Claude Frollo

Claude Frollo
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame character

Claude Frollo, holding a baby Quasimodo. Art by Luc-Olivier Merson.
Created by Victor Hugo
Information
Gender Male
Occupation Archdeacon
Family Jehan (brother)
Children Quasimodo (adopted)
Religion Roman Catholicism
Nationality French

Monseigneur Claude Frollo [klod fʁɔlo] is a fictional character from Victor Hugo's 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. He is the Archdeacon of Notre Dame.

In the novel

In his youth, Claude Frollo was a highly knowledgeable but morose young man who was orphaned along with his infant brother Jehan when their parents died of the plague. His studies led him to become the Archdeacon of Josas, which is his position during the events of the novel. He also has a small fief which brings him a little money, most of which goes to fund his brother's alcoholism.

Frollo has a deeply compassionate side. He rescues Quasimodo, a deformed hunchback child whom he finds abandoned on the cathedral's foundlings bed. He adopts him, raises him like a son, cares for him, and teaches him a sort of sign language when Quasimodo becomes deaf. Frollo is a respected scholar and studies several languages, law, medicine, science and theology. However, he becomes infatuated with alchemy, which leads townspeople to spread the rumor that he is a sorcerer. He also believes strongly in fate. When a visitor to Frollo's quarters sees a fly caught in a web and tries to save the fly, Frollo sharply holds him back, saying, "Do not interfere with the workings of fate!" His dour, prematurely aged appearance (at thirty-six he is already nearly bald), as well as his extreme and irrational fear of women, contribute further to his isolation from society.

Frollo also has strong passions, though he is a celibate due to his station within the church. These passions erupt in him through his contact with the beautiful Gypsy girl Esmeralda, and eventually they prove his undoing. He considers her to be a temptation sent by the Devil to test his faith, and begins by cursing her as a demoness, but finds he cannot resist her, and determines to give in to temptation. Esmeralda, however, is repulsed by his impassioned advances. Frollo orders Quasimodo to abduct her, a crime that Frollo himself instigated out of mad lust for her, and then abandons him when the hunchback is suddenly captured by Captain Phoebus de Chateaupers and his guards. Frollo even ignores the poor hunchback when he sees him being publicly tortured for the crime. When Frollo discovers that Esmeralda is in love with Phoebus, he spies on the meeting between them which Esmeralda has arranged – with Phoebus' consent, as Phoebus only wants one night of passion. As Phoebus and Esmeralda prepare to copulate, Frollo, in a jealous rage, stabs Phoebus, and kisses Esmeralda when she faints. He does not attempt to intercede when she is turned over to the magistrate on charges of witchcraft and murder, however, but he stabs himself during her torture and shows her the wound as a proof of his love for her. She is unmoved however, as she is still in love with Phoebus, even after discovering the truth about his infatuation with her, and shortly before her execution he comes completely undone and leaves Paris in a feverish madness, not realizing that his adopted son, Quasimodo, has rescued her from the gallows. When he returns to the news that Esmeralda is still alive, he quickly becomes as jealous of Quasimodo as he was of Phoebus; the thought drives him to further insanity. Frollo later attempts to rape her at her sanctuary in the cathedral, only to be brutally beaten and nearly killed by Quasimodo, who doesn't realize who he is until he staggers into the moonlight. Frollo has had enough, and decides to rid himself of Esmeralda by handing her over to the authorities.

Frollo's time comes when a group of scoundrels, enraged by news that the French monarchy has ordered Esmeralda to be taken from the cathedral and hanged within three days, arms themselves to assault Notre Dame Cathedral. While Quasimodo is busy fighting off the scoundrels, Pierre Gringoire, Esmeralda's husband – whom she only married to save his life – and a hooded figure sneak into the Cathedral and convince Esmeralda to sneak out with them. The man's face is hidden behind a hood, leaving Esmeralda to guess his identity. They flee to a boat on the River Seine, then separate when they head to shore, with Gringoire taking her goat, Djali, and leaving Esmeralda with the unknown man. The hooded figure drags Esmeralda to a nearby gallows and identifies himself as Frollo by removing his hood.

