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
Before Quasimodo rescues Esmeralda, Frollo dashes from the square. He heads for the university and finds himself outside the walls of the city, in a field. He is almost mad with passion and fever. His mind reels as he thinks about Esmeralda, who he feels has destroyed him, and whom he has destroyed in return. He contemplates his own nature and realizes that he was doomed as soon as he became a priest because, inside, he is a deeply passionate man. His thoughts turn to evil and a sinister laugh bursts from him as he wanders aimlessly along.
Frollo’s passions, which used to inspire him to behave in loving and positive ways, have become twisted and destructive because he has repressed his sexual feelings towards women. Frollo is a priest and must remain celibate, as sex was associated with sin, while celibacy was associated with moral purity in the medieval period. Frollo believes in predestination (the idea that one’s life is planned out by God) and feels that, although he thought he was destined to be a holy and wise man, in fact he has always been doomed to fail and to become damned and sinful.
Themes
As he walks, Frollo thinks bitterly that Phoebus is still alive. He hates everyone except Esmeralda, and he mourns because he has had her killed. He trusts in fate, however, and he knows that he would do the same again. The image of Esmeralda being hanged torments him and he continues to flee from Paris, often falling and lying with his face upon the earth.
Frollo is sexually obsessed with Esmeralda but, instead of taking responsibility for his emotions, he blames her for how he feels and has her executed on a false charge of witchcraft. Although Frollo knows this is a destructive and immoral decision, he justifies it to himself through his belief in predestination and chooses to believe that it is his fate to act this way—even though it’s clear to the reader that he could certainly have made different choices along the way.
Themes
As night falls, Frollo finally calms himself and plans to return to the city. Despite his anguish, the possibility of his own death has never occurred to him and he still wants to live. Although he thinks he has run a long way from the city, in fact he has only moved around the external wall. Hallucinating and feverish, Frollo catches a boat along the Seine and tries to make his way back to Notre Dame.
Although Frollo is ahead of his time in some ways—in his interest in natural science, for example—in other ways he is clearly a product of his time and society. His beliefs about sexuality as something inherently sinful—which lead him to persecute Esmeralda—are rooted in medieval beliefs that lust was sinful, while purity was spiritual and good. Paris symbolizes the medieval period in the novel, so this scene suggests that, although Frollo has attempted to push the boundaries of knowledge in his own time, he has not come far and is still a product of his environment. His failure to get away from Paris geographically is a metaphor for his failure to escape the philosophies and beliefs of his time.
Themes
Frollo stumbles through the streets and stops outside La Falourdel’s brothel. He can hear the old woman singing a song about the gallows. When he peeps through the window, he sees Jehan with his arms around a prostitute. At last, he stumbles back to Notre Dame and, in the moonlight, he thinks that the white stone towers look like the flesh of a corpse. Inside, the cathedral seems to come to life around him and his hallucinations make the stones of the building appear to rock and sway.
It is pertinent that Frollo sees Jehan in the brothel because, while Jehan openly expresses his natural desires, Frollo represses his and grows sexually frustrated, which spurs him on to destructive behavior. The cathedral seems to turn on Frollo; its beautiful towers look like a dead body to him because he believes he has killed Esmeralda, who is also extremely beautiful.
Themes
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Frollo reaches his cell and tries to comfort himself by reading the Bible. He opens the book at a passage from Job, however, (“a spirit passed before my face”) and thinks of Esmeralda, who he believes is now dead. He decides to visit the bell-tower, to seek solace with Quasimodo, and he begins to climb the stairs. As Frollo steps out onto the platform in the cold night air, the clock strikes midnight and the ghostly figures of Esmeralda and Djali appear before him. Frollo backs into the shadows and the girl passes by. Frollo remembers the passage from Job and shudders.
Frollo believes in predestination (the idea that one’s life is planned by God) and feels that, even if he tries to repent for his sins, he is destined to be damned because of his lust for Esmeralda. Although Frollo used to be interested in rational knowledge, his obsession with Esmeralda has led him to abandon these beliefs and he grows more and more superstitious. A common superstition in the medieval period was that ghosts walked at midnight, and Frollo views this sighting of Esmeralda—who is, in fact, alive and has taken asylum in Notre Dame—as a sign of his fate, which he believes is to be damned.
Themes
