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Terms
A pillory is a place of public punishment, sometimes known as “the stocks.” It is usually a wooden board with three holes in it—one for the head and two for the hands—where prisoners can be held for long periods of time on display or where they can be restrained while being beaten. This was common in several European countries during the medieval period. In the novel, the pillory at the Place de Grève in Paris is the site where Quasimodo is flogged after he is arrested for trying to abduct Esmeralda.
Pillory Quotes in The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The The Hunchback of Notre Dame quotes below are all either spoken by Pillory or refer to Pillory. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Book 2, Chapter 2
Quotes
It must be said that a gibbet and pillory, a ‘justice’ and a ‘ladder’ as they were then called, stood permanently side by side in the middle of the paving and helped not a little to avert people’s gaze from that fateful square, where so many human beings full of life and vigor had met their death, and where, fifty years later, ‘Saint-Vallier’s fever’ would be born, that sickness of the terror of the scaffold and the most monstrous of all sicknesses because it comes not from God but from men.
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Pillory Term Timeline in The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The timeline below shows where the term Pillory appears in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 2, Chapter 2
...to the 11th century. In the middle of the square there were gallows and a pillory, for which the square later became famous when gallows fever temporarily overran Paris.
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Book 3, Chapter 2
...tip of the City, there is a busy crossroads and a square which contains a pillory. The Palace of Justice can also be seen, perched on the river’s edge, where the...
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...the common houses. Many of these have now been destroyed by “tasteful” modern developers. The pillory and the gallows can also be seen in this part of town, as well as...
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Book 6, Chapter 1
...thinks that Quasimodo is mocking him and sentences Quasimodo to a public beating on the pillory. As Quasimodo is being led away, Jehan shouts something from the audience and Robert, thinking...
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Justice is quick in the medieval period and one is usually sentenced to the pillory or the gallows and taken straight there from the court. Jehan approaches the clerk to...
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Book 6, Chapter 2
...with debris and confetti from the festival the previous day. Four guards stand around the pillory and wait for a prisoner, who is to be brought out for punishment. A crowd...
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Book 6, Chapter 3
...holds a cake and stares at it longingly. The women are eager to reach the pillory to watch the public punishment. As they walk, they gossip about the “Feast of Fools”...
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Book 6, Chapter 4
Outside the rat-hole, a crowd has gathered to watch the punishment at the pillory. The prisoner, Quasimodo, is strapped to the pillory, ready to be beaten. The crowd is...
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...seems confused and resentful about this treatment. The king’s torturer, Pierrat Torterue, climbs onto the pillory, removes Quasimodo’s shirt, and begins to flog him. The crowd laughs and jeers. Quasimodo seems...
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...finished. The torturer climbs down from the platform and Quasimodo is left strapped to the pillory, where he must remain for another hour. No one in the crowd feels sorry for...
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A few moments later, Frollo rides into the square on a mule and approaches the pillory. Quasimodo looks hopeful and his face is full of love as he watches Frollo approach....
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After Quasimodo has been tied to the pillory for half an hour, he suddenly begins to struggle once more and cries out for...
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Book 6, Chapter 5
Shocked by the Paquette’s curse, Esmeralda staggers down from the pillory and rushes away. The crowd loses interest and begins to disperse—they will not challenge Paquette...
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Book 7, Chapter 3
...come over him. It is possible that this change started after his beating at the pillory, but it is also possible that Quasimodo has fallen in love with someone other than...
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