Who Is Quasimodo A Monster

Quasimodo; rejected from birth and an outcast from the society of Paris lives his daily life hidden away in the bell tower of Notre Dame. He serves his master Jean-Claude Frollo, who saved Quasimodo as an infant on the very steps of Notre Dame. Jean-Claude Frollo is a cold and callous man who uses Quasimodo for his own benefit. While it can be said that Quasimodo is a monster on the outside, it can also be stated that Jean-Claude Frollo is a bigger monster internally. The two are opposing sides to the question: who is the Monster and who is the Man?
Quasimodo, viewed from the outside, is a horrific being to everyone who sees him. Everything Quasimodo’s outward appearance presents to the world is grotesque: twisted legs, a deformed spine, oversized
He is loyal to his master Jean-Claude Frollo for his entire life up until Frollo kills La Esmeralda. Jean-Claude Frollo, unlike Quasimodo is not a monster for his physique but for his actions and inner thoughts. Frollo was once a compassionate man but is driven to madness through lust. Frollo’s only goal as the Archdeacon of Notre Dame is to rid the world of sin. This would not be a wrongdoing if he truly wanted to cleanse Paris through his religion. However, his idea of sin and evil are the gypsies and the common crowd. While Frollo seems rotten and truly evil, he does have a very small amount of qualities that suggest he is not completely bad. For one, he adopted Quasimodo when everyone else wanted to dispose of him. While Frollo is not a loving father, he does still provide for Quasimodo. The two also communicate together using some sort of sign language, due to Quasimodo’s deafness. Jean-Claude Frollo also is loyal to his brother Jehan. The idea that he may have once been a better man is hinted, but now that Frollo is an old bitter man suggests that, “as he grew older, gaps opened up in his science, they did in his heart as well" (IV.V.10). While he may have been a compassionate man at one time, he is not any
Quasimodo uses her as a beacon of love and compares her to himself. Quasimodo has been subjected to many things due to his looks and La Esmeralda is in the same way judged for her beauty. Unlike Quasimodo, Frollo is infatuated with Esmeralda and she is the reason for his decent into darkness. When Frollo sees the gypsy Esmeralda dancing in the street, he becomes fascinated with her and instructs Quasimodo to kidnap her, for his own benefit. Frollo becomes obsessed with Esmeralda and believes she is a trap from the devil. Frollo believes that due to his new affection for her he, “was transformed into horrid things in the heart of a priest, and that someone constituted as he was, in becoming a priest made himself a demon” (IX.I.4).After seeing Esmeralda and Phoebes together, in a fit of rage Frollo stabs Phoebes. Frollo leaves her there, not realizing he sentences her to be tried for murder. Jean-Claude Frollo is the cause for Esmeralda’s death. He gives her the option, “choose me or the fire, be mine or you will burn”