Riassunto
Trama e riassunto di Notre-Dame de Paris
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A chi è rivolto
Readers who love tragic romances, vivid old cities, tenderhearted outcasts and storytelling that blends humor, spectacle and sorrow will love this novel. It also appeals to those who gaze up at great cathedrals.
Che cos’è questo libro
Imagine thousands of Parisians packed into a vast hall on the sixth of January, 1482, waiting for a play that will not start. Then a face appears in a chapel window, and the whole hall roars at the ugliest face anyone has ever seen.
That is how The Hunchback of Notre-Dame begins. Victor Hugo published it in 1831, after finding a Greek word for fate scratched into a tower wall of the cathedral. He wrote it to defend Gothic Paris, whose old churches were being scraped away.
In questo riassunto
- 1A feast day mob turns a poet's play into chaosFree
- 2A hunchback is crowned king of fools
- 3Gringoire follows a dancer into the thieves' kingdom
- 4A priest raises a foundling and loses himself
- 5Phoebus charms a gypsy and ignores her love
- 6A trial for sorcery ends in a death sentence
- 7Sanctuary: Quasimodo defies the king's justice
- 8Fate is built from human choices and cruel customs
- 9Stone is a book that print is about to kill
- 10A narrator who mixes laughter, spectacle and sorrow
Punto chiave 1 di 10
A feast day mob turns a poet's play into chaos
On the sixth of January, 1482, Paris celebrates Epiphany and the Feast of Fools on the same day. The grand hall of the law courts is packed from early morning for a mystery play set for noon. Hugo opens with this crowd because the crowd is a character in his book.
Noon arrives and nothing happens. The actors start at Gringoire's urging, but then the cardinal enters and an usher shouts ambassadors' names over the verses until nobody listens.
A Flemish hosier named Jacques Coppenole stands up to the cardinal, wins the crowd, then proposes an ugly-face contest in the chapel window. The poet Pierre Gringoire hides his face in his hands.
A laughing mob in this book is never far from a cruel one.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
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Who’s who
- Quasimodo
- The deaf, one-eyed bell ringer of Notre-Dame, raised by the archdeacon, who loves the cathedral's bells and then Esmeralda with all his heart.
- Esmeralda
- A sixteen-year-old street dancer with a clever white goat, kind to strangers and hungry for the love of the captain who once saved her.
- Claude Frollo
- The archdeacon of Josas, a stern scholar and alchemist who adopted Quasimodo and is consumed by an obsessive desire for Esmeralda.
- Phoebus de Chateaupers
- A handsome captain of the king's archers, engaged to a noblewoman, who wants easy pleasure and never takes love seriously.
- Pierre Gringoire
- A poor poet and philosopher whose play is ruined on the first day, and who survives by wit, charm and a shrug.
- Clopin Trouillefou
- The king of the beggars and thieves in the Court of Miracles, who rules his realm with theatrical majesty and fierce loyalty.
- Fleur-de-Lys de Gondelaurier
- A young noblewoman who lives beside the cathedral and wants to marry Phoebus, though she is jealous of the gypsy dancer.
- Jehan Frollo
- The archdeacon's wild younger brother, a lazy student who spends his days in taverns and begs money from his stern guardian.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 187,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 12 h 30 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 14 other languages
Questions about Notre-Dame de Paris
What is The Hunchback of Notre-Dame about?
It tells of Quasimodo, a deaf bell ringer, Esmeralda, a street dancer, and Claude Frollo, a priest who desires her. Their lives cross around the cathedral in 1482 Paris, and a harsh city shapes what happens to each of them.
Who is Quasimodo and what does his name mean?
Quasimodo is the bell ringer of Notre-Dame, deaf and misshapen, adopted as a baby by the archdeacon. He is named after the Sunday on which he was found, and the word suggests something barely finished.
What does the Greek word at the start of the book mean?
It is the Greek word for fate or necessity. Hugo says he found it carved in a tower of Notre-Dame and built the whole story on the idea of a mysterious destiny pressing on each life.
Is The Hunchback of Notre-Dame a true story?
No, the characters are invented, though the setting is real. Hugo published it in 1831 and set it in Paris in 1482, using real places, such as the cathedral, the Bastille and the Palais de Justice, and real figures like King Louis XI.
What is the main message of the book?
Hugo shows that people judged by appearance or race can have the kindest hearts, while powerful figures may be cruel. He also argues that old buildings carry the memory of whole peoples and deserve protection from careless restorers.
Cite this edition
Hugo, Victor. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-hunchback-of-notre-dame.
Hugo, V. (2026). The hunchback of Notre-Dame. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-hunchback-of-notre-dame (Original work published 1831)
Hugo, Victor. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-hunchback-of-notre-dame.
@book{hugo2026hunchback,
author = {Hugo, Victor},
title = {The Hunchback of Notre-Dame},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-hunchback-of-notre-dame},
note = {First published 1831}
}
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