The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Victor Hugo


The story, The hunchback of Notre Dame is formed around a deformed man named Quasimodo, born with a hunchback and a wart that covers his right eye. He was abandoned as a baby and taken in by Claude Frollo, Archdeacon of Notre Dame, who brought him up to be the bell-ringer of the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Quasimodo becomes deaf, over time, from the constant loud ringing of the bells, as well as being known as a hideous monster, a “creation of the devil,” because of his deformity. In the annual Festival of Fools of Paris, Quasimodo is elected the Pope of Fools, won by his extreme ugliness. Frollo then stops the parade and orders Quasimodo back to Notre Dame. Later that day, Frollo and Quasimodo unsuccessfully kidnap a “Gypsy” of sorts named La Esmeralda, known for her dancing among the streets. Phoebus de Chateauers, captain of the king’s archers, comes just in time to save her and capture Quasimodo, as Frollo unknowingly escapes. Quasimodo is sentenced to two hours of torture in the Place de Gréve. After his torture he begs for water and no one answers his pleas until La Esmeralda comes forth and brings him something to drink. La Esmeralda has, since their earlier encounter, fallen for Phoebus, which made Frollo very jealous. Frollo finds himself doing things he would never do because of his lust for her. He follows them to his tryst and stabs Phoebus repeatedly before fleeing. La Esmeralda, the only one to blame was then captured and tortured, which caused her to falsely confess to the murder of Phoebus, and be sentenced death by hanging. Before her execution, she sees that Phoebus actually survived the murder attempt but he does not make any effort to save her. (For he is no hero like he is in the movie) Just then, Quasimodo swings down on a rope from Notre Dame and carries away La Esmeralda, crying out “Sanctuary!” because she is safe from her execution as long as she stays in the cathedral. After a few days, Frollo uses an “attack” to distract Quasimodo and sneaks La Esmeralda out of the Cathedral. He gives her a choice to either say she loves him and survive or be hanged. She, choosing the latter, is left with Sister Gudule, who she soon finds out is her mother. Sister Gudule tries as best as she can to protect La Esmeralda, but is it too late to save her?

Between the movie and the book, I can’t chose which is better. I think it completely depends on the audience. The Disney movie is perfect for its intended audience, which is children between the ages of 2 and 12, but the actual story is changed considerably to suit this audience. The characters, first of all, are changed more than anything to make such a good Disney movie. The character that I felt was the most changed is Esmeralda; in the movie she is your average princess-like female lead who is smart, confident, and pretty, but in the book she is actually really dumb and shy. The main character, Quasimodo, is also changed significantly. In the movie he is more of a heroic, thoughtful person while he is supposed to be kind of mean. Also, in the book he is much uglier, deaf, and was actually abandoned as a baby. The next thing that was changed that kind of bothered me was how the ending was changed in the movie. This, I can’t give away, but I can tell you why it was changed. The book’s ending was very interesting but far too depressing for children to like. In the movie, it ends like a typical Disney movie, happily ever after, the princess-like character and the heroic man ending up together. I like the way the book ended much better but I understand the changes that had to be made to make it into a children’s movie. The third thing that I noticed changed was the theme. In the book the theme was more or less a girl in distress and a hero comes to rescue her, making the sadness of the actual story very light and not nearly as depressing as the book’s. Another change was my favorite part, when Quasimodo has lost everything in the end and said, “There is everything I have ever loved.” That part was completely cut out of the movie because the ending was so considerably changed.

Overall, I personally like the book better because it is more interesting, deep, and suitable for my liking of books. I strongly recommend this book to students in eighth grade to high school because the vocabulary and language used can be very hard to understand. I had some problems understanding the text while reading, so I think it would be better for High School students.