Early comic book adaptation of Hugo's novel.
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In Victor Hugo's 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the monstrous-looking bell ringer Quasimodo takes center stage in the public's mind. This emphasis was not Hugo's intent, and arises, for the most part, from twentieth-century media interpretation. Many critics and scholars consider the cathedral itself the story's subject, and the city of Paris has a major character-like role in the novel. From the towers of Notre Dame (the center of the city) Paris can be seen all around and the cathedral becomes its Gothic heart, a reminder of a glorious past. Hugo's Paris is a live character that "talks," "breathes," and "grows." The plot however, revolves around the resourceful and gutsy Gypsy Esmeralda, and which suitor she will choose. Accused of witchcraft by an obsessed archdeacon, she is rescued by Quasimodo. Esmeralda is somewhat relegated to the background by media versions, and thus, in the public's mind. The original French title, Notre Dame de Paris translates into English: Our Lady of Paris. Hugo was not a supporter of the monarchy established in 1815 after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, and identified with ideas of social and political equality characterized by the French Revolution. When the Bourbon family was deposed by the more liberal Orleans family in July 1830, Hugo saw this as the resurgence of democracy and universal suffrage that dated back to 1789. Hugo employed the legacy of the 1830 revolution into the plot of his novel, and was also inspired by artistic and cultural representations of the events, for example, the paintings of Eugne Delacroix, and political cartoons of Honore Daumier. Both embodied the city of Paris as a center of revolutionary spirit. Examining The Hunchback of Notre Dame in the context of the Humanizing of the Mythic Archetype, we find that Hugo pioneered the Romantic movement. Romanticism became an alternative to classicism, which made use of subjects in Greek and Roman antiquity. For example, the seventeenth and eighteenth century French playwrights Jean Racine and Pierre Corneille borrowed from Roman and Greek tales for their plays. Hugo boldly broke from the mold, demonstrating that Romantic themes could be extracted from the recent past. No Gods, Half-Gods, Super-Humans, or Almost-Super-Humans need apply, thank you.
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