The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Book 11, Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

Esmeralda is superstitious and, like many people in medieval society, she believes in demons and evil spirits. And at the same time, she prays to the church—even though she’s not a Christian. Her actions here show that, especially in times of desperation, people’s choices are deeply influenced by their social contexts.

Gringoire prefers the pretty goat, Djali, to the extremely beautiful Esmeralda. This provides comic relief in the novel, but it also supports Hugo’s idea that 19th century society—which Gringoire represents—does not appreciate the beauty of Gothic architecture—which Esmeralda reflects—and prefers insipid or picturesque things instead. Gringoire’s comment also reflects the tragic irony of the situation—he is Esmeralda’s friend and wants to help her, but he has unknowingly led Frollo, who wants to harm Esmeralda, right to her.

Gringoire does not understand Esmeralda’s extreme fear of Frollo or Frollo’s malevolent intentions towards Esmeralda, because he has never experienced extreme passion of any kind. Gringoire represents 19th century society in the novel, which, Hugo suggests, rejects genuine, complex emotion in favor of simplistic pleasantness. Gringoire’s comment also supports Hugo’s belief that the medieval monarchy was extremely corrupt and oppressive and kept all the money and power for themselves.

The tree reflects Frollo’s lust for Esmeralda, which does indeed cause him to behave destructively. Frollo is a priest and must remain celibate, as lust was associated with sin in the medieval period, whereas abstinence was associated with spiritual purity. Because of these beliefs, Frollo is ashamed of his lustful desires and tries to repress them. This does not cause his sexual urges to dissipate, however, but simply causes them to erupt in violent ways. Through Frollo’s character, Hugo suggests that it is medieval society’s attitude towards sex, and not sex itself, which is dangerous.

Gringoire represents 19th century artistic tastes, which, Hugo suggests, favor picturesque and pretty aesthetics over of the extremity and complexity of the Gothic. Hugo uses the idea that Gringoire prefers Djali to Esmeralda to suggest that Gringoire does not understand real beauty or passion and that, like 19th century society, his superficial tastes lead him to make foolish, even absurd choices. The reader already knows that Frollo wants to hurt Esmeralda rather than keeping her safe, but Gringoire remains blissfully ignorant of the consequences of his actions.

Esmeralda is a tragic victim of fate. Although she has done nothing wrong and has done her best to escape from Frollo, she cannot shake his influence and fate keeps leading her back to him.

Frollo’s passion for Esmeralda has driven him to fanatical and destructive behavior, because he couldn’t come to terms with the strength of his feelings. Frollo’s misogynistic beliefs about women—that they are more lustful and, therefore, more sinful than men—and his belief that Esmeralda has deliberately tempted him mean that he does not care for her suffering and only cares about satisfying himself.

Although Frollo cannot help his sexual attraction to Esmeralda—which Hugo argues is a natural emotion and should not be repressed—Frollo’s fatalistic belief in predestination (the idea that people’s lives are planned by God and, therefore, cannot be changed) means that he does not take responsibility for his misogynistic behavior towards her—which he certainly could help. Instead, he blames her for his own destructive choices, showing again that believing too strongly in fate can lead to cowardly, irrational behavior.

Before his obsession with Esmeralda, Frollo had a loving relationship with his brother, Jehan, who has been killed in the riot at Notre Dame. Frollo’s fixation with Esmeralda has eclipsed all positive emotions in his life, and, now that Jehan is dead, he feels guilty for neglecting him and allowing him to enter a life of crime, which led to his death. But rather than take responsibility for his own behavior, which has had many tragic consequences, Frollo misogynistically blames Esmeralda because, he believes, she has enticed him into abandoning everything to pursue her. Frollo also believes in predestination and feels that, although he pursued Esmeralda voluntarily and she never even knew about his feelings, he had no choice and was compelled by fateful forces outside of his control.

Medieval society is extremely misogynistic—people believe that women are inherently more sinful than men and often hold women responsible for men’s lustful feelings towards them. So, as a woman, Esmeralda has no way to defend herself from her horrible fate or from Frollo’s advances.

Paquette hates gypsies because she believes they killed her child. Paquette’s great love for her child has warped into a terrible hatred of Esmeralda and this suggests that great passions can transform into twisted obsessions if this passion is thwarted by fate or cannot be expressed. Esmeralda is a tragic victim of fate and has done nothing to bring her situation on herself.

This revelation highlights how ironic Paquette’s hatred of gypsies is. Because she let her love for her daughter transform into twisted hate, she never bothered to consider that Esmeralda could be her daughter. In other words, she believed she had lost her daugher, and her inability to deal with that painful (false) belief made it so that she really did lose her daughter in the end. 

Fate tragically reunites Esmeralda with her mother just when she is about to be executed. It is doubly tragic that Paquette has helped Frollo catch Esmeralda and has, therefore, brought about her own beloved daughter’s demise.

Tragically, Paquette has helped the guards trap Esmeralda, because before she realized Esmeralda was her daughter, Paquette hated gypsies and wanted to see Esmeralda killed. This suggests that negative obsessions, like hatred or revenge, often have devastating and unpredictable consequences.

Some of the guards easily take Paquette’s story at face value, even though there is clear evidence that it’s false. This suggests that information in medieval society is unreliable and that, before rational knowledge became more widespread, many people relied on gossip, superstition, and hearsay, rather than evidence, to understand the world.

Esmeralda has gone mad because of her ordeal and is fatally drawn to Phoebus because he represents her past, which was full of joy, in contrast to the horror of her current situation. In this sense, her obsession with Phoebus mirrors Frollo’s obsession with her; she is so certain that he will help her that she gives away her hiding spot, just as Frollo remains certain that Esmeralda can love him, despite all evidence to the contrary. Through Esmeralda’s choice here, Hugo indicates that obsessive emotions are always a bad thing—even when a virtuous person like Esmeralda is the one feeling them.

Although the guards feel sorry for Paquette, they will likely face execution themselves if they flout the King’s orders. This suggests that a cruel justice or governmental system makes people cruel too, as they are forced to follow its rules or risk harm to themselves. Esmeralda’s reunion with Paquette is tragic and suggests that fate is also cruel.

Although the guards sympathize with Paquette, they cannot disobey the King’s order to hang Esmeralda because they may be hung themselves if they do this. This shows again that a cruel justice system breeds cruel people, as they must follow unjust laws or risk punishment themselves. Paquette’s fate is extremely tragic. Although in one way, she gets what always wanted—she wanted Esmeralda dead because Esmeralda is a gypsy, and Paquette believes gypsies killed her child—the fulfilment of her obsessive hatred of Esmeralda also brings about her own destruction because Esmeralda turns out to be her long-lost child. Paquette’s bleak end points out again that  overwhelming desires become self-destructive when they’re not channeled properly.