The Beauty of the Hunchback

I first read The Hunchback of Notre Dame for my ninth grade English class.  I had seen the Disney animated version of the story once or twice when I was little, so I was familiar with the story...or so I thought.

At first the length of the story intimidated me, but I soon found myself absolutely lost in the world Victor Hugo painted.  His writing captivated me.  I was sucked into 1482 France, admiring the beauty and grandeur of the cathedral of Notre Dame, hearing Quasimodo ringing its bells.  I was exploring through the streets of Paris with Gringoire and the backroads with the gypsies.  I closed the book with tears in my eyes, my heart swelling.  Never before had I experienced such a beautiful and intrinsic plot.  Never before had I sympathized with or felt such malice towards characters in a book.  Victor Hugo took me in and even with the end of the story, never let me go.

When I talked to my friends and peers about the book, I was surprised to find that I was one of only maybe a handful that enjoyed the book.  Many people were sharing their bitter, spiteful criticism of parts of the book that I particularly admired.  I found myself having to defend the book time and time again, but not really knowing how because I could hardly articulate my admiration for it.  Yes it is sad.  Yes Claude Frollo is a creeper.  Yes Phoebus is a scoundrel, but that is the whole point!  It is in such tragedy that the beauty is found!

My experience with The Hunchback of Notre Dame taught me some very important lessons:  there are things more important to literature than a happy ending.  A story can be both beautiful and tragic.  Characters are not always painted black and white, good or evil.  These are the things I love about this book.  These lessons have helped me to appreciate other literature that I would never have been able to appreciate otherwise (i.e. Wuthering Heights, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Macbeth, and so on).  So here is my public thanks and salute to Victor Hugo for not being afraid to create something so beautiful as The Hunchback of Notre Dame!