Claude Frollo


Monseigneur Claude Frollo is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Victor Hugo's 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. He is the Archdeacon of Notre Dame.

In the novel

Claude Frollo is a pious and highly knowledgeable man who was orphaned along with his younger 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.
During a holiday at Notre Dame called Quasimodo Sunday, he rescues a deformed hunchback child whom he finds abandoned on the cathedral's foundlings bed. He adopts the boy, names him "Quasimodo" after the holiday, raises him like a son, and teaches him a sort of sign language when Quasimodo is deafened by the cathedral’s bells. 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. He also believes strongly in fate. All this, along with his extreme and irrational fear of women, contribute further to his isolation from society.
Frollo also has strong passions, even 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 Esméralda, and eventually, they prove his undoing. He considers her to be a temptation sent by the Devil to test his faith, and curses her as a demon. He finds that he cannot resist her, however, and determines to give in to temptation. Esmeralda, however, is repulsed by his advances. Frollo orders Quasimodo to abduct her, and then abandons him when the hunchback is suddenly captured by Captain Phoebus de Chateaupers and his guards. Frollo even ignores Quasimodo when he sees him being publicly humiliated 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 are about to make love, Frollo, in a jealous rage, stabs Phoebus, and kisses Esmeralda when she faints before fleeing.
Frollo does not attempt to intercede when Esmeralda is turned over to the magistrate on charges of witchcraft and attempted murder, but he stabs himself during her torture and shows her the wound as a proof of his lust for her. She is unmoved, however, as she is still in love with Phoebus. Shortly before the day she is to be executed, Frollo leaves Paris in a feverish madness, not realizing that Quasimodo – who is in love with her – has rescued her from the gallows. When he returns to the news that Esmeralda is still alive, he becomes as jealous of Quasimodo as he was of Phoebus. Frollo later attempts to rape her at her sanctuary in the cathedral, but Quasimodo – who doesn't realize who Esmeralda's attacker is at first – comes to the girl's defense and beats him up. Angered and humiliated, Frollo 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, arm 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 submit to him, or he will hand her over to the authorities. She rejects him, so he leaves her 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.
When Quasimodo sees him laughing at Esmeralda's hanging, he becomes enraged and pushes Frollo off the balustrade. A gargoyle stops his fall, and he cries out to Quasimodo for help, but Quasimodo remains silent. Then Frollo falls down off the cathedral, colliding with the roof of a house. He slides down the roof, hits the pavement of the town square and dies.

Adaptations

's novel has been adapted to film on numerous occasions. Due to policy of the NAMPI Thirteen Points, the filmmakers of the 1923 film adaptation would not portray a member of the Roman Catholic Church in a negative and controversial light. As a result, Claude Frollo is not the villain, but instead a good-hearted archdeacon of Notre Dame, and the villain of the film is actually his younger brother Jehan. The 1939 film had a similar change for the same reason due to policy of the Hays Production Code; the only difference is that Claude is portrayed as the Archbishop of Paris and Jehan is portrayed as King Louis XI's chief justice of Paris. In Disney's 1996 animated film, Claude is Paris' judge/Minister of Justice and the villain as in the novel, the Archdeacon of Notre Dame is a separate character entirely, and the character of Jehan is omitted.
However, Jehan appeared as he was originally portrayed in the novel in the following adaptations:
Among the actors who played Claude Frollo over the years in each adaptation of the novel are:
ActorVersion
Claude Garry1911 film
Walter LawThe Darling of Paris
Annesley HealyEsmeralda
Nigel DeBrulier1923 film
Walter Hampden1939 film
Alain Cuny1956 film
James Maxwell1966 cartoon TV show
Kenneth Haigh1977 TV show
Derek Jacobi1982 TV film
Ron Haddrick 1986 animated film
Vlasta Vrána The Magical Adventures of Quasimodo
Tony Jay 1996 Disney animated film
Richard Harris1997 TV film
Daniel LavoieNotre Dame de Paris
Richard Berry Quasimodo d'El Paris
Kevin Doyle 2008 BBC Radio adaptation
Patrick Page2014-2015 musical

