The Hunchback ofNotre Dame

By Victor Hugo

Once, there lived a boy who was a hunchback. His name was Quasimodo which means unformed, because of the way he looked. He lived in the bell tower of Notre Dame because he did not want to scare the others by his appearance. One day, he decided to go against his fears and attend to the carnival which was taking place in the town’s square.

Since this was a carnival, there were a lot of people who wore masks. They were not afraid when Quasimodo was near because they thought that he was wearing a mask as well. They entered him in a competition where the person wearing the ugliest mask won the title ‘Pope of fools’. Everyone was shocked when they realized that he was not wearing a mask. However, they still crowned him as the ‘Pope of fools’ because they believed that he had the ugliest face.

Frollo, Quasimodo’s adoptive father was a Judge and so he took rules very seriously. He ordered Quasimodo to capture Esmeralda, who was a beautiful gypsy street dancer with a kind and generous heart. When Frollo and Quasimodo attacked Esmeralda, Gringoire who was a street poet and who found Esmeralda very attractive, tried to save her. They attacked him as well but when Phoebus and his soldiers arrived in the scene, Frollo escaped and left Quasimodo behind.

Quasimodo ended up being captured and was sentenced to two hours of torture. He was hurt and humiliated in front of many people who hated him because of the way he looked. He begged and begged for someone to give him some water but no one replied. The only person who felt sorry for him and gave him water was Esmeralda the gypsy street dancer.