Frollo issues Esmeralda his final ultimatum: either she must accept his love, or he shall hand her over to the authorities. In fact, she refuses to reciprocate, so Frollo leaves Esmeralda to an anchoress to hold her for the royal soldiers coming to hang her and goes back to Notre Dame Cathedral. He then walks up to one of the cathedral's towers to watch the girl being hanged, unaware that Quasimodo has spotted him and followed him upstairs. He watches calmly while Esmeralda is taken to the gallows; then when the girl is actually hanged he bursts into an evil laugh – perhaps he is glad to have her out of his life, or perhaps he sees it as retribution for her rejection of him. This is the last that is seen of Esmeralda.

When Quasimodo sees what Frollo has done to Esmeralda, he becomes enraged and pushes him off the balustrade. Frollo falls off the cathedral, to his death.

Adaptations

Victor Hugo's novel has been adapted to film on numerous occasions. In the 1923 silent film version, Claude Frollo is not the villain at all; instead, he is a good archdeacon, and the villain of the film is actually his younger brother Jehan. The 1939 sound film version also did the same, only it portrayed Claude as an archbishop and Jehan ("Jean" in the film) as a judge. This version of the story is said to be what most influenced the 1996 Disney adaptation, which had the same conditions aside from the name change: Claude is the judge rather than an archdeacon, the Archdeacon is a separate character entirely, and the character of Jehan is omitted. Many conclude that such changes were made to avoid a negative reaction from religious organizations.

Actor Version Character
Victor Hugo's novel Archdeacon Claude Frollo
Walter Law 1917 adaptation Archdeacon Claude Frollo
Annesley Healy 1922 adaptation Archdeacon Claude Frollo
Brandon Hurst 1923 adaptation Jehan Frollo
Sir Cedric Hardwicke 1939 adaptation Judge Jean Frollo
Alain Cuny 1956 adaptation Archdeacon Claude Frollo
James Maxwell (voice) 1966 adaptation Archdeacon Claude Frollo
Kenneth Haigh 1977 adaptation Archdeacon Claude Frollo
Derek Jacobi 1982 adaptation Archdeacon Claude Frollo
Ron Haddrick (voice) 1986 adaptation Archdeacon Claude Frollo
Vlasta Vrána (voice) 1995 adaptation Archdeacon Claude Frollo
Tony Jay (voice) 1996 Disney adaptation Judge Claude Frollo
Richard Harris 1997 adaptation Archdeacon Claude Frollo
Daniel Lavoie 1997-2002, musical Archdeacon Claude Frollo
Richard Berry 1999 parody Serge Frollo
Patrick Page 2014-2015, musical Archdeacon Claude Frollo

Disney version

Judge Claude Frollo
First appearance The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
Created by Kathy Zielinski
Dominique Monféry
Voiced by Tony Jay (film)
Corey Burton (Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance)

In The Hunchback of Notre Dame

An adaptation of the character, Judge Claude Frollo is the main antagonist in Disney's animated film version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). Frollo was animated by Kathy Zielinski and Dominique Monféry, and was voiced by Tony Jay, whom directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale chose for the role based on his brief appearance in their previous film, Beauty and the Beast (1991). Frollo is a cold justice minister; he is prejudiced towards the gypsies because he sees them as "impure commoners". He is genocidal towards them and wants nothing more than to wipe them out of Paris. He is depicted as the real ruler of Paris and effectively above every law in the city outside of the Cathedral. Also has his very own army of thugs who dress up as soldiers to enforce his will, and lacks much of the original character's compassion and deep emotion, becoming more of an evil villain than a tragic anti-hero. Regardless, he still has lustful feelings for Esmeralda, and plans to have her executed if she refuses to love him. In the Disney film, he is presented as a coldly intelligent, vindictive, and arrogantly sadistic, with little to no compassion or understanding for anyone or anything except himself. The opening song, "The Bells of Notre Dame", notes that he "longs to purge the world of vice and sin" and sees "corruption everywhere" except in himself. Frollo is also symbolic of religious hypocrisy, which was also an enduring theme in the novel. (According to the Archdeacon, "it would be unwise to arouse Frollo's anger further.") This film also omits Frollo's capacity for compassion present in Hugo's original novel, instead adding a selfish interpretation to his adoption of Quasimodo. However, Frollo is also perceived as a tragic figure, tormented by his maddening self-righteousness and narrow views. In the final verse of "Hellfire", he asks God to have mercy on both him and Esmeralda, implying that he ultimately knows that his actions are against God's will.

