Justice, Punishment, and Freedom Theme Analysis

Victor Hugo presents the medieval Paris of The Hunchback of Notre Dame as an unjust society, despite the many incidents of apparent “justice” which take place. The characters are often falsely accused of crimes or unjustly imprisoned, and the threat of capital punishment is very real in the novel. However, Hugo indicates that even in the face of a corrupt judicial system, ordinary people nonetheless have the power to overcome injustice through collective action.

Medieval Paris is portrayed as an unjust society in which people may face persecution and punishment at any time. For instance, Quasimodo is tried after he attempts to kidnap Esmeralda on Frollo’s orders. Later, Esmeralda is put on trial when she is accused of witchcraft. It’s clear from the characters’ experiences that Paris in this era has an active system of justice. However, although a justice system is in place, it is a corrupt and often laughable one. This is demonstrated at Quasimodo’s trial when he is tried by Florian Barbedienne, who is deaf. To save face, Florian pretends to hear Quasimodo’s answers and replies according to what he guesses Quasimodo has said. Quasimodo is deaf too, however, and so he does not hear the questions. The trial devolves into a farce and Quasimodo is sentenced to be publicly flogged even though his evidence has not been heard. This suggests that the justice system will sentence people based on the whim of the judge rather than on the results of the trial. Similarly, Esmeralda is convicted of witchcraft on dubious evidence. The court believes that her pet goat, Djali, whom she has taught to do tricks, is a demon. During the trial, the judge encourages Djali to perform his tricks to convince the crowd of Esmeralda’s guilt. However, the judge knows how to do this because Gringoire, Esmeralda’s husband, told Frollo that Djali does tricks based on the sounds of a tambourine. The judge, therefore, knows how to control Djali and easily convinces the crowd of Esmeralda’s guilt. Esmeralda’s false conviction demonstrates that courts were extremely quick to convict people based on misleading evidence. 

What’s more, Hugo shows that punishment and so-called justice often serve as entertainment. In the novel, courts are incentivized to convict people because of the popularity of public punishment. Public punishment is depicted as exceptionally cruel when Quasimodo is beaten for several hours in the town square. Hugo is deeply critical of capital punishment and uses its presence in the novel to criticize attitudes towards capital punishment in 19th-century society, as public execution was still a popular spectacle in France in the early 1800s, when Hugo was writing. By including critiques of capital punishment in his historical novel, Hugo suggests that French society has not learned from its mistakes and that its justice system is still unjust because it subjects convicts to this degrading death. These attitudes are parodied again when Gringoire stumbles into the Court of Miracles (a den of thieves who live outside the law and take refuge in this infamous part of the city) and is put on trial for being innocent. The judge of this trial, Clopin Trouillefou, explains to Gringoire that the thieves hang innocent citizens who wander into their midst as revenge for the “truants” who are executed for minor offences. The Court of Miracles is a direct parody of the Palace of Justice and suggests that the judges in the official court are also a group of criminals who take out their frustrations on unfortunate members of society, just as the “truants” do in their court. It is not only the populace, and the “truants,” who enjoy cruel and arbitrary punishments in Hugo’s novel. In one scene, Hugo depicts the King of France himself, Louis XI, as he visits the famous prison in the Bastille, where political prisoners were kept. The king is totally oblivious to the pleas of a prisoner who has been locked in a tiny cage for 15 years, allegedly for treason. This implies that the people have been led by example and that an oppressive system, in which people live under the sway of a cruel monarch, will breed a cruel and bloodthirsty populace. 

However, although medieval monarchs and cruel justice systems wield enormous power in the novel, Hugo also indicates that if the people decide they want freedom, nothing will be able to stop them. The will of the people is a palpable force throughout the novel. The great crowds in Paris are frequently compared to a sea which sweeps everything along in its path. This suggests that the power of the people is like a force of nature—more powerful and lasting than human institutions, such as the monarchy. Fear of the mob is felt by everyone in Paris, including King Louis XI. When Louis XI comes to Paris, he chooses to sleep in the Bastille. The Bastille is a prison and a fortress, and this suggests that, although Louis XI is a powerful monarch, he feels unsafe in the city. This is further demonstrated when a riot breaks out in Paris. At first, Louis XI is happy about this and believes the riot is against one of his bailiffs, whom he sees as a competitor for his power. When he discovers that the riot is against Notre Dame and, therefore, against himself (King and Church were closely connected in the medieval period), he is terrified and immediately agrees to the people’s terms. This suggests that those who wield power or dole out justice do not have as much control as they would have their people believe. Hugo indicates that these corrupt institutions, though they may seem powerful, can in fact be overthrown by the collective will of the people. Given the parallels between the deeply flawed justice systems in the novel and the similarly unjust institutions of Hugo’s own time, he may be suggesting that even in his own present day, readers still have a duty to remain alert to corruption and act to overthrow it when necessary.