Containing the Courage of the Lion
Within walls of stone...
That sentence alone is how I describe Quasimodo's character in most cases. To me and others, he is a very under appreciated character in most cases.
As of right now I am writing a chapter to my second installment to my Heaven's Light series, titled Awakening in the Spring which is a parable for Quasimodo's current struggle. If you're one of my readers, you'd know by now that Quasimodo is still in the deep pit grief and the wound Frollo opened is still gaping and bleeding. He's having a hard time letting it go.
Someone came out of the blue with something that belonged to his former master in the form of an old journal piece with the description of a gypsy's murder and the near drowning of a deformed infant in a well in it.
I suppose this is kind of a controversial topic because there are probably countless different opinions about it, but just allow me to explain.
If there are readers out there who have journeyed through the earlier pages of Victor Hugo's work, you would know by now that Frollo had begun showing a compassionate side, to the point that he willingly took in an abandoned, hideous babe left to die. Now please, don't think I'm knocking down someone else's point of view. Frollo had problems right from the start, even before Quasimodo had ever came to be. I'm talking about a time far back when he was a child.
A few online friends and fellow writers (who I collaborate with as well as role-play with) have been composing plot lines where Frollo had a sporting chance at redemption. Something that absolutely did not happen overnight. Which then leads to my next point; does Frollo love the Bell Ringer of Notre Dame, genuinely (in the animated film's canon)?
At first, (even I said this) Hell no. The proof is in this line right here;
'Even this foul creature may yet prove one day to be of use to me...'
Okay, so it's clear as crystal that Frollo only had a mind to raise this child to have only one purpose and suffer through the lad's infancy, through his emotional puberty years and so on? Was it worth all the fuss and bother? Pain, even... Well, what we think is this, as well as I, that there was bond formed much later on, but something hindered that love and it was hidden by a facade of coldness and pride, accompanied by distance, as in to not be too close to the boy while still caring for him. He not once issued harm upon Quasimodo, in a physical sense, (the pillory scene as well because he was not whipped but humiliated.)
No doubt, there was emotional abuse in order to keep dear Quasimodo under some sort of control. Notice that Quasimodo always flinched when someone's hand had ever gotten near to his face, even to the touch of a child...
Clearly, he was nearly drowned in a well by this man and he was willing to do it if it wasn't for the interference of no other than the Archdeacon, who was too late for the poor mother of said babe. It's obvious that Frollo had no love or care whatsoever for the poor foundling, at first, I believe. I will explain.
Quasimodo was clearly an accident and somehow came into the arms of a gypsy woman. In the animated film's design, he was a pale skinned, ginger haired, blue eyed individual. While his mother was dark skinned and had violet eyes I believe and neither of the gypsy men who accompanied her seemed accepting of the baby, referring to him as an it and so forth. I don't believe the other man was the father either. He was simply a partner or a relative to her but had no relation to Quasimodo. They were trying to find Clopin's refuge, the Court of Miracles and tried to smuggle in. Yet their plan backfired. In one of the middle chapters of the first story, Heaven's Light, (spoilers ahead) I wrote a flashback where Quasimodo was found by this woman who had suffered miscarriages and was very upset and hurt by those experiences. So when she heard Quasi cry from inside a hay shed, she instantly felt the need to mother him, and her brother was not okay with this because they were being tracked by Frollo's soldiers at the time. I have one idea that Quasimodo is not French or Gypsy, but he is actually Scottish or Irish because his real family probably had come to France to earn a living. With his red hair and soft voice, you can imagine him having a Scottish accent if he was raised with his real blood related family in his home country. Alas, it was not so. There is a lot left for interpretation in the Disney film.
Here is an interesting theory video that some of you may enjoy. It touches on some cool subjects and questions ~
With that little tidbit, let's go onto the main point. Frollo had a lot of control over Quasimodo for his entire life. From what I got and knowing the true nature of the book, Frollo, even then, had a lot of self loathing and had habits of self mutilation and fasting to keep himself pure before God. Even though there is the obvious emotional abuse, I really do not believe Frollo had ever used any physical punishment upon the boy. He needed that control but something held him from ever hurting Quasimodo, physically. He was ugly and the world would not accept him which is half true, especially the paranoia of typical people during that time period and it was something Frollo, in a way, did not want to subject him to that... until the Feast of Fools, that is.
Quasimodo knew he was not supposed to go there and thanks to his lonely imagination he shattered that promise. That got himself humiliated on the pillory. (I have a fond hatred for those gargoyles. They were never of any good use in the film. It would be fun, they said, she loves you, they said. We all know the truth of these matters, but they don't! ... i'm done.)
Frollo was reprimanded by the Archdeacon to keep and raise the deformed babe, which then began something new deep inside that icy heart over the years as the boy grew. I've noticed just how seemingly gentle Frollo is and how nothing physically ever happens to the boy. Even when he helped Esmeralda and led him to the Court, Frollo's order to make sure he stays there came off as vague to me. He was not specific and so I believe that the men who carried out this order improvised to chain Quasimodo up. Another incident is when Frollo gives physical contact. It was always the soft stroking of the boy's hair or the gentle touch on the back. There's something there that he tries very hard to suppress. I've speculated that Frollo believes that this deformed boy is not only his trifle, but a reminder of something that happened in the past. Not a pleasant reminder yet he found that he loved this boy through raising him, which may have been the Archdeacon's intention (because he had known Frollo for many many years, obviously). It lets in a light that alike with Frollo's character in the book, there is a compassionate side accompanying that complexity that fills the entire film.
These small little indicators point to something much more, other than a black, pure evil human being with no chance of redemption or even a personality other than that he's just evil for the sake of being evil. The writers just didn't explore it nor care to for some reason. Frollo as everyone knows had a young brother ~ Had. Let that sink in.