Frollo first appeared in the film, where he hired his guards to catch several gypsies illegally entering Paris. After having the gypsy men chained and arrested, Frollo chases a gypsy woman, thinking she is hiding a bundle of stolen goods in her possession. She attempts to flee and Frollo pursues her to Notre Dame, where he grabs the bundle of "stolen goods" from her, kicking her hard and causing her to fall and crack her head on the steps of Notre Dame. Frollo discovers that the "stolen goods" are absolutely nothing at all but just the woman's hideously deformed baby son. Thinking the child is an "unholy demon", Frollo attempts to drown the infant in a nearby well, but is similarly thwarted by the cathedral's Archdeacon, who accuses Frollo of the unlawful murder of an innocent woman on the steps of Notre Dame. He demands that Frollo must raise the baby as his own son as penance; otherwise, he will be damned and will pay for his crimes if he ever kills the boy the same way he did to his mother before. Fearing for his own damnation, Frollo agrees, hoping to somehow use the child to further his own purposes. Naming the boy Quasimodo, Frollo decides to raise him within the towers of Notre Dame, attempting to "protect" him from the outside world and convincing him that he is an ugly monster and will never be accepted by society. He also lies to him about his mother, claiming that she abandoned him when he was a baby (the same thing which actually happened in the novel).

Twenty years later, Frollo appoints a new Captain of the Guard, Phoebus, in the Palace of Justice since his last one was "a bit of a disappointment" to him. He has a tendency to eradicate the gypsies out of Paris with Phoebus' help and go to Heaven when he dies. While attending the annual Festival of Fools, Frollo discovers a Gypsy dancer named Esmeralda, who attracts him with her beauty. Shortly afterwards, he discovers that Quasimodo left the bell tower and joined the Festival and was crowned the King of Fools. Frollo does not help Quasimodo when he is being humiliated in public by the crowd in order to teach him a lesson for everyone to obey; in fact, he refuses Phoebus' request to stop it, and it infuriates him to its peak when Esmeralda defiantly decides to assist Quasimodo instead. Esmeralda ridicules Frollo, who immediately orders her arrested, just before she claims sanctuary within Notre Dame. Frollo later confronts Esmeralda, disturbing her by hugging her from behind and nuzzling his nose into her hair, and states that she is still a prisoner and that, as soon as she leaves, he would throw her in jail.

Frollo embracing a vision of Esmeralda from his fireplace.

That evening in the Palace of Justice, Frollo is disturbed by his attraction to Esmeralda which he thinks is turning him to sin and pleas the Virgin Mary to protect him from her "spell" and to "let [Esmeralda] taste the fires of Hell". After learning from one of his guards that Esmeralda has escaped the cathedral, this makes Frollo very angry that he begins a ruthless campaign to find her, which involves the besieging of numerous houses and the capture of gypsies, something of which Phoebus greatly does not approve. It is not until Frollo attempts to kill an innocent family whom he suspects of sheltering gypsies, which finally causes Phoebus to retaliate against him and rescue the family; Frollo then declares Phoebus a traitor and attempts to have him executed, but he is rescued by Esmeralda after being left for dead.

