The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Book 7, Chapter 5 summary

What happens

1. Hidden near the furnace, Jehan watches Jacques Charmolue report that torture fails to make Marc Cenaine confess to witchcraft.
2. Claude examines a parchment and crucible from Cenaine’s house, calling the writing magical but dismissing the vessel’s promise of producing gold.
3. Charmolue asks about arresting the dancing girl; Claude turns pale, postpones his answer, and redirects him toward Cenaine.
4. Claude prevents Charmolue from rescuing a trapped fly and compares himself to both the spider and its victim.
5. Jehan’s noisy eating alarms Charmolue, but Claude blames a cat and leads his visitor away to examine carved figures.

What to notice

Claude sees himself as both a danger to another and a trapped victim. The comparison joins his distress about the dancer to his reflections on fate.

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