Strange yet Beautiful

By:  Erick White 

     He thought of the folly of eternal vows, of the vanity of chastity, science, religion, and virtue.  He wilfully plunged into evil thoughts, and as he immersed himself in them he felt a Satanic laugh arising within him.

     And when, while thus diving into his soul, he saw how large a space nature had prepared for the passions, he laughed still nore bitterly,  He stirred from the bottom of his heart all its hatred and all all its maligniy; and he percieved, with the cold indifference of a physician examining a patient, that this hatred and this malignity were but vitiated love; love that, the source of every virtue in man, was transformed into horrid things in the heart of a priest, and that one so constituted as he in making himself a priest made himself a demon.  He then laughed more hideously than ever, and all at once he again turned pale on considering the darkest side of his fatal passion, that corroding, venomous, rancorous, implacable love, which had consigned the one to the gallows, the other to perdition.  -Victor Hugo pages 288-289        

     How fascinating and contradicting humans are?  Humans can act subjectively, in a way that completely defys reason and logic, or objectively, refusing to follow what they feel is right and true.  The capacity for a variety of emotions, which may lead to actions, makes humans a complex yet alluring species, never defined by a set of principles and rules.  In Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame, the characters act strangely, in ways that people might not expect them to.  Their lives are filled with unexpected surprises that change their lives forever, and affects how readers view life.  The various ironies and paradoxes that the characters in The Hunchback of Notre Dame experience give a glimpse into the cryptic depths of human nature.

     The pasage above comes from just after Esmeralda has been saved from the gallows by Quasimodo and taken into the sanctuary of Notre Dame.  Frollo has fled the city to get away from the scene and to try to escape his feelings.  Once he is far enough away from the city he starts having these evil and paradoxical thoughts.  He talks in a malicious manner, a dark and contemplative tone that one acquires when they willingly allow themselves to think dark thoughts.  He says that religion, chastity, and virtue are all vain concepts.  One does not normally expect a virtuous and pious soul to be vain, rather humble.  However, it is possible for one who extols virtue and chastity especially in religion, to become vain and hold themself in high esteem.  One could start to think that because they practice these values they are better than the common, vulgar crowd.  As Frollo continues, he compares himself to a cold, indifferent physician, creating a creepy feeling for the reader towards Frollo.  This is a metaphor for Frollo in that he is becoming callous and indifferent like a cold physician, not caring for the black hole that is slowly starting to swallow his sanity and morality.  Frollo begins to call his hatred and malignity vitiated love, a love that has fallen into darkness.  Hatred and love are as dichotomous as it can possibly get.  They are two sides of the spectrum:  one characterized by good, the other by evil.  To say that hatred is a debased form of love is a hard idea to grasp, but if one looks at how someone changes after their love has been spurned, how the love turns into hatred, it starts to make sense.  Human love can turn a person evil if it is not reciprocated.  He goes on to say that by trying so hard to make himself a priest, he has made himself a demon instead.  Accepting priesthood usually means a shying away from demons and evil and acting as a paragon of good, but Frollo's dark love comes round again to change everything.  His love brought in evil thoughts and desires into his heart, thereby opening himself up to evil and creating a deep conflict within himself.  His love led him to stab Phoebus, Esmeralda's lover, in the hopes of killing him, and it put her onto the gallows to die.  His deep conflictions show the deep human nature to love and to be loved, otherwise, those empty feelings can turn someone cynical and evil.  As a result of his actions, he has condemned himself to perdition and to suffer for the rest of his life.  Ironies and paradoxes work throughout the novel, acting through the characters in a variety of examples.

     After she was saved by Quasimodo, Esmeralda discovers two vases with flowers inside the cathedral.  One is a beautiful vase made of crystal with a crack in it, so all the water drained out and the flowers are withered away; the other is a coarse and ugly stone vase that retained all the water and whose flowers are fresh and redolent.  Esmeralda took the faded bouquet and carried it around with her all day.  That was unexpected.  Why choose the dead flowers instead of the fresh ones?  What makes them better?  This is a metaphor to Esmeralda's feelings for Phoebus and Quasimodo.  Although the crystal vase is cracked and has faded flowers, it still has a better appearance than the stone one.  Phoebus make look good, but he has no substance, and anything put into him will die.  The stone vase is ugly and unattractive, but it holds true and keeps things alive despite its looks.  Quasimodo, although his appearance is hideous, has a good heart and is purer on the inside than Phoebus; his love and the love anyone feels towards him will stay alive.  Esmeralda's choosing of the crystal of the stone symbolizes how humans can be shallow creatures, and that people value appearance over substance.  In the end it is because of her love for Phoebus that leads her to her death.  It is also present in how Esmeralda cannot bring herself to be kind and grateful to Quasimodo for saving her life; she says he is just too hideous, so she can't do it.  She doesn't realize his true beauty.

     At the moment of his saving Esmeralda from the gallows, Quasimodo, according to author was beautiful.  "Yes, he was beautiful-he, that orphan, that foundling, that outcast" (Hugo 286).  The crowd was cheering him and he felt empowered; he felt "august and strong".  The very crowd that ostracized him now cheered for him.  He defied human justice with the power of God.  One wouldn't expect Quasimodo to be on the side of God, rather on the side of Satan just because of his demonic appearance, but he has a pure heart and kind spirit and inner beauty.  Quasimodo's inner beauty stems from his pure and gentle soul and from his sense of justice, which led him to save the innocent Esmeralda.  Looking at Quasimodo, one sees deformity and ugliness on the surface, but if one looks deeper, they can see a true substance, a true beauty.  It goes along with the vases metaphor that people focus on the outside more than the inside.  The novel expresses many paradoxes and ironies that characterize the story and its characters.

     Throughout the novel ironies and paradoxes fuel the motives and actions of the characters and give us a deep insight into human nature and the book.  Frollo experiences a confliction of his inner nature from his outwardly appearence as he moves to the "dark side" because of his love for Esmeralda.  Esmeralda symbolizes shallowness and naivete in her choosing of the crystal vase (symbolizing Phoebus).  Quasimodo, despite his ugliness, shows true beauty and benevolence.  These paradoxes force a profound look into how human emotions work and an understanding of human nature; it forces the reader to look below the surface.  It always important to look deep and not judge matters superficially, because even though something is strange, it can still be beautiful.