The story is set in medieval Paris. At the beginning of the story, it is implied that a woman elopes with a man and gives birth to an extremely beautiful illegitimate baby girl, but soon the extremely beautiful baby girl is stolen and switched into an extremely ugly hunchback baby, and the mother, unable to accept the fact that her daughter has been stolen from her, leaves the hunchback baby outside the gates of Notre Dame de Paris.
Esmeralda, the beautiful and naive gypsy girl, is the center of attention for all the men around her. And each man loves her in a different way. Esmeralda falls in love with the flamboyant and handsome knight, and is so head over heels for him that she is willing to be his mistress.
But the handsome knight loves nothing more than her pretty face, and after playing with it, he abandons her. The gloomy bishop, who has shown her love to no avail, burns with jealousy and sets a trap, preferring to destroy her with his own hands. Only the ugly bell-ringer, Cassimondo, loves her pure and flawless soul and her kind and simple heart.
In the end, Esmeralda was wrongly accused by the bishop and sentenced to be hanged. Desperate, the bell-ringer, Quasimodo, pushes the bishop off the top floor and falls alive. He himself went to the crypt and wrapped his arms around Esmeralda's body, leaving the world with two skeletons so close that they could not be separated.
Extended information:
Notre Dame de Paris (written in 1831) (also known as The Monster of the Clock Tower) is the first of Victor Hugo's major romantic novels. The title of the novel, Notre Dame de Paris, points to Notre Dame itself as one of the most important elements of the novel, where the main setting of the story, as well as its themes, are centered. With the exception of a few meetings between Esmeralda and Phoebus, almost all of the events take place around Notre Dame.
Gazimodo, Esmeralda and the upper class create a conspicuous class contrast in the novel. Readers can also see how many modern views are derived from the book, such as the view of gender.
For example, Phoebus objects to seeing Esmeralda as a sex object. Esmeralda is also often seen as a model of true innocence - which is how Quasimodo sees her. Esmeralda also seems to objectify herself with Phoebus, although the latter's view of masculinity is often disputed by readers.
Hugo introduces several themes in the introduction and in the first volume of the novel. The themes are intended to explore cultural evolution and how humans seamlessly carry ideas from one era to another through literature, architecture, and art. Hugo explores not only the cultural evolution from the Middle Ages to modern France, but also the transformation of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. He continues to extend this topic in his first volume.
Another important theme of the novel is that people are not what they seem. Although Vorono is a priest, he is often assumed to be loving and upright. But in fact, he is cruel and vicious, controlling and evil at heart.
In contrast, Quasimodo is often mistaken for a demon due to his ugly appearance, but in reality he is kind and generous at heart. Esmeralda was also misunderstood; because she was a gypsy, the Parisians thought she was evil.
But, like Quasimodo, she has a loving, friendly heart. Phoebus has a handsome exterior, but he is actually hypocritical, selfish, unethical, and untrustworthy.
The rebel gypsy Esmeralda and the ugly-faced handicapped Quasimodo in the novel are shown to the readers as the embodiment of true beauty, whereas what one sees in the vice-bishop Frollo and the aristocratic soldier Phoebus is cruelty, empty heart and sinful lust.
Baidu Encyclopedia - Notre Dame de Paris