On a dark night, Pierre Gringoire, the poet, playwright, scholar and philosopher, is walking through the crime infested streets
of 15th century Paris. His latest play has been unsuccessful, and he has no money in his pocket. He spots La Esmeralda, the divinely beautiful gypsy dancer, and follows her on an impulse. At a cry from the girl, he runs forward to see her being carried away by Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre Dame, and Claude Frollo, the
archdeacon of Josas. The cowardly Gringoire does nothing more than call for the mounted soldiers patrolling nearby. This is how Captain Phoebus de Chateaupers, a brave officer, gets there just in time to rescue La Esmeralda. At this point, all the principle characters of the tragic romance are on the scene.
Archdeacon Frollo is a severe, stern monk who leads the life of an ascetic. He is a great scholar of medicine and astronomy, his latest obsession being alchemy. His extreme hatred for women can be put down to the fact that he has a hard time keeping himself away from temptation, and the "impurity" of erotic
love horrifies him. The only person he has any love for is his sixteen year old brother, Jehan de Frollo, a spoilt, dissipated youth who divides his time between the gambling parlours and the pleasure houses of Paris. Quasimodo, the bell ringer of cathedral Notre Dame, is a hideously ugly, hunchbacked, one eyed and deaf young man whom the archdeacon adopted as a child. He is known for his phenomenal strength, which is the only thing which protects him from being lynched by the people. Quasimodo is thought of as the devil himself, and while Parisians shun him, they also ridicule him from a safe distance. Gringoire, a protege of Claude Frollo, is a vain, weak, self absorbed man whose only concern is for himself. Being a philosopher by nature as well as profession, he does not tire himself by thinking too much about ethics, honour and love, which cannot fill his stomach. Captain Phoebus is a rich nobleman, a rake who has made love to so many women that he does not find it difficult to play the part of the ardent lover like an expert. He is engaged to a beautiful, vain, frigid noblewoman whose large dowry overcomes any objections he might have to marrying her .
Due to circumstances, Gringoire is forced to "marry" Esmeralda in a gypsy ceremony. Their relationship is more like that of brother and sister, since Esmeralda refuses to sleep with him, and he himself admits to having no more love for her than her pet, Djali the goat. Esmeralda falls in love with the dashing, handsome Captain Phoebus de Chateaupers, who rescued her from Quasimodo. Quasimodo too begins to love this wandering, beautiful waif after she does him a good turn. Of all men, it is Quasimodo whose love is the truest and most unconditional, and it is Quasimodo's love that Esmeralda rejects because she finds this ugly man a poor comparison to Phoebus, her dazzling sun.
Unfortunately for Esmeralda, Archdeacon Frollo too falls for her charms. His is a passionate, mad obsession, and a possessive, jealous lust for her body. When the dissipated Captain Phoebus tries to make Esmeralda his mistress, Claude stabs him in a jealous rage. Phoebus survives and goes into hiding till the trial is over and the affair is forgotten, but Esmeralda is sentenced to death on the charge of murdering him. Claude, who has the clout to save her, gives her a horrible choice- himself or death. Esmeralda hates him for having harmed Phoebus, and refuses to be with him. Claude, in his mad jealosy, decides to send her to the gallows rather than see her with another man. But Quasimodo rescues her, and for a while, she lives safe in hiding in Notre Dame, with the hunchbacked bell ringer as her only friend. But one night, Claude finds her and kidnaps her. His repeats his offer- if she flies with him, she will be safe. On Esmeralda's refusing again, he gives her up to the king's soldiers who are looking for her.
So the next morning, the sorroul Quasimodo, while looking for his beloved Esmeralda, finds the archdeacon on the balcony of Notre Dame. He is staring intensely at somethinin the distance. Following his gaze, Quasimodo sees a sight that takes away the light from his life. As the rosy dawn is breaking, the royal executioners drag a beautiful, frail girl to the town scaffold and hang her. Her body quivers, then all is still. Quasimodo does not utter a word, and he silently gives his beloved friend and master a push that sends him a few hundred feet down to his death. Then, as he looks at the broken body below, and the frail body hanging on the gallows, all he says is, "All that I ever loved."
The novel, published as "Notre Dame de Paris" in 1833, is probably Victor Hugo's finest work. The French romance became poplular almost overnight, and its English version appeared two years later.