Disney version

In Disney's 1996 animated film version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Judge Claude Frollo was voiced by Tony Jay, whom directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale chose for the role based on his brief appearance as Monsieur D'Arque in their previous film, Beauty and the Beast and animated by Kathy Zielinski. The character's features were inspired by those of the actor Stewart Granger and, only specifically his appearance in the 1953 film The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, of Hans Conreid. The film's producer, Don Hahn, stated that the character of Frollo was inspired by Ralph Fiennes' performance as Amon Göth from Schindler's List, who murders Jews yet desires his Jewish maid. Screenwriter Tab Murphy made Frollo Paris' justice minister rather than an archdeacon, thus avoiding religious sensibilities in the finished film.
Frollo is portrayed in the film as the cruel, infamous, ruthless, self-righteous, and fanatically religious Minister of Justice of Paris. He despises Paris’ Gypsy population and desires to wipe out their entire race. Like his original character in Victor Hugo's novel, Frollo lusts after Esmeralda to the point of obsession, and demands her to choose to be his or die. Frollo believes everything he does is in accordance with God's will, despite frequent disagreements with the Archdeacon of Notre Dame. While in the novel Frollo genuinely cares for Quasimodo, in this film he is Quasimodo's reluctant guardian and took him in only out of fear of God’s punishment and the hope that the hunchback will someday be useful to him. Trousdale described the film's Frollo as "a horrible, horrible person", while Jay compared him to Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.
In the beginning of the film, Frollo and his soldiers capture a group of Gypsy peasants attempting to sneak illegally into Paris on a boat. A Gypsy woman in the group attempts to flee with her deformed baby, but Frollo kills her outside Notre Dame Cathedral. He tries to kill the baby as well, but the cathedral's archdeacon intervenes and accuses Frollo of murdering an innocent woman. Fearing divine retribution, Frollo reluctantly agrees to raise the deformed child in Notre Dame as his son, naming him "Quasimodo", and teaching him that the world outside the cathedral is a sinful place full of people who would hate him for his deformity.
Twenty years later, in the Palace of Justice, Frollo appoints a new Captain of the Guard, Phoebus, stating his intent to eradicate the city's Gypsy population by discovering their sanctuary, the "Court of Miracles". While attending the annual Festival of Fools, Frollo discovers a Gypsy dancer, Esmeralda, who attracts him with her beauty. He finds that Quasimodo has left the bell tower and joined the Festival. Quasimodo is humiliated by the crowd after two of Frollo's guards start a riot. Frollo refuses to help Quasimodo, going so far as to refuse Phoebus' request to stop it, and he is angered when Esmeralda defiantly decides to help Quasimodo. Esmeralda rebukes Frollo before claiming sanctuary inside the cathedral.
Frollo soon develops lustful feelings for Esmeralda and begs the Virgin Mary to save him from her "spell"; he then resolves that “she will be mine, or she will burn”. When Frollo learns that she has escaped Notre Dame, he instigates a citywide manhunt for her, even going as far as capturing and bribing Gypsies and burning countless houses in his way. Phoebus is appalled by Frollo's actions and openly defies him, and Frollo sentences him to death. While fleeing on Frollo's horse, Phoebus is struck by an arrow and falls into the River Seine, but Esmeralda rescues him just in time and takes him to Notre Dame for refuge.
Frollo returns to Notre Dame later that night and discovers that Quasimodo had helped Esmeralda escape. He lies to Quasimodo, saying that he knows about the Court of Miracles and that he intends to attack at dawn with 1,000 men. Following Quasimodo and Phoebus to the Court of Miracles, Frollo and his men capture all the Gypsies present. Frollo prepares to burn Esmeralda at the stake, but offers to spare her life if she submits to his desires. A disgusted Esmeralda refuses and spits on his face, and Frollo prepares to execute her. Quasimodo rescues her, however, and brings her to the cathedral. Frollo orders his soldiers to attack and seize the cathedral. Phoebus releases the Gypsies and rallies the citizens of Paris against Frollo and his men. Quasimodo pours molten lead onto the streets to ensure that no one enters, but Frollo manages to get inside. Frollo attempts to kill Quasimodo, but Quasimodo overpowers him, and openly rejects everything that Frollo raised him to believe. Frollo pursues Quasimodo and Esmeralda to the balcony, where he taunts Quasimodo with the truth about his mother. Frollo knocks Quasimodo over the edge, but Quasimodo manages to hold on and ends up pulling Frollo along with him. Frollo climbs onto a gargoyle and raises his sword to strike at Esmeralda, but the gargoyle crumbles underneath him, causing him to lose his balance. In a vision, Frollo sees the gargoyle's face transform into that of Satan. Terrified, Frollo screams as the gargoyle breaks off entirely, sending him falling to his death into the molten lead below.

Later appearances