This volume is the beginning of the novel, with several important protagonists appearing one after another.
The story takes place on January 6, 1482, a day when Parisians celebrate Epiphany and April Fool's Day, when any bad deed is permitted and people are immersed in laughter. In addition, it was customary to light bonfires in the Place de Grave, to erect a May tree in the Chapelle de Braque, and to stage a miracle play in the Palais de Justice. Early in the morning, citizens lock their doors and flock from all directions to one of these three places.
The streets leading to the Palace of Justice were especially crowded, as the citizens knew that Flandre's ambassadors would be coming to the Palace of Justice to watch the miracle play and the King of Fools contest in the same hall.
By midday, however, the cardinal's late arrival prevented the miracle play from starting. The crowd became restless and chaotic. The audience was eagerly awaiting the opening of the miracle play, "The Just Judgment of the Virgin Mary," which had been the passion of the downtrodden poet, Gengoa, but the comic begging of the beggar king, Klopan, the arrival of the cardinal, and the ambassadors caused such a clamor that it was difficult for the play to go on.
When the ambassadors had all arrived, Cobnall, the hosiery shopkeeper, proposed to begin the contest for the King of Fools, and the winner would be the one who dressed up in the ugliest costume and laughed the most grotesquely. So the contestants went to the window in turn to perform their funny faces, and finally the King of Fools was chosen. At this moment... What appeared on the window was a marvelously ugly face: a tetrahedral nose, a horseshoe-shaped mouth, a red eyebrow as thick as a thatched bush over his left eye, a large sarcoma that completely covered his right eye, his teeth sprawled out, a fang as long as an ivory tusk protruding from his thick calloused lips, and his jaw split open. Or rather, his whole body was a grotesque sight, with brownish-red hair planted on a large head; a huge hunchback arched between his shoulders, and balanced only by a chicken breast in front; his legs so twisted and twisted that they only came together at the knee, so that from the front they looked like two scythes joined by their handles: and he also had a pair of broad foot-plates and a pair of horribly gigantic palms. This was the newly elected King of Fools. The people flocked to him, gave him a crown and robes made of cardboard, and then, carrying him, paraded him through the streets of the city.
When the procession of the King of Fools left, only a few old women and children remained in the empty hall. Gangowar thought his miracle play would continue to attract attention, but his band was also taken away by the King of Fools' procession.
Suddenly, a naughty man at the window shouted, "Esmeralda is in the square." These words caused everyone left in the hall to flock to the window to see Esmeralda perform. Even the ladder used for the performance was carried away to watch her dance. The miracle play was forced to stop, and in utter despair Gangovar left the hall with his head hung in shame.
Volume 2
This volume is about Gamgoire and Esmeralda wrestling pots into marriage.
When the miracle play, which was the result of so much work, is forgotten by the audience, Gangowa is devastated and walks alone through the dark, damp streets with a broken heart, trying to avoid the hustle and bustle of Epiphany and April Fool's Day, with its loud noises, torches, and fireworks. But fate seemed to be against him, and wherever he went, the festive atmosphere prevailed, leaving him with nowhere to run. In desperation, he made his way to Gravois Square, which was the most crowded. The Place de Grave had always been a dismal spectacle, more or less because of the execution platform and gallows erected in its center. It was the only place in all of Paris today where these ghoulish instruments of torture still stood.
In the square, Esmeralda was performing a song and dance, and her beautiful face, delicate figure, and graceful dancing attracted many people. Among them, including the down-and-out poet Gangovar and the lust-ridden Vice Bishop Claude Frollo. After the dance, Esmeralda called on the goat-girls to perform acrobatics, earning wild applause from the audience. Just as the people were getting lost in the wonderful singing, the cloistered nun let out another horrible curse. "Don't you go away yet, Egyptian locust!" Cryptic Nun Gündir shouted shrilly, a sound that frightened Esmeralda.
