Gothic Architecture, History, and Art
The Gothic cathedral of Notre Dame, in Paris, is a central motif in Victor Hugo’s novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The novel documents the lives of several characters who live in and around Notre Dame, including Quasimodo, the titular “hunchback” who lives in isolation in the cathedral. Hugo’s novel was written in the 1800s but is set during the medieval period (specifically the 1400s), when Notre Dame was still relatively new…
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Lust, Sin, and Misogyny
Lust is associated with sin in the medieval period, while purity is associated with holiness and spiritual rewards. Due to these attitudes, many of the characters in The Hunchback of Notre Dame try to repress their feelings of lust and desire. However, the repression of these urges, which Victor Hugo suggests are natural and healthy, does more harm than good to some of the characters, despite their beliefs in the power of purity.
Frollo represses…
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Appearances, Alienation, and Hypocrisy
People are primarily judged on their appearances, rather than their internal characters, in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Victor Hugo argues, however, that appearances can be deceiving, and that judging people based on how they look can often cause people to be treated unfairly and even ostracized by society. This alienation from society often causes people to reject society because it has rejected them, and in turn to behave in malicious ways. This behavior…
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Fate and Predestination
In The Hunchback of Notre Dame, many of the characters suffer tragic fates through no fault of their own. Some characters, like Claude Frollo, believe in predestination (the idea that humans lives follow a set plan which is preordained by God and, therefore, unchangeable), while others try to resist their fates. Victor Hugo suggests that while some aspects of life may be unavoidable, believing in predestination can cause people to engage in destructive…
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The Supernatural, Rationalism, and Knowledge
In The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo presents the medieval period as an intensely superstitious age in which people often believe in supernatural explanations for events rather than rational ones. Hugo undermines this attitude and provides a logical explanation for every supposedly supernatural occurrence in the novel. This demonstrates the difference in knowledge between the medieval period, in which the novel is set, and the 1800s, in which Hugo wrote the novel. In…
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Justice, Punishment, and Freedom
Victor Hugo presents the medieval Paris of The Hunchback of Notre Dame as an unjust society, despite the many incidents of apparent “justice” which take place. The characters are often falsely accused of crimes or unjustly imprisoned, and the threat of capital punishment is very real in the novel. However, Hugo indicates that even in the face of a corrupt judicial system, ordinary people nonetheless have the power to overcome injustice through collective action.
Medieval…
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