The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Book 7, Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

Although Frollo tries to raise Jehan to be a thoughtful and godly young man, Jehan grows up spendthrift, careless, and hypocritical (he only goes to see Frollo when he needs money, not because he cares about his brother). Although Frollo has tried to control Jehan’s fate, his attempts have been unsuccessful.

Doctor Faustus is a famous character from medieval folklore who is frequently depicted in art and literature as a scholar who sells his soul to the devil for forbidden knowledge. The word that appears on the wall in Rembrandt’s painting reflects Frollo’s attempts to gain knowledge of alchemy by reading the walls of buildings. Just as Faustus sells his soul to the devil, Frollo’s quest for knowledge is sinful according to medieval belief because he wants to acquire knowledge so that he can understand God. In Christian doctrine, it is sinful for men to attempt to be like God; for instance, in the Garden of Eden story, Adam and Eve fell from grace because they ate fruit from the forbidden tree of knowledge.

Alchemy was an early form of natural science concerned with the transformation of certain metals into different substances. In this sense, alchemy was an attempt to understand the world in a rational and observational way and was a precursor to rationalism and modern science. However, medieval alchemists believed that gold was not formed through a natural process but was put on earth by God and that, therefore, learning how to make gold could help an alchemist understand God—something which was considered sinful in the medieval period, since people were not meant to aspire to be like God.

Frollo’s emotions are extremely passionate and intense and, when he is interested in something, he tends to become fixated on it. When these emotions can find no outlet, however, they begin to physically torment him. It is pertinent that Frollo carves a word on the wall because Frollo reads historical buildings like books to learn the cultural knowledge they contain. This word, therefore, contributes to the knowledge and history of Notre Dame, which can be interpreted and studied by others later on. In fact, Hugo himself was inspired to write the novel after seeing a word carved into the wall of a cell in the cathedral.

Although Frollo tried to raise Jehan as a scholarly and thoughtful young man, Jehan’s natural temperament is very extreme and passionate, like Frollo’s. It is ironic that Frollo himself became a priest because priests are supposed to deny worldly pleasures—which are considered sinful according to medieval doctrine—for the sake of spiritual purity. Although he may appear holy and austere, Frollo is just passionate as Jehan and he suffers with this because, unlike Jehan, he is not allowed to express desires like lust, which are considered sinful and impure. This does not cause his desires to go away, however, but only intensifies and warps them.

Frollo tried to raise Jehan to be a scholarly and wise young man. Despite Frollo’s best efforts, however, Jehan seems destined to live a debauched life and does not care about Frollo’s hopes for him. This suggests that, although Frollo has tried to exert his influence over Jehan, people cannot always control others or even determine their own fates.

The presence of these two words together suggests that humans are doomed to be “unclean” or impure. Sexuality was considered unclean in the medieval period because purity was associated with holiness, while lust was associated with sin. Humans are subject to physical desires, however (which Hugo suggests cannot be successfully controlled), and so Frollo’s carved words also imply that humans are destined to fail if they attempt to be pure like God—even though that’s exactly what Frollo is attempting. Jehan is a hypocrite and pretends that he wants to do good with the money, when really he wants to spend it on himself.

Frollo is a hypocrite and, although he feels strong lustful urges himself, he pretends that he is disgusted by sex. Sex was often considered impure in the medieval period, especially by religious figures like Frollo, who were required to remain celibate. Frollo wants to appear extremely pure, but Jehan can see that Frollo has carved both the words into the wall, so he insinuates that Frollo also has “unclean” thoughts.

Frollo implies that Jehan is only interested in worldly pleasures and satisfying his sensual urges. People who gave in to such desires were believed to endanger their souls, as sensuality was associated with sin and spiritual punishment.