1. Pierre Gringoire, the failed play writer whom Esmeralda married to save him from death.
2. Claude Frollo, the priest who fell desperately in love with Esmeralda and blamed her for this.
3. La Esmeralda, the beautiful gypsy dancer.
4. Quasimodo, the hunchbacked bell ringer of Notre Dame.
5. Captain Phoebus, the gallant soldier whom Esmeralda loved.
When I was younger I saw the book (already translated in bahasa Indonesia) in a book store, but as a student I didn't have enough money to buy all series so I only got Pride and Prejudice and A short stories collection by Anton Chekov. How I hoped I had the money, because several years later a friend gave me the Notre Dame de Paris book as a birthday gift, but the English translation was difficult to read (unlike my Les Miz book). I think I finally read the Indonesian translation because one of my cousins happened to have it.
I watched the 1956 movie version with Anthony Quinn and Gina Lollobrigida last night. It was a very good adaptation and I liked how the actors played Frollo, Esmeralda, and Quasimodo. My favourite scene was perhaps (because there were so many beautiful scenes) when Quasimodo was giving Esmeralda flowers when she was in sanctuary. He saw a beautiful red flower and happily troubled himself to get it - they were on the top of Notre Dame - but when he gave it to Esmeralda, she was looking at Phoebus and the next moment asked the hunchback to bring the captain to her.
In the movie Esmeralda met her end with an arrow. I haven't read the book for so long, but I think she met her death by hanging. Also I didn't see Frollo smile in the movie when Quasimodo pushed him from the roof.
Quasimodo might have the ugliest face in Paris, but he and Esmeralda possessed the purest hearts. In the movie Frollo only said he took care of Quasimodo as a charity. The book explained that Frollo had a little brother whom he put out to a nurse. When he saw baby Quasimodo, he remembered his little brother and what should happen to him if he were to die, so he felt pity to orphaned Quasimodo and take him home. (Frollo deserved a credit here. In the Disney version, he almost threw baby Quasimodo into a well.)
I remember my favourite part in the book now: The story about Esmeralda's mother. After Esmeralda had been born, there were gypsies arrived in town and her mother brought her to them so they could read her future. They were delighted to see her for she was such a very beautiful baby. The next day when her mother was out, they stole little Esmeralda and put the baby Quasimodo at her place. Her mother was very shocked to find her beautiful baby turned into a monster and since then she became a gyspy hater, even cursed Esmeralda everytime she went by, for she didn't know Esmeralda was her long lost child. And at last when mother and daughter finally met (like Cinderella, for each had one of the baby shoes), they had to be separated in an instant, for Esmeralda must be hanged, having been accused as a sorcerer, for a murder she never had done.
The trial scene in the movie was like a comedy. The proofs were stupid, but this was Paris in 1482. They didn't examined further the fact that there was another man in the murder scene. I laughed when they examined the dead leaf seriously and then concluded that Esmeralda was a sorcerer and the goat Djali was a devil incarnation. However it wasn't funny for Esmeralda for later she was tortured and perhaps she would never be able to dance again as they tried to break her lovely leg.
It was also heart-breaking to see people of Paris chose Quasimodo as the King of The Fools and the next day he was flogged and none would give him water when he asked except Esmeralda.If only Phoebus had Quasimodo's heart, said Esmeralda. But he didn't, so the story must end tragically.
The title itself can be of 2 meaning. Notre Dame de Paris either can be the great church or La Esmeralda (Notre Dame = Our Lady).
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