ roared the latter, as the dwarf reluctantly drained the beaker. – ‘See what a glass of good wine can do! Why, your eyes are shining already!’
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
In this passage, the king cruelly forces Hop-Frog to drink wine, a beverage which makes him unpleasantly mad, after he summons the jester to help him create a masquerade act. Hop-Frog obliges at first so as to avoid being severely punished by the king. The personality of the king is made much clearer by this passage. The king is motivated to perform sadistic acts on his subjects not primarily by wrath, but by his twisted sense of humor. The tyrannical behavior of the king is a product of his general interest in pulling mean-spirited practical jokes. The narrator explains just Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde eni
Hop-Frog also laughed although feebly and somewhat vacantly. […]
"I am endeavoring to think of something novel," replied the dwarf, abstractedly, for he was quite bewildered by the wine.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
In this passage, Hop-Frog, confused by the alcohol the king has forced him to drink to excess, aloofly responds to the king’s request for an idea for a masquerade act. Hop-Frog does not immediately produce a suggestion due to his inebriation, angering the king, who then forces him to drink more wine. Hop-Frog’s behavior in this passage reveals that he is poised despite his captivity and mistreatment. Instead of responding to his torment with justified anger, Hop-Frog placidly answers the king’s questions. The jester’s behavior in response to his own abuse contrasts starkly with his attitude when, a little later, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas
Hereupon the dwarf laughed (the king was too confirmed a joker to object to any one's laughing), and displayed a set of large, powerful, and very repulsive teeth. Moreover, he avowed his perfect willingness to swallow as much wine as desired.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
In this passage, Hop-Frog placates the king by first laughing at his suggestion that it may have been Hop-Frog who made the harsh grating noise (actually him grinding his teeth), and then agreeing to consume as much wine as the king desires. Hop-Frog shrewdly responds to the king’s concern with reassuring remarks so as to mask his intention to retaliate. In this quotation, the transformation of Hop-Frog’s disposition is evident. At the beginning of his confrontation with the king, he responds tranquilly to the king’s abuse, but once the king strikes Trippetta, he becomes enraged. He reveals his anger in Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut
Soon after this, the king and his seven friends having reeled about the hall in all directions, found themselves, at length, in its centre, and, of course, in immediate contact with the chain. […] The dwarf, who had followed noiselessly at their heels, inciting them to keep up the commotion, took hold of their own chain at the intersection of the two portions which crossed the circle diametrically and at right angles. Here, with the rapidity of thought, he inserted the hook from which the chandelier had been wont to depend[.]
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
This passage describes the way Hop-Frog lures the king and his seven ministers into a trap during the masquerade. In order to execute his scheme, Hop-Frog has the group tied together with a chain, ostensibly as part of their act. Then, during the masquerade, he moves them around in a particular fashion, inciting the watching crowd, so that he can sneakily attach the chains connecting the group to the chandelier-chain. Once the men are attached to this fixture descending from the skylight, he can hoist them into the air and perform his spectacle. The extent of Hop-Frog’s resourcefulness is revealed Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea.
“I now see distinctly” he said, “what manner of people these maskers are. They are a great king and his seven privy-councillors,--a king who does not scruple to strike a defenceless girl and his seven councillors who abet him in the outrage. As for myself, I am simply Hop-Frog, the jester--and this is my last jest.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
In this passage, Hop-Frog announces his motives for brutally murdering the king and his ministers. After he attaches the bound king and seven ministers to the chandelier-chain and hoists them into the air, the jester pretends to examine their features with a torch. He then sets fire to the bound group in front of the horrified audience of masqueraders. Hop-Frog clearly intends for his final act to be a spectacle; instead of burning his unsuspecting captors outside of the hall or using a less conspicuous method such as poison, he chooses to prepare an audience and then kill his tormentors Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit ea
No matches.
