The Hunchback of Notre Dame

         "During a wise man's whole life, his destiny holds his philosophy in a state of siege."
- Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

         The story begins on January 6, 1482, the day of the 'Feast of Fools' in Paris, France. Quasimodo, a deformed hunchback that is a bell rigner of Notre Dame, is introduced by his crowning as  the King of Fools.

         Esmeralda, a beautiful Gypsy girl, captures the hearts of many different men, including those of Captain Phoebus and a street poet, Pierre Gringoire, but especially those of Quasimodo and his adoptive father, Claude Frollo, who is the Archdeacon of Notre Dame. Frollo is torn between his obsessive love and the rules of the church. He orders Quasimodo to kidnap Esmeralda, but the hunchback is captured by Phoebus and his guards who save Esmeralda unexpectedly. Quasimodo then is sentenced to be beat and turned on the pillory for one hour. He becomes thirst and calls for water. Esmeralda, seeing how thirsty he is, offers him a drink. It saves him, and she captures his heart. 

            Esmeralda is later charged with the attempted murder of Phoebus, who Frollo actually attempted to kill in jealousy, after seeing Esmeralda and Phoebus together, and is tortured and sentenced to death by hanging. As she is being led to the gallows, Quasimodo swings down by the bell rope of Notre Dame and carries her off to the cathedral under the law of sanctuary. Clopin, a random street performer, rallies the criminals of Paris to charge the cathedral and rescue Esmeralda. Frollo asks the king to remove Esmeralda's right to sanctuary so she can no longer seek shelter in the church and will be taken from there and killed. When Quasimodo sees the Truands, he assumes they are there to hurt Esmeralda, so he drives them off and thinks the King's men want to rescue her, and tries to help them find her. Quasimodo's help leads to betrayal and a event that will effect him forever. 

         I think that The Hunchback on Notre Dame was Victor Hugo's take of how corrupt the church was in his time. Throughout the whole novel, there are themes of dishonesty with the so called "good" church. I enjoyed reading this book for this report but I probably wouldn't want to read it in my spare time. It seemed to get kind of confusing at parts and drag on about certain events for quite some time. Compared to other books I have read, I would probably rate this book around a 6.