The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (in French, Notre-Dame de Paris) is a novel first published in 1831 by the French literary giant Victor Hugo.

Thematic concerns

As stated by many critics and scholars, the Cathedral of Notre Dame appears to be the main setting, which is almost elevated to the status of a character. The book portrays the Gothic era as one of extremes of architecture, passion and religion; which despite being the cause of many problems are seen by Hugo to be more authentic than the sentiments of his time. Like many of his other works, Hugo is also very concerned with social justice, his descriptions of religious fanaticism are also examined.

Related Topics:
Gothic - Architecture - Religion

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Many film adaptations of the novel have simplified the thematic and historical concerns greatly, leading to the most important theme being the mistreatment of Quasimodo for his ugliness, and the moral that one shouldn't judge people by their looks. However, this is a very small part of Hugo's novel (especially as Quasimodo is much less sympathetic than he is in many film adaptations).

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