People were complaining about the cryptic nun interrupting the song when the King of Fools' procession also arrived at Gravois Square. On the way from the Palace of Justice to Piazza del Grevo, Quasimodo gradually entered the blissful realm of heartfelt pride and happiness, enjoying for the first time in his life the fulfillment of his self-esteem. Just as he was passing drunkenly and joyfully before the door of the pillar-house, Claude rushed out from the crowd, and in a rage he took off the crown of Quasimodo, broke his scepter, tore his royal robes which were adorned with gold leaf, and shook him roughly by the shoulders, and signaled to Quasimodo to come with him. The people thought that Gazimodo would eat the man, but surprisingly, Gazimodo meekly followed the vice-priest and disappeared into a small alley. After the crowd dispersed, Gangowa, not knowing where to go, suddenly decided to risk following Esmeralda. He followed her from street to street, as the streets became more and more deserted. When Esmeralda turned into a cross street, she suddenly let out a scream, and Gengoire rushed to catch up with her. The street was dark, but there was an iron cage under the statue of the Virgin at the corner, in which oil was burning, and by the light of which Gengoire saw two men holding Esmeralda in their arms, who were trying to gag her so as not to let her cry out, while Esmeralda was struggling. Gangowa threw himself on her, but was thrown to the ground by a backhanded push from Gazimodo. At this critical moment, Phoebus, the captain of the King's Guard, who was on patrol, happened to pass by, rescued Esmeralda, and captured Gazimodo. Esmeralda was impressed by Vorbis' good looks and his kindness in rescuing her, and she fell in love with him forever. She asked the captain of the guard for his name and flew away.
Dazed by the fall from Quasimodo, Gangowa came to her senses and found herself lying in the gutter, where a couple of children had thrown stolen straw mats in the gutter, which happened to cover Gangowa. The children were ready to burn the straw mat to keep warm, Gan Guowei scared immediately stood up and ran away, but he instantly regretted, he wanted to go back to pick up the straw mat back, but lost his way. On the way to Gan Gowa and was a few pretending to be disabled beggars in hot pursuit, panic, he broke into a collection of villains, beggars, vagabonds, the miracle of the dynasty.
Miracle Dynasty is a huge "dressing room", people will make themselves up as a disabled beggar during the day, at night will become a robber, all the theft, prostitution and assassination and other cases of the role of the person, it is here on the dress, unloading of the dress. Gangowa was taken by three beggars to see their maharajah, Klopan Tuyifo, who was begging in front of the Palace of Justice on April Fool's Day. Klopan gave him the opportunity to test himself to see if he could be a pickpocket so that he would not have to be hanged. But Gangowa failed the test. Klopan gives him one last chance to be spared from death if any of the women in the Miracle Dynasty want him. However, none of the women wanted him. Just then, the bohemian girl appeared and shouted, "I want him!" That's how Gamgoire was saved.
Gangova and Esmeralda wrestled the pot into marriage for four years. However Esmeralda did not love him, she only became nominally married to him in order to save him. Gangovar is a little disappointed, but relieved that he at least has a place to spend the night.
Volume 3
This volume introduces Notre Dame de Paris.
Notre Dame de Paris is a stately and magnificent building. But time and man have subjected it to countless injuries and destruction, and next to a wrinkle on its aging face is a scar: "Time is blind, man is stupid." Yet time has traumatized it far less than man.
This is true not only of Notre Dame, but of all medieval churches. What remains of them reveals three kinds of injuries they suffered and three different degrees of victimization: first, time, second, the political and religious reforms, and finally, the increasingly clumsy and absurd current styles that hurt it downright.
Notre Dame de Paris cannot be called a complete building; it is neither Romanesque nor Gothic; it is a building in transition, from the Romanesque to the Gothic, and Notre Dame de Paris is a curious specimen of this change. Every side of it, every stone, is enshrined not only in the history of France, but also in the history of science and art. This mixed construction of Notre Dame de Paris gives the impression that the art of architecture is at one point something primitive, just as the large stone architectural monuments of ancient Greece, the Egyptian pyramids, and the great towers of India show: the greatest buildings are for the most part the product of society rather than of the individual, and they are the result of the art of the toiling masses.
