Victor Hugo penned a fantastic, picturesque story of passion and the human spirit in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The dramatic emotions of the characters play out on the stage of fifteenth century Paris, France. Quasimodo, a repugnant physical defect of nature, lived severed from human contact, excepting that of the solemnly aloof priest, Claude Frollo. For his part, Frollo strove for knowledge until he encountered the captivatingly gorgeous gypsy dancer, Esmeralda. She existed solely …showed first 75 words of 842 total…

…showed last 75 words of 842 total…revelations of themes, philosophies, and morals through humorous characters, seems reminiscent of Sir Walter Scott's usage of a comparable pretext. Through the philosopher/poet, Gringoire, Hugo presents a moral that "'the temptations of the flesh are pernicious and malignant'" (276). Certainly there exists some truth to this supposition on a central idea of the novel, the animosity stirred by mortal sensitivity, that during man's eternal search for affection--even when he possesses it, he still craves more.