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
The cupboard Frollo finds himself in is very low and he is forced to crouch. His thoughts are confused but he feels that there is a terrible sense of fate about the events of the day, which have led him to this point. His head throbs and his face is hot as he peers out through a crack in the door. When he sees Esmeralda enter the room, Frollo faints.
Frollo’s belief in predestination (the idea that life’s events are planned out by God and cannot be altered) makes him feel that there is nothing he could have done to avoid the situation he finds himself in, even though he knows it probably will not end well for him. But of course, Frollo could have left at any time; his belief in fate lets him avoid taking responsibility for his role in shaping these events.
Themes
When Frollo wakes up, he looks into the room once more and sees Phoebus and Esmeralda seated side by side on a pallet bed, beside a broken window. Esmeralda appears nervous and begs Phoebus not to despise her. She has taken a vow of chastity, she explains, and she is afraid of breaking it. Phoebus begins to confess his love for her—in the well-rehearsed manner of a proficient womanizer—and Esmeralda appears delighted and grows playful with him. Frollo watches, a dagger clenched in his fist.
Sexual purity was associated with virtue and spiritual rewards in the medieval period. Esmeralda believes that, if she remains pure, she will be rewarded by being reunited with her parents. The misogynistic belief that women are more sinful than men also meant that women could be punished for sexual behavior, so Esmeralda wants to protect herself from persecution as well.
Themes
Phoebus suddenly says that there is a woman who will be jealous of Esmeralda and Esmeralda seems taken aback. Phoebus brushes this off, confesses his love again, and starts to try to undress her. Esmeralda seems alarmed at first, but then she allows Phoebus to continue. She suddenly blurts out that she wants them to be married and Phoebus stops short, confused. He says that marriage is nothing, which seems to concern Esmeralda.
Esmeralda is torn between her sexual attraction to Phoebus and her desire to remain pure, which she feels makes her virtuous and worthy of spiritual rewards, such as a reunion with her parents. Esmeralda also wants to protect herself from misogynistic accusations that she is impure, and therefore sinful, and she wants to marry Phoebus so that their love is spiritually sanctioned: sex within marriage was not considered sinful as it was sanctioned by God.
Themes
Frollo watches the scene with increasing fury. His blood seems to burn in his veins and his eyes flash like those of a tiger as it closes in on its prey. Phoebus suddenly exposes Esmeralda’s breasts and she draws back, shocked. An amulet dangles around her neck and Esmeralda explains that it is a charm which she hopes will, one day, reunite her with her mother. She begs Phoebus to give her top back, but Phoebus says that she doesn’t love him. Esmeralda is horrified by this suggestion and says that she will forsake her chastity and her hope of seeing her mother again to be with him, even as his mistress rather than his wife.
Frollo’s passion for Esmeralda grows more intense because he cannot express it; it seems to transform him from the inside out. His emotions are trapped inside him, just as he’s trapped in the cupboard here. In this sense, it is fitting that Frollo is an alchemist as alchemists studied the ability to turn certain metals into others, and Frollo’s emotional transformation mirrors this process.
Themes
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Phoebus pushes Esmeralda back onto the bed and climbs on top of her. As she stares up at the ceiling, she suddenly sees Frollo rear up behind Phoebus. Frollo stabs Phoebus in the neck and Esmeralda faints with terror. When she wakes up, she finds that Phoebus has been carried from the room and that La Falourdel has accused her of stabbing him. Frollo is nowhere to be seen.
Although Phoebus appears dashing and noble to Esmeralda, he is clearly selfish and does not care about her or her fears about losing her sexual innocence—he simply wants to seduce her for his own pleasure. Frollo is so obsessed with Esmeralda that he becomes mad with jealously. As Frollo is a priest and must remain celibate, he cannot express his sexual urges to satisfy his desires. The frustration of his desires drives him mad and spurs him on to destructive action. His choice to stab Phoebus is somewhat ironic, since murder is certainly a sin as well; trying to remain pure in one way has only led Frollo to become sinful in another way.
Themes
