The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

by

Victor Hugo

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The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Book 10, Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Quasimodo notices that Frollo seems distracted. Frollo has been more aggressive towards Quasimodo recently and he constantly abuses him. Still, Frollo stays away from Esmeralda, although Quasimodo will not stop Frollo if he approaches her. After the church has been locked for the night, Quasimodo climbs the tower and looks down at Paris in the darkness. He thinks the city seems unusually dark and still, and a sense of foreboding fills his mind.
Frollo and Quasimodo are opposites—Frollo is very intellectual and Quasimodo is very physical—and they represent that split between the mind and the body, which medieval scholars believed was natural because the intellect was divine, while worldly pleasures were sinful and corrupt. However, in Hugo’s novel, it is Quasimodo—the physical side of life—who is good and tries to protect Esmeralda, whereas Frollo—who tries to suppress his physical side in favor of intellect—is corrupt and tries to destroy Esmeralda. This suggests that suppression of physical urges is not a positive thing, as medieval scholars believed, and, in fact, it destroys good and beautiful things.
Themes
Gothic Architecture, History, and Art Theme Icon
Lust, Sin, and Misogyny Theme Icon
As Quasimodo peers down from the tower, he sees strange, black shapes moving through the streets towards Notre Dame. It looks like a mass of figures moving silently and in darkness. Quasimodo believes the crowd has come for Esmeralda. As he is an object of public hatred, he believes that Esmeralda is too and that the crowd wants to kill her.
Quasimodo is alienated from society because people judge his appearance and treat him cruelly. Therefore, Quasimodo believes that society is cruel, and that people can only mean harm towards Esmeralda—though in reality, the crowd is coming to rescue her.
Themes
Appearances, Alienation, and Hypocrisy Theme Icon
Quasimodo wonders frantically what to do. He wants to help Esmeralda escape, but he knows Notre Dame may be surrounded. As the crowd draws closer, they light torches and their faces become visible. Quasimodo recognizes many of the people who joined the “fool’s pope” procession. Below, in the square, Clopin orders his men to surround the cathedral and orders lookouts to watch for the king’s guards.
Quasimodo is afraid of the crowd because, after the procession, they turned on him and refused him water while he was being publicly beaten. Therefore, Quasimodo assumes that the crowd are malevolent because they have been cruel to him, and this shows that people come to expect the treatment they are shown.
Themes
Appearances, Alienation, and Hypocrisy Theme Icon
It was not uncommon for riots of this sort to break out in medieval Paris. The city was divided up into numerous “lordships” and did not have a unified police force. Although Louis XI tried to regulate this with a curfew and several city-wide laws, these had largely been ignored and the lords still competed for control of different areas of Paris. People, therefore, did not intervene in scuffles that took place outside of their own area.
Medieval society is very repressive. Kings were not elected but were born into power and the people got no say in how the country was governed. Therefore, people often rebelled against their lot in life, especially as they could be arrested and killed for breaking arbitrary laws set by the king. But while Paris seems unified under the rule of the king, in fact the noble class is divided and factions vie for power with each other. This suggests that, if the people united against them, they could overthrow the nobility.
Themes
Justice, Punishment, and Freedom Theme Icon
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In the square beneath Notre Dame, Clopin and Jehan take up a defiant stance at the base of the cathedral. Clopin raises his pitchfork and addresses the bishop in a booming voice. He demands that Esmeralda be released and given back to the truants. Up in the tower, Quasimodo cannot hear Clopin’s words. Clopin sounds the attack and the truants begin to work at the doors of Notre Dame, trying to break them open.
There is a fatal misunderstanding between Quasimodo and Clopin, who both want the same thing—to save Esmeralda. As Quasimodo’s deafness is simply an accident of fate and keeps him from hearing Clopin, the novel suggests that Quasimodo is a tragic figure who cannot help or change the circumstances he finds himself in.
Themes
Fate and Predestination Theme Icon
A huge crash disturbs the truants. A beam of wood has been hurled from the top of Notre Dame and crushed several of them. The others draw back hurriedly and tremble as they look up at the church. They can see no one up there, so they suspect supernatural interference. Clopin rallies them and urges his men forward once more. The thieves pick up the beam of wood and use it as a battering ram against the door. The impact shakes the cathedral, but the doors stay closed. Large rocks begin to plunge from the cathedral tower and kill men in the crowd. They continue to ram the cathedral amid the rubble.
Quasimodo has to use the literal building blocks of Notre Dame to defend himself and the church from attack. In this sense, Hugo suggests that Notre Dame is destined to be destroyed by the inevitable onslaught of time and human carelessness, represented here by the army of truants. Although some of the truants want to save Esmeralda, others want to loot the church. This also happened during the French Revolution, when the people of Paris rebelled against the monarchy and destroyed and looted parts of Notre Dame. 
Themes
Gothic Architecture, History, and Art Theme Icon
Justice, Punishment, and Freedom Theme Icon
Up in the tower, Quasimodo tips rock after rock over the balustrade and onto the truants’ heads. He has made his way to part of the tower where building work is underway and he uses the leftover materials as weapons to throw down on the thieves. The attackers do not leave, however, and Quasimodo can see that soon they will break down the door. He rushes over to a pile of lead on the ground and begins to melt it with the flame from a torch. At the thought of all the gold, silver, and jeweled relics inside the cathedral, the truants redouble their efforts.