From the top of Notre Dame's clock tower, there is a panoramic view of Paris. Paris was already a big city in the 15th century. Born on the cradle-shaped island now known as the Old Town, it grew outward, and today the city of Paris bursts through its four walls one after the other, like a child bursting through last year's clothes. In the fifteenth century, Paris was divided into three districts: the Old Town, the University District and the Civic District. The Old Town, occupying the whole of the island, was the oldest and smallest, and the University went to occupy the whole left bank of the Seine, from the Tournell Tower to the Nesselear Tower. The largest is the Civic Quarter, which occupies the entire right bank and goes deeper into the countryside than the University Quarter. Each of these three great districts has become a city, but all of them are a city that cannot be complete because they are excessively particular. They each have a different appearance; the Old Town has many churches, the Civic Quarter has many palaces, and the University Quarter has many colleges.
Paris in the fifteenth century was not only a beautiful city, but a well-structured city, a product of medieval architecture and history, a chronicle in stone. It was a city made up of just two layers of buildings, the Romanesque and the Gothic, the Romanesque layer having long since been wiped out by the Gothic layer; fifty years later, however, the Renaissance mingled its opulent imagery and structure into the stately and variegated proportions of Paris, and since that time the great city has been changing from one day to the next, and the Gothic Paris was wiped out, and in its place a Paris synthesizing the styles of the centuries, and the most beautiful of all The most beautiful styles have disappeared. The monumental buildings are fewer and fewer, and are gradually drowned out. Though Paris at the present moment looks very admirable, it is far inferior to the Paris of the fifteenth century.
Volume IV
This volume is a tracing of the life and experiences of Claude and Quasimodo and their character. Claude, the Vicar General, was not a mediocre man. He came from a middle-class family, and early in his childhood, by the decision of his parents, he decided to dedicate himself to the priesthood. The family taught him to read in Latin from an early age, and taught him to lower his eyebrows and speak softly. He grew to manhood in a secluded life by gnawing on the Scriptures of the Mass and the thesaurus. He was of a melancholy, serious, grave nature, never shouted, never laughed, and rarely ridiculed others. He was a diligent student, and with a strong desire to learn, he hungrily studied one dogma after another. After attacking the statutes, he studied medicine and the liberal arts and alchemy. He also specialized in the treatment of cold and fever, bruises and sores.
In the summer of 1466, the year Claude turned eighteen, a plague struck his homeland, killing both of his parents and leaving him with a younger brother still in infancy. This made the nineteen-year-old Claude a parent after all, bringing him back to reality, who had been fully engaged in theology, canon law, and medicine. So, filled with compassion, he loved his little brother and did his best. From that time on, Claude devoted himself to religious endeavors while raising his younger brother.
At the age of 20, Claude became a priest. On the morning of the first Sunday after Easter, a deformed foundling was placed on a carved wooden couch in front of Notre Dame. Claude heard the nuns call him a "little monster". The royal chancellor said he was "the devil in the egg, the egg in the devil," an omen of great disaster. There was talk of burning him. At this point, Claude stepped forward, picked up the four-year-old "gargoyle", Quasimodo, and decided to adopt him.
He adopted Quasimodo because, at first sight, the little thing was so miserable, so deformed, but so alive, so robust and strong. The abandonment of that birth reminded him of his own brother. If he were to die, his dear little Ruowang would suffer the same fate, and be thrown miserably on this wooden couch of abandonment. All these thoughts came together in his heart, compassion was born, so he took the child in his arms. Secretly vowed to raise this abandoned baby to adulthood. In the future, no matter how serious a mistake Little Ruowang made, it would be offset by the kind of good deeds he had done for his brother in advance. It was a kind of merit investment in his brother, a small pile of good deeds that he had saved up in advance for his brother in case the little rascal ever lacked this coin, for it was the only one that was accepted for the purchase price of the way to heaven. By 1482, Claude had become a hard-disciplined, old-fashioned, somber priest, ruler of the souls of the world, Lord Deputy Bishop of Notre Dame, number two in the heart of the Bishop of Paris, and leader of 174 countrybourne priests. By this time, Quasimodo had also grown to manhood. Thanks to the patronage of his adoptive father, Claude, he became a bell ringer at Notre Dame at the age of fourteen, but unfortunately added a new handicap - he was deafened by the bells. As Quasimodo grew up, Notre Dame was successively an eggshell, a nest, a homeland and a universe to him.