Discovering that Quasimodo assisted Esmeralda, Frollo convinces him that the Court of Miracles has been found and will be attacked at dawn with a thousand men. A misled Quasimodo accompanies Phoebus to the Court to warn Esmeralda, and Frollo and his army of thugs follow them and arrest the gypsies. Frollo discovers that Phoebus has survived and intends to "remedy that". With Phoebus and the gypsies are confined to cages, Frollo orders his minions to chain Quasimodo up in the bell tower, and his executions of the gypsies are supposed to be taking place near the cathedral. The citizens of Paris angrily do not allow this and demand that the gypsies had better be released, but regardless the guards hold them back. Frollo has no choice but to start off sentencing Esmeralda to mortal execution, though he gives her a single chance to live by becoming his mistress. She refuses to become Frollo's mistress—by spitting in his face—and is prepared to burn at the stake to death as a result, prompting Quasimodo to break free from his chains, rescue her after she passes out, and bring her to the cathedral, declaring sanctuary, much to the citizens' delight. Losing what remains of his sanity, Frollo orders his soldiers to seize the cathedral by force, which then finally allows Phoebus to free himself and incite the citizens to revolt against Frollo's tyranny.

The citizens free the gypsies, and they revolt against Frollo's soldiers until Quasimodo pours molten copper from the cathedral into the streets, forcing everyone (including the soldiers) to flee. Despite the major impossibility of Quasimodo's efforts, Frollo gains entry into the cathedral, deliberately disobeying the Archdeacon and throwing him down a flight of stairs. He attempts to kill Quasimodo, resulting in a violent struggle in which Quasimodo overpowers Frollo and throws him to the floor. Frightened, Frollo momentarily abandons his pride and begs for mercy, but Quasimodo ignores him and openly rejects everything that Frollo raised him to believe. When an exhausted Esmeralda regains consciousness, Quasimodo rushes her to safety. Drawing his sword, an enraged Frollo chases them onto a balcony overlooking the city, where he and Quasimodo begin to fight.

As they fight, the maddened Frollo finally admits that he was responsible for the murder of Quasimodo's mother who had failed trying to save him. He declares that he will kill Quasimodo himself as he "should have done" twenty years ago as well. Frollo subsequently uses his cape to knock Quasimodo off the balcony, but Quasimodo manages to grab on and ends up pulling Frollo down (but is unwilling to let him fall) as well. Frollo dangles momentarily for his life but is able to climb onto a nearby gargoyle in perfect position to kill Esmeralda, who is attempting to save Quasimodo. Frollo raises his sword and maniacally quotes a faux Bible verse created for the film:

"And He shall smite the wicked and plunge them into the fiery pit!"

Coincidentally, the gargoyle that he is standing on starts breaking off and he falls, clinging on for dear life and dropping his sword. In an apparent vision, the face of the gargoyle becomes the face of Satan and demonically roars at Frollo, terrifying him and making him scream in terror. The gargoyle then breaks off entirely from the balcony, angrily sending a screaming Frollo falling to his death into the lake of molten copper created by Quasimodo, clearly indicated to symbolize that his soul is now trapped in eternal damnation in the Satanic fires of Hell for all eternity as punishment for his unholy actions and behavior as well as his tyranny that finally ends once and for all. The remainder of Frollo's thugs are arrested, and either jailed or allowed to join the Guard.

In the sequel The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, Frollo and his attitude towards gypsies are alluded to when Sarousch (a gypsy master criminal and the main antagonist of the sequel) reminds Madellaine that when he caught her stealing food from him when she was little, he took her in instead of handing her to the authorities. This implies that Sarousch was aware of Frollo's prejudice towards gypsies and deliberately avoided targeting Paris while Frollo was alive. He is also mentioned when Clopin announces Esmeralda's dancing performance, and jokingly tells a young boy that she just "might steal your heart," using a puppet that looked a lot like Frollo, referencing Frollo's lust for Esmeralda. Also, when Madellaine (who was Sarousch's assistant until she fell in love with Quasimodo) tries to convince him to trust her into helping him stop Sarousch, Quasimodo coldly replies "I already made that mistake", possibly referring to how Frollo deceived Quasimodo for twenty years into loyalty to the former.

Other appearances

Reception

Despite the changes to Frollo's character, the Disney version has been acclaimed, and has often been called one of the greatest of all Disney villains, and often is considered one of, if not the darkest.[1][2]

References

  1. ↑ "The 15 Greatest Disney Villains". Topless Robot.
  2. ↑ Top 10 Animated Disney Villains. YouTube. 8 September 2013.

External links

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