Quasimodo uses parts of the building to defend himself and the cathedral. This ties into the idea that Quasimodo is the spirit of Notre Dame and is intimately linked with the cathedral. Quasimodo represents the medieval period, which cherishes Gothic architecture and wishes to defend it from decay and political destruction—during the French Revolution, in which a mob overthrew the monarchy, parts of Notre Dame were destroyed to symbolize the triumph of the people over the establishment.
Themes
Gothic Architecture, History, and Art Theme Icon
Justice, Punishment, and Freedom Theme Icon
Suddenly, a scream goes up from the truants and they glance up, alarmed. Molten lead pours from the mouths of the gargoyles on the tower in two slick streams and scalds the men below. The truants drop the beam and rush away from the door. At the top of the tower, they can see a huge fire glowing. The light from the fire seems to bring all the gargoyles to life on the façade of the church. Quasimodo can just be seen as he walks back and forth on the tower.
Quasimodo uses building materials to try and protect the church. In this sense, Quasimodo represents the preservation of Gothic architecture in the face of historical change—a cause which Hugo champions throughout the novel. The truants represent the passage of time, which destroys the cathedral, as well as the post-medieval architects, who do not appreciate the beauty of Gothic architecture and simply want to destroy it or to steal the valuable relics it contains.
Themes
Gothic Architecture, History, and Art Theme Icon
Fate and Predestination Theme Icon
Justice, Punishment, and Freedom Theme Icon
Clopin recognizes Quasimodo, but other members of the crowd are convinced it is a demon. One suggests that churches sometimes defend themselves from attackers. Clopin asks where Jehan is and someone says he is probably dead. Clopin then asks for Gringoire but he is told that Gringoire has snuck off. Jehan suddenly appears, pulling a huge ladder behind him. He recklessly announces that he will use it to climb up to the Balcony of Kings, which he knows is always unlocked.
Medieval society was highly superstitious and often used supernatural explanations to understand seemingly inexplicable events, but in thise case, the crowd’s belief is not far off; the church isn’t literally defending itself, but Quasimodo is using his own love for the church as motivation to defend it. Jehan’s announcement that he will scale the “Balcony of Kings” foreshadows the French Revolution, in which a group of peasants stormed Paris and overthrew the monarchy.
Themes
The Supernatural, Rationalism, and Knowledge Theme Icon
Justice, Punishment, and Freedom Theme Icon
The ladder is propped up against the wall and Jehan begins to climb, followed by a hoard of truants. At the top, Jehan clambers over the balustrade and waves to the onlookers below. Quasimodo appears behind Jehan and seizes the top of the ladder. Quasimodo shoves the ladder away from the wall. It topples and crashes to the ground, killing the men on it and some of those below.
Jehan’s climb to the “Balcony of Kings” foreshadows the French Revolution in 1789, when a group of peasants stormed Paris and overthrew the monarchy. Jehan’s climb represents ordinary people’s ascension up the social ranks, which took place from the medieval period onwards, until, at last, ordinary people represented a real threat to the power of the nobility. However, in the medieval period, society is not yet at this point and Quasimodo, who means well by stopping the truant, but does not understand that he wants the same thing as them, represents the confusion of the medieval period and its inability to threaten powerful institutions in an organized way.
Themes
Justice, Punishment, and Freedom Theme Icon
Jehan hides from Quasimodo behind a statue of a king. For a few moments, Quasimodo does not see Jehan and Jehan strings his crossbow. When Quasimodo turns around, Jehan takes aim at him. The arrow punctures Quasimodo’s arm but Quasimodo leaps at Jehan and crushes him against the wall. He removes Jehan’s armor and Jehans scoffs and sings defiantly in Quasimodo’s face. Quasimodo smashes Jehan’s skull against the wall and throws Jehan from the tower. Jehan’s body lands on a statue that sticks out from the walls. It remains there, suspended above the square.
Jehan’s tragic end is the logical conclusion of his determination to lead a debauched and extreme existence. While some of the truants have a good reason to attack the church—they want to rescue Esmeralda—Jehan does so out of the simple desire to be rebellious and destructive, because he believes this is his destiny. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, however, and Jehan dies as a result of his (voluntary) involvement with the truants.
Themes
Fate and Predestination Theme Icon
Justice, Punishment, and Freedom Theme Icon
The truants below cry out for revenge. They find more ladders and ropes and begin to scale the walls. Quasimodo is horrified and cannot fend them all off. They look like hideous monsters besieging the church. The towers of Notre Dame glow red with fire and this light can be seen across Paris.
The attack on Notre Dame foreshadows the French Revolution (when a mob overran Paris and overthrew the monarchy), in which Notre Dame was badly damaged. It also hints at the gradual loss of interest in Gothic architecture after the medieval period, when Gothic churches began to be destroyed and neglected. Quasimodo represents the church, while the truants represent the people of France.  The people of France built Notre Dame, however, and Hugo suggests that it is ignorance which causes people to destroy historical buildings when, really, these buildings belong to the people’s own cultural heritage.
Themes
Gothic Architecture, History, and Art Theme Icon
The Supernatural, Rationalism, and Knowledge Theme Icon
Justice, Punishment, and Freedom Theme Icon