Because of his unknown origins and strange appearance, Quasimodo harbors malice and hatred for anyone, but for Claude he is an exception. His retribution was deep, fiery and infinite. He was to the vice-primate as if he had been the humblest of slaves, the meekest of attendants, the most vigilant of guards. When the poor bell-ringer went deaf, a mysterious sign language was established between him and the vicar-general, which only they understood. In this way, the vicar-general became the only person with whom Quasimodo could converse. There are only two things in the world with which Quasimodo is connected: Notre Dame and Claude. Both Quasimodo and the vicar general loved Notre Dame in their own way and with equal passion.
As the years passed, the two sweet things in Claude's life: scientific research and his brother's education became slightly more bitter. So he threw himself more exclusively into the arms of science, even diving into the study of magic and sorcery. People took him for a soul on a quest for hell who had fallen into the abyss of cults and the darkness of the occult disciplines. However, he became more and more serious, almost a model of a priest. For reasons of status and character he had always kept away from women, and when the king's daughter visited Notre Dame in December, 1481, Claude sternly refused to let her in, even after much coercion by the bishop, and refused to show his face in the presence of the princess. Lately he seems to have grown even more abhorrent to Egyptian women, and has even requested the bishop to issue a bull expressly forbidding Bohemian women to dance and play the tambourine in the square in front of Notre Dame; and at the same time to consult the musty archives of the Inquisition to collect cases of male and female sorcerers sentenced to be burned at the stake or hanged for sorcery in collusion with animals.
Adults and children in the area of the church did not like the vicar general and the bell ringer very much. They thought of Quasimodo as the devil and Claude as a sorcerer. Often they taunted the father and son when they were out and about, but the harm was often done without the knowledge of the vice-principal and the bell-ringer, and Garcimodo was too deaf and Claude too delayed in his dreaming to hear the words.
Volume 5)
This volume records the contents of a conversation between King Louis XI of France when he paid a private visit to Claude Frollo.
Claude's fame spread far and wide. One night, the king's physician, Jacques Quaqueguière, visited Claude with a mysterious companion, and the three engaged in a period of discussion about medicine, alchemy, and astrology in a secret room. The mysterious visitor claims to be "Elder Duryohan" and asks Claude to write him a prescription. Claude says that he does not believe in medicine or astrology, but only in alchemy. Also pointing somberly to the book on the counter and to Notre Dame, he says, "This one is going to destroy that one!" Both the doctor and the mysterious visitor think that the vicar general is a bit of a "madman". When the mysterious visitor left, Claude learned his true identity. It is said that from then on, whenever King Louis XI returned to Paris
Leigh, the vice-primate was often summoned to talk to him, and that he trusted Claude more than Olivier Ledeen and Jacques Quarqueguière.
"This will destroy that, this book will destroy that building." There are two sides to this. First this is a state of mind in the priesthood, reflecting the fear that the monks felt when faced with the newness of the printing press. It signifies that one power is to be replaced by another, which is tantamount to saying, "Print is going to wipe out the church." However, within this simple layer of meaning lies another, more original idea. It foretells that human thought will change its form as well as its expression, that it will no longer be written on the same materials and in the same way in every generation; that even the strong, durable stone-engraved book is about to give way to the paper book. Thus, there is another layer to the Vicar General's ambiguous statement, which is that one art will replace another, that is to say: printing will destroy the art of architecture.
Volume 6
This volume picks up the storyline of Volume 2, showing the trial and flogging of Quasimodo.
