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Dramatic Irony
Book 4, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Sixteen Years Prior:
Book 4, Chapter 1’s flashback dials back the clock. Like Quasimodo’s failed attempt to abduct Esmeralda, The Hunchback of Notre Dame takes the reader just as abruptly to the story of his obscure origins:
Sixteen years prior to the events of this story, one fine Quasimodo Sunday morning, a living creature was deposited after mass in the church of Notre-Dame on the wooden bed set into the parvis on the left-hand side, facing the ‘great image’ of St Christopher, at which the carved stone figure of Messire Antoine des Essarts, Knight, had been kneeling staring since 1413, when they took it into their heads to overthrow both saint and worshipper.
The flashback to Quasimodo’s upbringing interrupts the sudden drama of the prior chapter’s scuffle. Here, the novel jarringly switches topics as it fills the reader in on exposition. The audience learns of Quasimodo’s abandonment, the cruel insults, and the neglect by the Parisian passersby. But it also discovers the circumstances of his adoption by Claude Frollo and the reasons for his dog-like loyalty to the archdeacon. Flashback provides the novel an opportunity to color in the “monster” of unimaginably ugly proportions.
The impact of this retrospective sequence lasts beyond a single chapter. This backward-looking reflection slices through the fabric of time, leading the reader through multiple characters’ pasts. The tale of Quasimodo’s unlikely upbringing segues to Claude Frollo’s own backstory, in which he loses his parents, cares for Jehan, and throws himself into his studies. This chapter’s flashback carves windows into the childhoods of multiple characters, allowing for an extended exploration of the past.
Related Themes:
