Claude Frollo is one of the central characters in Victor Hugo's most famous novel, Notre Dame Cathedral. In the image of a priest that he is not able to fight temptation, but follows him, breaking the fate and life of others, the author’s condemnation is embodied. He confronts the main character of the novel Esmeralda and contrasts with his pupil - the unfortunate hunchback Quasimodo, who is capable of true love, unlike his teacher.
About the novel "Notre Dame de Paris"
The novel "Notre Dame de Paris" by Victor Hugo is known throughout the world. First published in 1831 and has since been recognized as one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century. The novel belongs to the genre of historical drama. Historical events here serve as a backdrop to reflect the dramatic fate of the protagonists.
In the novel, Hugo raises many urgent problems both then and today: the opposition of law and duty, social inequality, honor and conscience, love and hatred, external and internal beauty, spiritual.
But one of the main themes of the work is still the theme of the cathedral. At the time when the ideas of the novel first appeared, the authorities planned to demolish or modernize this cathedral. Outraged by this attitude to the historical and spiritual shrine, the great classic writes a novel, which will be the first French historical novel.
Images of the novel
Claude Frollo, to whom our article is devoted, is one of the central images of the novel. Other images are no less interesting:
- Esmeralda is the main character of the work. Very beautiful and kind, sincere girl. Once she was stolen by gypsies, and she is now dancing in the central square of the city with her goat. Around this heroine are the events of the novel.
- Quasimodo Deaf hunchback, ringer of the cathedral. Once upon a time, Esmeralda took pity on him, gave him water, the only one of hundreds of mocking Parisians. He loved the girl to the core, and his whole life is dedicated to her.
- Phoebe de Châteauper. Captain of the Royal Rifle Guard. Handsome and young, Esmeralda will love him.
- Claude Frollo - rector of the cathedral, priest. We will not dwell on his image here, as we will further devote several sections of the article to him.
- Pierre Gringoire is a free poet named Esmeralda’s husband.
Also in the novel there is a historical character - Louis XI.
The image of Claude Frollo
This priest is the sinister persecutor of Esmeralda. He, like Quasimodo, follows the girl everywhere. But the hunchback does it out of well-meaning, and Frollo is blinded by the passion that drives him crazy.
Let's start with the appearance of this character. The first to catch his eye is a "stern, closed, gloomy face." When he first sees a girl and her dance, mixed feelings take hold of him, passion and delight are replaced by anger and hatred. Claude's appearance is not attractive, but does not cause negative. This is a tall, handsome man of about thirty-six. Despite his youth, he is already gray-haired and bald. From his youth he was devoted to science and knows that the fate of a clergyman awaits him.
Claude Frollo, whose characterization is ambiguous, struggles with himself throughout his entire conscious life. But apparently, his spirit is not strong enough. And he falls into the temptation to fight with which he can not afford. Instead of repenting of his weakness, the priest falls into malice, and the darkness now swallows him completely. He is cruel and will not stop at nothing to achieve his goal.
Esmeralda and Frollo
Claude Frollo and Esmeralda act as antagonists. Esmeralda is bright and clean, despite the fact that she is a street dancer. Uneducated and educated by gypsies and tramps. At the same time, she’s open, all her feelings are visible, maybe that's why they are so sincere and crystal. Esmeralda does not hide what she feels. Selfless love for handsome Phoebe, sympathy for Quasimodo and burning disgust and fear of the abbot - all this lies on the surface and can be seen with the naked eye.
Claude Frollo has to hide his essence from an early age. The role of a diligent student and an ascetic crumbles in the face of a burning, all-consuming passion. This is not love (as in Quasimodo, that he loves a young gypsy with all his open wounded heart), it is a blinding passion, a desire to possess a girl as a precious thing, to subordinate her to herself. He is not capable of self-sacrifice, rather, he will sacrifice the lives of others for his interests and needs. Love cannot find a place in his icy heart; it only burns his body and mind with fire.
Character Features
Perhaps it is not even a matter of passion for Esmeralda herself, but still of Frollo's character traits. As we learn from the pages of the novel, the clergyman was absorbed in science until he had exhausted all possible options for knowledge. Then he was fascinated by alchemy as a closed science, accessible only to the elect. Maybe it would be the same with his painful, pathological love, knowing which Frollo would get rid of his incinerating addiction. But fate did not allow him to comprehend real feelings. When they execute Esmeralda, whose death he himself is guilty of, Quasimodo throws him from the wall of the cathedral, and the priest is broken to death. Killed by his pupil, the abbot pays for his life full of anger and search. After all, even Quasimodo was raised by him not out of pity for the child, but out of purely his motives.
Claude Frollo in the movie
Due to its popularity and action, the novel was not ignored either by playwrights or filmmakers. Many films were made, many theater dramas were staged.
In modern cinema, the roles of a priest were played by Walter Hampden, Richard Harris, A. Marakulin and many other movie stars.