Robert d'Estouteville is quite a lucky character. Not only did he own the special court of the Governor and Vicomte of Paris, but he also meddled in the king's supreme judgment. The day after Easter, Quasimodo was brought before the Court of Chartres for trial. The examining magistrate of the tribunal, Vulohan Barbeytion, was deaf. But this was but a slight defect for him. Indeed, it was enough for a judge to pretend to be listening, for the most important condition of a strict trial is that it be free from any sound. But the trial was a strange affair "which the law could not have foreseen": one deaf man was to interrogate another deaf man. During the trial, Quasimodo could not hear the examining magistrate's questions and remained silent. The deaf examiner, unaware that the defendant was also deaf, assumed that he had answered the questions, as is usually the case with defendants. Thus the farce was played out, causing much laughter. After a cursory trial by the deaf examining magistrate and Governor Robert, Gazimodo, who had attempted to abduct Esmeralda, was sentenced to a public flogging in the Piazza del Grave and an hour at the Pole of Shame.
And so Garcimodo was brought to the stake in the Piazza del Grevo. Yesterday Garcimodo was the King of Fools, but today he was to be flogged here. At ten o'clock in the morning, three women were on their way to see Quasimodo being tortured, and on the way they talked about the hermit nun Gündil of the Rolanta Lodge. Originally named Baguette la Chantefleurie, Günther, whose father had died young, had to live in the streets to make ends meet. After her heart was broken by the men of the world, she prayed to God to give her a child, and she finally got her wish and gave birth to a daughter, whom she was madly in love with. But the good times didn't last long, one day two Egyptian women took a little rotund, one-eyed, hunchbacked monster (Gazimodo) and switched her daughter secretly. After losing her daughter, she took a small embroidered shoe accidentally dropped by those two Egyptian women, ran around looking for it, and in desperation converted to religion, entered a living coffin - the "rat hole", and became a nun. Since then, she has secluded herself in a hut, living on the charity of others, with an extreme hatred of Egyptian women.
The errand boy dragged Gazimodo onto a gurney, stripped him of his clothes, and whips rained down on Gazimodo. Gazimodo's initial attempts to break free of his bonds had no effect, and after exhaustion he gave up and let the whips fall on him. When the whipping was over, the crowd of onlookers began to mock and curse him again, throwing stones at him, causing anger, hatred and despair to slowly build up on Quasimodo's face, but when he spotted Claude riding through the crowd on a mule, he gave a strange sort of smile, the savior had finally arrived, but when the mule stepped into the Pillar of Shame and the rider of the mule was sufficiently recognizable to recognize the culprit, the priest lowered his eyes and dialed his direction and walked back the way he came as if he was as if he feared that Quasimodo might make him an embarrassing demand. This action of Claude brought Gazimodo to near despair, and he appeared even more sorrowful as he silently endured the insults of the crowd and the heat of the sun. After about an hour and a half, the thirsty Quasimodo couldn't help but cry out "Thirst", which he did three times in a row, only to be rewarded with rags, broken bowls and jars, and stones thrown at him by the onlookers. At that moment, Esmeralda came out from the crowd, she walked up to the execution platform, and tenderly brought the water bottle to the parched mouth of Gazimodo. At that moment one saw a great tear roll from the dry eyes of Quasimodo. The fact that such an innocent, frail maiden was able to show mercy to a monster who was a combination of deformity and viciousness touched the onlookers, who applauded and applauded in unison. Only the Hidden Nun continued to curse Esmeralda.
Volume 7
This volume is a full-scale unfolding of the relationships of the main characters, centering on the love triangle between Forbes, Claude, and Esmeralda. One day in early March, Forbes and a few famous ladies were joking and laughing at his fiancée's house, the House of the Lilies - the Gondrolier residence. Suddenly, the thud of a tambourine was heard, and it turned out to be Esmeralda dancing in the square. The crowd asked the captain of the guard, who had saved Esmeralda, to call the Egyptian girl to perform the song and dance, so Phoebus beckoned and called Esmeralda, who heard the call and came to Gondrolier's mansion with her cheeks flushed. Her beauty captivated Forbes, and she was envied by all the noble ladies, inviting their scorn.
A lady took advantage of the crowd's attention, with a piece of almond cake to the goat Cherry to a corner of the room, and curiously unlocked it on the neck of the small pocket, the letters inside poured on the mat, the little goat skillfully arranged the letters into the letters of the word "Forbes", revealing the secret of the heart of Esmeralda. Originally, Esmeralda since being rescued, the heart has always been in love with the young, handsome Forbes, she used two months of effort to train the little goat, so that it can be so skillful in the discharge of the name. All this was in full view of Forbes, who, seeing the maiden's love for him, asked her to a rendezvous at the inn.
