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Book 11, Chapter 3
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Gothic Architecture, History, and Art
Lust, Sin, and Misogyny
Appearances, Alienation, and Hypocrisy
Fate and Predestination
The Supernatural, Rationalism, and Knowledge
Justice, Punishment, and Freedom
Summary
Analysis
Quasimodo is never seen again after this day. After she is hanged, Esmeralda’s body is placed in the mass grave in the cellar of a prison called Montfaucon, with the remains of other executed prisoners. Two years after this, Olivier le Daim is hanged and buried in Montfaucon. The grave is opened again so Olivier’s body can be removed and buried elsewhere after Charles VIII posthumously pardons him.
The medieval period ended soon after the era the novel is set in, and its concluding events (including the real historical death of Olivier le Daim) reflect this coming change. With Esmeralda’s death, Hugo indicates that something real and beautiful came to an end as the medieval period ended. But at the same, time, he also makes it clear that this change was a necessary remedy to social ills—for instance, the mass grave highlights how many people were executed by the corrupt medieval justice system.
Themes
During this excavation, two skeletons are found wrapped around each other. One is the skeleton of a woman. A few white rags still cling to her bones. The other skeleton is deformed and has clearly not died from hanging. The guards try to untangle them, but the deformed skeleton turns to ash beneath their hands.
Quasimodo and Esmeralda represent the medieval period and the beautiful and grotesque extremes of Gothic architecture, which symbolizes medieval thought throughout the novel. Hugo suggests that in Gothic architecture, beauty is intertwined with ugliness and that this combination reflects real life, which contains both joy and devastation. With this bittersweet conclusion, Hugo indicates that, although Gothic architecture fell out of favor for several centuries after the medieval period, he hopes to see a revival of interest in this art form, which, although it can never be recaptured in its original form, can provide modern readers with valuable knowledge about both the medieval period and humanity in general.
Themes
