Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Gothic Architecture, History, and Art
Lust, Sin, and Misogyny
Appearances, Alienation, and Hypocrisy
Fate and Predestination
The Supernatural, Rationalism, and Knowledge
Justice, Punishment, and Freedom
Summary
Analysis
Jacques Charmolue enters the cell and greets Frollo courteously. Jehan recognizes the man as a magistrate. Frollo asks Charmolue if he has been successful and Charmolue replies humbly that he has worked away at his fire but has still not been able to make gold. Jehan can tell from their interaction that Charmolue is a student of Frollo’s. Frollo says that he did not mean these experiments—instead, he is speaking of a prisoner who has been accused of witchcraft. Frollo wants to know if the man has confessed but Charmolue says that even torture has not worked, and that the man’s resolve is “like stone.”
Frollo is an alchemist and Charmolue is his student. Alchemists were medieval scientists who were interested in the transformation of certain metals into other substances. In particular, alchemists wanted to learn how to turn metal into gold because gold was believed to be a divine substance and, therefore, knowledge of how to make gold was associated with godlike knowledge and the gift of eternal life. Alchemy was considered sinful and heretical by the Church, however, as humans were not meant to aspire to be like God and the quest for gold was akin to a quest for forbidden (and therefore sinful) knowledge. Frollo and Charmolue are both hypocrites: they torture others accused of witchcraft and heretical experiments and hide the fact that they engage in these same activities themselves.
Themes
Frollo asks Charmolue if he has searched the house and Jacques reveals a parchment that he found in the man’s study. Frollo reads it sternly and confirms that it is littered with Latin spells for conjuring devils. Charmolue then pulls out a crucible, like the ones in Frollo’s study, and explains that he took it from the man’s house and has tried to use it to make gold, with no success thus far.
Frollo and Charmolue are hypocrites. They have condemned a man for witchcraft—the man is an alchemist and has tried to make gold—when, really, they are also alchemists and have stolen the man’s instruments to use themselves. This suggests that the Church is a hypocritical institution that persecutes people for actions that priests themselves also engage in.
Themes
The pair begins to talk of alchemy and Charmolue suddenly asks Frollo when he wants him to bring Esmeralda in for questioning. The case against her is all prepared, Charmolue informs him. Frollo turns very pale and says that he will give the command when he is ready. Charmolue is satisfied with this and continues to talk about his studies—Frollo has been teaching him how to read the stone carvings on the façade of Notre Dame.
Frollo is a hypocrite because he persecutes Esmeralda for witchcraft, when really he is attracted to her and wants to have her imprisoned to remove himself from temptation—he will not have to see Esmeralda in the square and feel his attraction to her if she is out of the way. Books were rare in the medieval period, so scholars like Frollo learned to interpret carvings on historical buildings to learn about the people who made them and the philosophies of earlier periods.
Themes
Frollo no longer listens to Charmolue, however. Instead, he stares at the window of the cell, over which a spider’s web has settled. A fly, making for the window, gets caught in the web and Frollo watches as a huge spider darts towards it. Charmolue moves to set the fly free but Frollo stops his hand and tells him to “let fatality take its course.”
Frollo has an extremely fatalistic worldview and believes in predestination (the idea that events in life are predetermined by God and cannot be altered). Therefore, Frollo believes it is the spider’s destiny to eat the fly, because this is how God made spiders, and that Charmolue should not intervene to try and change this.
Themes
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Frollo murmurs that Esmeralda is like the fly—she loves freedom and seeks sunlight—and that he is like the spider. Alas, he says, he is like the fly too, and he once flew towards the light of knowledge before “fatality” crept up on him and snared him in its web. Charmolue begs that Frollo let go of his arm—Frollo is squeezing it very tightly—but Frollo seems to have forgotten Charmolue is there. Philosophers have always flown towards the light, Frollo goes on, but, even if they can break the spider’s web, they will smash against the glass, which “divides all philosophies from the truth.”
Frollo believes that it is his destiny to harm Esmeralda in some way, hence his belief that he is the predator and she is the prey. However, because of his belief in predestination (the belief that all events are predetermined by God) Frollo does not believe that he can change this destiny by changing his behavior. Therefore, he sees himself as a victim of fate, just as much as Esmeralda is, and he will not try to alter his behavior towards her. Frollo also believes that humanity’s quest for knowledge is doomed to fail as humans are limited in their capacity for understanding and cannot cross the divide which separates them from ultimate knowledge, or God.
Themes
Frollo comes back to himself and he and Charmolue make to leave the room. As they make for the door, Charmolue stops in alarm—he can hear someone chewing. Jehan, under the table, has found a scrap of cheese on the floor and begun to gnaw on it. Frollo quickly assures Charmolue that it is his cat and Charmolue slyly suggests that it is Frollo’s “familiar.” The two men leave the cell.
People in the medieval period were highly superstitious and believed that witches and sorcerers had demonic spirits, known as familiars, which took the form of animals. It is ironic that Charmolue calls Frollo a sorcerer because Frollo is a priest (the Church condemned and punished witchcraft in this period) and is meant to be spiritually pure, whereas witchcraft is considered sinful and corrupt.
Themes
