Victor Hugo

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (King's Classics) Victor Hugo

In 1482, during the reign of Louis XI, the gypsy Esmeralda captures the hearts of many men, especially Quasimodo and his guardian Archdeacon Frollo. Frollo is torn between his obsessive lust for Esmeralda and the rules of Notre Dame Cathedral. When Frollo orders Quasimodo to kidnap Esmeralda, the plot takes an unexpected twist. What follows is a story of love, jealousy, attempted murder, and a struggle to escape the clutches of the king's men.

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame portrays the Romantic era as one of extremes in architecture, passion, and religion. The theme of determinism (fate and destiny) is explored, as well as revolution and social strife. Hugo introduced with this work the concept of the novel as Epic Theatre. A giant epic about the history of a whole people, incarnated in the figure of the great cathedral as witness and silent protagonist of that history, and the whole idea of time and life as an ongoing, organic panorama centered on dozens of characters caught in the middle of that history.