Associate Archbishop Claude stood in the little chamber and watched Esmeralda dance intently. His face grew more and more somber when he saw the man in the strange costume beside Esmeralda, and he hurried downstairs.
From the morning of his crucifixion, Quasimodo's enthusiasm for playing the bells waned. It was not until the feast of the Annunciation that he seemed to regain his loving mood for those bells. He went to the top of the bell tower, clapped his hands and played his beloved bells like a conductor. Suddenly he looked at Esmeralda dancing in the square and his passion for music was frozen again. He turned his back on those bells and stared at the dancing girl with a dreamy, tender gaze that surprised Claude, who happened to be descending the stairs, and who was a little disturbed, but went downstairs without bothering to ask Quasimodo.
Filled with questions, the Vicar-General stepped out of the small door at the base of the bell tower into the square. At this point, Esmeralda was gone, leaving only Gangovar, who was collecting small silver coins, and Claude took him into Notre Dame. From the mouth of Gangovar, Claude was informed of the process of Esmeralda and Gangovar's wrestling pots into marriage． But the two were only married in name. Because Esmeralda hoped to find her real parents with the spell around her neck, she had always protected her virginity to avoid the spell's failure, but recently she often whispered the name "Forbes". The vice bishop didn't understand what "Forbes" meant, but there was a hint of uneasiness in his heart. Gamgoire kept assuring Claude that he had not touched the stray girl, and Claude's mind was calmed.
A few days later, Claude's younger brother, Wakan, went to the church's secret room to ask his brother for money because he had no money in his pocket. He secretly hid in the doorway and peered into the secret room. In the gloomy chamber, the vice-minister, with his back to John, was talking to himself, and the names "Esmeralda" or "Forbes" popped out of his mouth from time to time, which made him very angry. He carved a capital "Fate" in Greek on the wall, and then fell into deep meditation. John boldly went in and had a little talk with his brother, but he did not promise to give him the money. When John was in despair, Jacques, a guest of the vicar-general, came and told him to hide under the stove so that he would not be discovered, so John used this as a blackmail to get the money he wanted.
After talking with Jacques for a while, Claude rushed out of the room with Jacques to keep Wakamang out of trouble. Wakan came out of the room and ran into Captain Forbes. Kludd shuddered when he heard "Vorbis" coming out of Ruohan's mouth, a name that had been on his mind ever since he talked to Gangowar. He eavesdropped on them, and when he heard the captain telling Wakan that he was going on a date with Esmeralda, he gritted his teeth in anger and prepared to follow them. It was already dark when Wakan and Forbes came out of Eve's tavern. Wakan falls to the ground drunk and Forbes leaves without him. Claude stood in front of Wakan and hesitated, but decided to follow Forbes. They stop in front of the Odam Academy, and Forbes is terrified when he sees the man in black in front of him with only his eyes showing and remembers about the demon monks coming out at night. Claude doesn't believe that Forbes is dating Esmeralda, and Forbes therefore wants to have a sword fight with him, but Claude doesn't agree. He gives Forbes a silver coin to go to the appointment and asks Forbes to let him hide in a corner to confirm that it is Esmeralda with whom he is dating. Forbes readily agreed.
They arrived at the inn and Forbes paid the silver coin to the proprietress, old Mrs. Faludae, but no sooner had the old woman put the ejus in a drawer than it was stolen by a young boy, who also put a dead leaf in the drawer by hand.
During the rendezvous, Esmeralda fondly tells Forbes that she wants to marry him. Upon hearing this, Forbes wore a complex expression of surprise and scorn as he coaxed Esmeralda closer to him as he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her repeatedly. As Claude watched the two of them making out, jealousy flared, he pulled out a sharp knife he had hidden on his person, and when they weren't looking, he stabbed Forbes in the back as hard as he could, Forbes fell with a loud thud, and Esmeralda was knocked out in shock, vaguely sensing that someone was planting a hot kiss on her lips. When she awoke, the priest was gone, and the military police arrested her and charged her with stabbing Forbes with witchcraft in conjunction with a demon monk.
