sign in| help
Search advanced search
 
Books
Search:
x dismiss this message

Did you know you can edit this page?

The Hunchback of Notre Dame
  • Rated 0 stars
Read The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) (edit title/settings)

by Victor Hugo (Author) (edit contributors)

Share this book on:
see page history

Description edit see section history

This extraordinary historical novel, set in Medieval Paris under the twin towers of its greatest structure and supreme symbol, the cathedral of Notre-Dame, is the haunting drama of Quasimodo, the hunchback; Esmeralda, the gypsy dancer; and Claude Frollo, the priest tortured by the specter of... read more

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit

Write a ridiculously simplified synopsis.

Characters edit see section history

Show all 36 characters
Popular Covers

Loading covers…

Choose your book’s cover

Quotes edit see section history

  • “...nothing is so conducive to reverie as following a pretty girl without knowing where she is going.”
  • “Each particle of water in the gutter carried away a particle of heat from him and the equilibrium between the temperature of his body and the temperature of the gutter was beginning to establish itself in a merciless way.”
  • “"Oh, love!" she said. Her voice trembled and her eyes sparkled. "It's being two and yet being only one. A man and a woman fused into an angel. It's heaven!"”
  • “"Jehan, you must think seriously of redeeming yourself. You're on a slippery downward path; do you know where you're going?""Yes, to the tavern.""The tavern leads to the pillory.""It's as good a guide as any.""The pillory leads to the scaffold.""The scaffold is a balance which has a man at one end and the whole world at the other; it's a fine thing to be a man.""The scaffold leads to hell.""At least it's warm down there."”
  • “"First I loved women, then animals and now I love stones. They're just as amusing as women and animals and they're much less treacherous."”
  • “I would rather be the head of a fly than the tail of a lion.”
  • “When a man understands the art of seeing, he can trace the spirit of an age and the features of a king even in the knocker on a door.”
  • “That's life," said the philosopher each time he was almost laid prostrate, "it's often our best friends who make us fall.”
    Pierre Gringoire
  • “"Ah!" said he, "how cheerfully I would drown myself if the water were not so cold!"”
    Pierre Gringoire

First Sentence edit see section history

One morning, three hundred and forty-eight years, six months and nineteen days ago, the Parisians were awakened by a grand peal from all the bells, within the triple enclosure of the City, the University and the Town.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Chapter I. The Grand Hall.
Chapter II. Pierre Gringoire.
Chapter III. Monsieur the Cardinal.
Chapter IV. Master Jacques Coppenole.
Chapter V. Quasimodo.

Chapter VI. Esmeralda.
Chapter VII. From Charybdis to Scylla.
Chapter VIII. The Place de Greve.
Chapter IX. Kisses for Blows.
Chapter X. The Inconveniences of Following A Pretty Woman Through the Streets

Chapter XI. Result of the Dangers.
Chapter XII. The Broken Jug.
Chapter XIII. A Bridal Night.
Chapter XIV. Notre-Dame.
Chapter XV. A Bird's-Eye View of Paris.

Chapter XVI. Good Souls.
Chapter XVII. Claude Frollo.
Chapter XVIII. Immanis Pecoris Custos, Immanior Ipse.
Chapter XIX. The Dog and His Master.
Chapter XX. More About Claude Frollo.

Chapter XXI. Unpopularity.
Chapter XXII. Abbas Beati Martini.
Chapter XXIII. This Will Kill That.
Chapter XXIV. An Impartial Glance at the Ancient Magistracy.
Chapter XXV. The Rat-Hole.

Chapter XXVI. History of a Leavened Cake of Maize.
Chapter XXVII. A Tear for a Drop of Water.
Chapter XXVIII. End of the Story of the Cake.
Chapter XXIX. The Danger of Confiding One's Secret to a Goat.
Chapter XXX. A Priest and a Philosopher are Two Different Things.


Chapter XXXI. The Bells.
Chapter XXXII. ANArKH.
Chapter XXXIII. The Two Men Clothed in Black.
Chapter XXXIV. The Effect Which Seven Oaths in the Open Air can Produce.
Chapter XXXV. The Mysterious Monk.

Chapter XXXVI. The Utility of Windows Which Open on the River.
Chapter XXXVII. The Crown Changed into a Dry Leaf.
Chapter XXXVIII. Continuation of the Crown Which was Changed into a Dry Leaf.
Chapter XXXIX. End of the CRown Which was Turned into a Dry Leaf.
Chapter XXXX. Lasciate Ogni Speranza--Leave All Hope Behind, Ye Who Enter Here.

Chapter XXXXI. The Mother.
Chapter XXXXII. Three Human Hearts Differently Constructed.
Chapter XXXXIII. Delirium.
Chapter XXXXIV. Hunchbacked, One Eyed, Lame.
Chapter XXXXV. Deaf.

Chapter XXXXVI. Earthenware and Crystal.
Chapter XXXXVII. The Key to the Red Door.
Chapter XXXXVIIII. Continuation of the Key to the Red Door.
Chapter XXXXIX. Gringoire Has Many Good Ideas in Succession.--Rue des Bernardins.
Chapter XXXXX. Turn Vagabond.

Chapter XXXXXI. Long Live Mirth.
Chapter XXXXXII. An Awkward Friend.
Chapter XXXXXIII. The Retreat in which Monsieur Louis of France Says His Prayers.
Chapter XXXXXIV. Little Sword in Pocket.
Chapter XXXXXV. Chateaupers to the Rescue.

