The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

A man in rough clothes pushes into the Great Hall and stands next to Guillaume Rym. He tells the guards that he is a hosier named Jacques Coppenole and is part of the Flemish delegation. Contradicting the Cardinal, he demands to be introduced correctly, as a hosier. The crowd quickly warms to Coppenole, who (despite his appearance) is rich and powerful. Clopin Trouillefou, a famous thief, hides near the ambassadors until the Cardinal spots him. Although they shake hands, the Cardinal tries to send Clopin away. Coppenole insists that he stay. Meanwhile, Gringoire is desperate for his play to resume, but the audience does not care. They would rather watch the real drama of the ordinary Coppenole and the ostentatious Cardinal. Jehan and the students mock Gringoire, and his play is “completely forgotten.” The Cardinal calls for the play to resume, but the ushers call out the names of Flemish dignitaries over the dialogue. Coppenole announces his disinterest in the play, suggesting instead a face-pulling contest to nominate a Fool’s Pope. The crowd loudly approves, to Gringoire’s begrudging dismay.

The face-pulling contest is a hit with the crowd, which sides with Coppenole so much that the Cardinal storms out. Each time a new competitor strains to make an ugly face, the crowd howls with laughter at the “human kaleidoscope.” Gringoire is sad that they prefer such a rambunctious display to his play. He hears a loud cheer, suggesting that a Fool’s Pope has been chosen. Gringoire sees the champion: a man with terribly offset teeth, a welt on his forehead, a swollen eye, and “an enormous hump” (58) on his back. Shockingly, this is the man’s actual face. He is Quasimodo, the bell-ringer in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, and people turn from him in fear and revulsion. Quasimodo is accused of cavorting with witches. People label him evil and back away as he steps from the stage. Robin Poussepain laughs in his face, so Quasimodo grabs him and hurls him into the crowd with ease. By contrast, Coppenole praises Quasimodo as “the most beautifully ugly thing” (59) he has ever seen. Since Quasimodo is deaf, however, he only snarls in response. As Jehan teases, Quasimodo is anointed Fool’s Pope, and as he is carried through the streets on a litter, he is pleased that other men now seem beneath him.

Gringoire watches the procession of the Fool’s Pope exit the Great Hall. No one remains to enjoy his play. From above, one of the students calls out that a woman named Esmeralda has begun to perform. The few remaining people rush out. Gringoire storms from the Great Hall; he has no idea who Esmeralda is.

Angry and alone, Gringoire marches through the “torturous labyrinth” of Paris. Since the play was abandoned, he was not paid. He cannot pay his many debts, including his rent. As he seeks a sheltered doorway where he can spend the night, he is interrupted by the arrival of the procession carrying the Fool’s Pope. He darts into a different street to avoid it, pausing briefly in a ferryman’s hut alongside the River Seine before he must move on. He heads toward the celebratory bonfire in Place de Grève, hoping that it might warm him up.

In 1482, Place de Grève still retains much of its Gothic charm. The square features a “permanent gallows and pillory” (69) where people are punished for their crimes, one of many places in Paris where torture and executions are conducted in the open.

The crowd in Place de Grève is so big that Gringoire cannot feel the bonfire’s warmth. However, the crowd is less interested in the fire than in a young girl dancing in front of it. Gringoire pushes through the crowd to better see the “supernatural creature,” who he learns is Esmeralda. She appears to be a young Romany woman, and he is impressed by her dancing, particularly a dance with a pair of swords. In the crowd, Gringoire notices a stern man studying her with fierce intensity and occasionally emitting a mournful sigh. This man is Claude Frollo, Archdeacon of Notre-Dame Cathedral. Esmeralda and her trained goat, Djali, perform for the crowd. When the goat counts out the months, Frollo shouts out, accusing Esmeralda of witchcraft. After briefly hesitating, she continues the performance. Djali imitates a priest, prompting Frollo to accuse Esmeralda of blasphemy. She collects money. Gringoire is upset that he has nothing to give her. A reclusive nun named Sister Gudule (also called Paquette), who lives in a cell (or rathole) on Place de Grève, shouts at Esmeralda, as Gringoire slips away in search of food. As Esmeralda sings, the woman criticizes her and scorns the city’s Romany people. The arrival of the Fool’s Pope and his procession breaks up the scene. Quasimodo, on his litter, accepts the crowd’s facetious adulation. Frollo sees Quasimodo and rushes over, telling the deaf bell-ringer via “a strange dialogue of signs and gestures” (79) to return to Notre-Dame. Quasimodo kneels apologetically before Frollo. They leave together.

Gringoire follows Esmeralda from Place de Grève, vaguely hoping she might help him find shelter for the night. He follows her through deserted streets and past the Holy Innocents cemetery. He suspects that she knows someone is following her. At a corner, he loses sight of her. Hearing a scream, he rushes forward and in the darkness sees two shadowy figures wrestling with Esmeralda and Djali. Gringoire calls for help, and as one figure flees, the other turns toward him. Gringoire recognizes “the formidable figure of Quasimodo” (84), who knocks the writer down and tries to carry Esmeralda into the darkness. Phoebus, Captain of the King’s Guard, appears, saving Esmeralda, and his men arrest Quasimodo. Esmeralda immediately falls in love with her rescuer, Phoebus, who departs with his men.

Gringoire recovers his senses. Cold and soaking wet in the gutter, he thinks about his night ahead. He is struck by a realization: The person with Quasimodo, who was also attacking Esmeralda but fled, was Archdeacon Frollo. Gringoire is forced to flee when a group of rambunctious children throws a mattress on top of him and nearly sets fire to it. In the future, the mattress will be displayed in a church as evidence of a “great miracle.”

Lost in the Parisian streets, Gringoire wishes he could have slept on the mattress and prays for help. He follows a light and then a crowd of people, eventually realizing that he is following a crowd of beggars who can barely walk. They turn on him, chase him through the streets, and then drag him into an unfamiliar, crowded square. There, he realizes that their ailments are not quite what they seemed. Gringoire learns that he is in the Court of Miracles, the lively hub of the city’s “vice, beggary, and vagrancy” (93). Residents fix their fake injuries. They demand that he be tried before their king, Clopin Trouillefou. Gringoire must prove that he is a criminal, or he will be hanged. In the Court of Miracles, everything is reversed: Innocents are executed, while thieves roam free. Clopin explains that this brings a fairness to the city. Gringoire tries to suggest that artists like himself are often considered criminals. Struggling, he tries to show off his pickpocket skills using a dummy target. He fails, and as Gringoire is about to be killed, Clopin recalls the law of the truants, which dictates that the women present be asked if any will marry him. All the women turn down Gringoire until Esmeralda appears, offering to marry him to save his life. Clopin marries the pair “for four years” (107).

Gringoire is still in shock when he finds himself alone in a room with the “pretty” Esmeralda. She seems more interested in Djali, however, and threatens Gringoire with a dagger when he approaches her romantically. She explains that she married him only to save his life. He promises to abandon his attempts to seduce her. After they eat, she agrees to be his friend as if they are “brother and sister” (112). They talk about love, and she confesses that she could only love a man who is “able to protect [her]” (113). As he asks her about the evening’s events, she admits that she has no clue why Quasimodo tried to abduct her. She reveals an amulet around her neck with an imitation emerald, supposedly from her parents. She was abandoned as a baby and raised by Romany people; the amulet is a charm that she says will reunite her with her parents. Gringoire, too, is an orphan. In his youth, Frollo helped him. Esmeralda, not really listening, interrupts him to ask about Phoebus. She leaves Gringoire, who curls up on the table to sleep.