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In the 1939 film, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, adapted from the novel written by Victor Hugo, the themes are obvious in numerous scenes of the film; however, in other scenes themes are hidden to eyes of the audience and revealed in significant images or actions. The themes are observed in various forms through Gothic characteristics such as, extreme contrasts, death, grotesque forms, and religious associations. These themes provided a breakdown in rule to a previously calm society.
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Extreme contrasts were portrayed in the two brothers, one was a priest, and the other brother was a high judge. The two brothers’ daily wardrobe was yet another example of extreme contrast; one being dressed in white while the other in black. The extreme contrasts seen in these two characters intensified a sense of truth. The theme of death was revealed through the death of Captain Phoebus, Esmeralda’s lover, who was stabbed by Count Frollo out of jealousy. Count Frollo realized Esmeralda would never love him the way he loved her; therefore, he killed her lover. By killing Captain Phoebus, Count Frollo displayed the nature of his power he had over humans.
Grotesque forms were one of the two major Gothic themes depicted throughout the film. The movie itself was named after a grotesque being, Quasimodo, who lived in the bell tower of the cathedral and was responsible for ringing the bells. Quasimodo had almost every possible physical abnormality working against him. To name a few, he had a hunched back, one eye, a forked chin, jagged and gapped teeth, sunken shoulders, and deafness. His ugliness stopped many people from looking at him, let alone treating him as an equal. Yet in this case looks could be and were deceiving. The entire town saw Quasimodo as this horrible monster, but in all actuality, within this “monster” was a heart of gold. Since he was shunned by the public, the closet thing Quasimodo had to a friend were the bells of Notre Dame, which he rang daily. These bells and stone gargoyle statues were all he had in this world; in one scene, he revealed to Esmeralda he named the bells. In the last scene of the film, Quasimodo with his arm around one of the stone gargoyles, which outlined the cathedral, asked one, “Why was I not made of stone — like thee?