Chapter XXXXXVI. The Little Shoe.
Chapter XXXXXVII. The Beautiful Creature Clad in White. (Dante.)
Chapter XXXXXVIII. The Marriage of Phoebus.
Chapter XXXXXIX. The Marriage of Quasimodo.

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

  • The Cathedral: Notre Dame is the geographical and moral center of Hugo's fictional Paris. The French title of the novel is Notre Dame de Paris, emphasizing Notre Dame's role as a symbol of the city. Not only does most of the novel's action unfold inside or around the cathedral, but from the top of its towers, Claude Frollo and Quasimodo can spy on virtually anyone in the entire city. Architecturally, Notre Dame is an "amalgamation" that mirrors Quasimodo's own deformities. Indeed, at the time Hugo was writing, Notre Dame was falling apart and there was very little respect for its architecture. Nothing had been done to repair the damage done to it during the French Revolution. However, the Romantic literary movement seized upon the cathedral as a symbol of France's glorious Christian past. For example, in Eugène Delacroix's famous depiction of the 1830 Revolution, Liberty Guiding the People, the two towers of Notre Dame can be seen in the background, evoking the mythic presence of Paris. Hugo greatly admired this painting, and strove to represent Notre Dame as the cultural and political center of Paris. In The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hugo describes the cathedral as a "chimera" that represents all of France. Its mix of architectural styles and the scars of ages past are not the works of an individual but "social works" and the "offspring of the nation." Notre Dame is a symbol of national unity. Time was its architect, and the entire country its mason. At the Romantics' urging, Parisians gradually came to see Notre Dame as a national monument and symbol of France. By 1845, a massive restoration program of Notre Dame began.
  • Sweet Villain: Claude Frollo is not an average antagonist bent on causing pain and suffering. In fact, he is very bright and compassionate. He dearly loves his brother, Jehan, and does everything in his power to make Jehan happy after their parents die. He extends the same compassion to Quasimodo, whom he tries to mold into a scholar like his brother by teaching him how to read and write. Hugo explains Frollo's descent into black magic through his failure to bring up both Jehan and Quasimodo. Jehan drinks and gambles all his money away, completely neglecting his studies, while Quasimodo's deafness makes it virtually impossible to teach him anything. The hunchback's complete devotion to Frollo becomes both a symbol of Frollo's failure as a "father," and a powerful tool of vengeance to wreak his frustrations on the world. Moreover, his supposed hatred of women is a desperate attempt to mask his infatuation with La Esmerelda. Indeed, despite Frollo's heinous deeds, the emotions driving him to such extremes are quite tragic. From Jehan's poor behavior to La Esmerelda's disgust and fear of the "goblin-monk," Frollo suffers a broken heart and the pangs of unrequited love, just as La Esmerelda does for Phoebus and Quasimodo does for La Esmerelda. Like these two, Frollo is also an orphan, which urges the reader to both compare him to the novel's two victims as well as feel sympathy for him.
  • Fatality: Claude Frollo has rejected God and believes only in fatality. This recurrent theme dominates The Hunchback of Notre Dame, especially in the scene where Frollo watches a fly get caught in a spider's web. Many characters in the novel do not believe in free will. For example, when Pierre Gringoire follows La Esmerelda he "resigns his free will" and accepts any direction that she chooses. Similarly, Frollo believes that all actions have been predetermined and that nothing can stop him from catching La Esmerelda. Just as the fly is bound to get caught in the spider's web, he thinks that she is bound to fall into one of his traps. He thus uses this example of "fatality" to justify his actions since nothing he or anyone else can do will change the predetermined outcome. As he warns his associate, one should never "meddle with fatality."In effect, when Frollo later accosts La Esmerelda in the dungeon of the Palace of Justice, he insists that it was never his intention to fall in love with her nor harm her in any way, but he "felt the hand of Fate" upon him. He then insists that "Fate proved more mighty than I… it was Fate that caught thee, and threw thee among the terrible works of the machine which I had secretly constructed." Hugo acknowledges that fate plays a powerful role in the novel, but implies that free will is possible. Hugo suggests that Frollo's deterministic attitude and resignation of free will is what allows him to become such a horrible person. Hugo suggests that we must all exercise our free will to retain our sense of morality and the responsibility for our actions.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 922 of 1272 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)

Preceded by Eugénie Grandet, and followed by The Red and the Black.

This book is in Penguin's Top 100 Classics. (authoritative list)
This book is in Reader's Digest Best Loved Classics. (edition-based publisher list)
This book is in School Library (Школьная Библиотека). (edition-based publisher list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Victor Hugo (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. Diana Stewart
  2. Marc Cerasini
  3. Julie Christie
  4. Michael Teitelbaum
  5. Tim Wynne-Jones - Wrote a picture book retelling of Victor Hugo's classic

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: French
Publisher: Gosselin
Country: France
Publication Date: 14 January 1831
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 536

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PQ2288 .A31
  • Dewey: 843.7

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • The Count of Monte Cristo
  • The Phantom of the Opera
  • The Three Musketeers
  • The Man in the Iron Mask

Books That Cite This Book edit see section history

   
  • Map of Bones
  • On Ugliness

We’re hiding the errata, books that influenced this book, books influenced by this book and books cited by this book sections. If you would like to add content to them, you must first make them visible.

© 2006-2012 Shelfari | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy

Close