The Cathedral of Notre Dame

Wondering about the ultimate force of good in The Hunchback of Notre Dame

I have a gripe with how the Hunchback of Notre Dame is popularly perceived. This is an attempt to express my gripe at how Heaven’s Light and Hellfire —and by extension the villain and protagonist— seem to be contrasted by many people, Most annoyingly in the OST album on Spotify, They’re put on the same track. This contrast does not work for 2 reasons. 

Musically, Heaven’s Light does not hold a candle to the masterpiece that is Hellfire. Heaven’s Light feels very much like the generic Disney song; It evokes no feelings from me. The majestic, incredibly layered nature of Hellfire is the direct opposite of this, in quality at least. On the surface, it seems like a good contrast but the more you listen to this track the more you find yourself looking forward to hearing “confiteor deo omnipotenti”.

In terms of the emotions expressed, the boyish pining for a woman who kissed him on the cheek, that I can understand given his living constraints. Although his loneliness is not something I can pretend to understand. And the self-deprecation —once again understandable— has its own charm. But compared to how Judge Claude Frollo’s thoughts and desires evolves and meanders throughout Hellfire, Heaven’s light is dwarfed. It seems very much like comparing a boy to a man. 

Looking at it therefore in this dual manner, the contrast may make sense to you. The good emotions — personified by Quasimodo and expressed in Heaven’s Light — and its attendant attribute: the happy tune of Heaven’s Light and the hopeful lyrics/ending, compared to evil and the sombre, looming, depraved-sounding piece that is Hellfire, do form a contrast. However, with a slight probing beyond this immediately obvious contrast, we start to see how dwarfed in depth the good side is. We start to wonder if perhaps the good was meant as a foil for Evil. If it was, it’s not a very good one. Hellfire shines just as bright on its own.

If we extend this reasoning to the major characters in the Story we see no character matches Judge Claude Frollo’s brilliance. Everybody seems mediocre in his shine. Disappointed, I offered my thoughts on this to a friend, who suggested I look outside the characters for my force of good which can combat the force of evil Frollo embodies. She suggested the Cathedral of Notre Dame. I found this to be a fascinating idea.

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Similar to its depiction in Esmeralda’s charm, the Cathedral seems to be at the centre of the story, there is no way to escape its influence. It seems like a silent watchful guardian of Truth and all that is right. We see this right from the start, as the Honored Judge kills the baby’s mother and attempts to kill the baby as the Dies Irae –a promise of judgment– is chanted in the background. The deacon who I consider to be an emissary of the Cathedral intervenes and reminds the judge where he stands. What else could have made Judge Claude Frollo, “for one time in his life of power and control” feel a twinge of fear for his mortal soul but the towering watchful eyes of Notre Dame? Even right here the depravity of the Judge is still obvious, What was supposed to be an act of penance is transformed into something else with the Judge’s selfish “be of use to me”.

“Sanctuary! Sanctuary!” Quasimodo cries. This is one of the most powerful scenes in the movie and it perfectly describes what the Cathedral is, a sanctuary. The foil against which all our heroes' actions are contrasted. Not requiring a lot of activity —which is how I had overlooked it at first— and yet exerting so much influence. In rest, in its being, we find our ultimate force of good that matches and looms over the Judge—the Cathedral of Notre Dame.