Volume 8
This volume recounts that Esmeralda was sentenced to death for murder. She is taken to the execution ground and later rescued by Quasimodo.
Gangoire and everyone in the Miracle Dynasty are in an uneasy mood, as Esmeralda has not been heard from for a month. A grieving Gangovar passes by the Durnell Criminal Prison and, at the gates of the Palace of Justice, sees Esmeralda. There she is on trial. Immediately after stabbing Forbes, Claude jumps out of the window and flees, while Esmeralda, stunned at the scene, is taken for the murderer. As the silver coin that Forbes gave to Mrs. Faludet "changed" into a dead leaf, and the goat Jiali's accurate "answer" to the judge's cross-examination, these "ironclad" evidences are not only the evidence, but also the evidence that the murderer is a murderer, but also the evidence that the murderer is a murderer. These "hard evidence" led the judges to conclude that Esmeralda had used witchcraft to drive the devil in black to assassinate Forbes. Esmeralda initially denied the charge, but the judges took her into the torture chamber and clamped her feet tightly with iron boots, and eventually she was beaten into submission, so the judges issued a sentence: to perform a penance in front of the gates of Notre Dame, wearing only a shirt and bare feet, and then be hanged.
Esmeralda was imprisoned in a cold dungeon. She was numb and stagnant, throwing away all hope for a quick death. One day, Vice-Archbishop Claude came to the dungeon, and Esmeralda recognized him as the man who had assassinated Forbes and framed her, and she hated him. He kneels before Esmeralda and expresses his love for her. He grabbed Esmeralda by the arm in a delirious attempt to pull her away. Esmeralda stares straight ahead and asks, "How is my Phobos?" Claude tells her that Forbes is dead, and Esmeralda, on hearing this, says without moving, "Dead! Then why do you urge me to live?" She lunged at him like an enraged tiger, and with superhuman strength pushed him down on the stone steps of the staircase.
One morning in May, the Cloistered Sister of the Tower of Roland, hearing that an Egyptian woman was to be hanged today, asked Father Claude, who was pretending to read a prayer book beside her, and Claude told her that it was the dancing girl who was to be hanged today. The Cryptic Nun felt a rush of vengeful ecstasy.
The clock of Notre Dame struck twelve as a prison wagon carrying Esmeralda entered the square. Forbes, who had recovered from his wounds, was by now standing on the balcony with his fiancée watching the square. For the sake of his own honor, he did not want to stand up and prove Esmeralda's innocence. The prison wagon stops in front of the gates of Notre Dame, and Father Claude, who presides over the penitential ceremony, slowly comes to Esmeralda, and he offers her his life as a condition for her accepting him, but Esmeralda flatly refuses. Claude, who thought that Forbes had been killed by himself, looked up at this point and was surprised to see the intact Forbes standing next to his fiancée. Furious, Claude decides to let Esmeralda die so that no one can have her. As Esmeralda is about to serve her sentence, she also sees Forbes on the balcony and screams in excitement, but Forbes frowns and then ducks in. In despair she fell motionless to the ground, at his mercy. Just as the two assistants of the hitman were about to carry out the prosecutor's orders, Quasimodo, who had been watching for some time from the upper floors of Notre Dame, suddenly slipped down from the ready rope, knocked the two assistants down with his huge fists, and then carried Esmeralda into Notre Dame, shouting, "Holy ground! Holy Land!" The people shouted along with them. The church was a sanctuary, and human jurisdiction could not cross its threshold. The crowd chanted enthusiastically, finding Quasimodo at this point very beautiful and moving.
After sending Esmeralda to the gallows, Claude desperately fled. He wanted to escape the scene, the pain, the fated tragedy. As he ran he realized that all the hatred within him was nothing more than the compromised love that had led the girl to the gallows and himself to hell. Immediately afterward he thought of Forbes, of the whole audience, of the Egyptian girl, and an unheard-of jealousy arose. He even fantasized about falling in love with the Egyptian girl. Thus, endless thoughts, fainting fever constantly tormented him.