The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Book 2, Chapter 2 summary
Book 2, Chapter 2 of 60 · 4 min to read the chapter
In Chapter 2, the narrator reconstructs the medieval Place de Grève, describing its houses, civic buildings, and permanent instruments of punishment. The account then shifts from architecture to an argument against capital punishment, contrasting its former spread across Paris with its reduced, shameful presence in the narrator’s present.
What happens
- A surviving turret prompts the narrator to reconstruct the medieval square and lament the destruction of old buildings.
- The square’s houses display several centuries of architecture, with carved façades by day and angular rooflines at night.
- The Pillared House combines religious worship, civic hearings, and weapons stored for the city’s defense.
- Permanent instruments of punishment give the square a threatening character and recall the suffering of condemned people.
- The narrator contrasts the widespread cruelty of earlier punishments with the diminished public presence of capital punishment.
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