Claude Frollo

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Claude Frollo, holding a baby Quasimodo. Art by Luc-Olivier Merson.

Claude Frollo is a fictional character from the Victor Hugo novel Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre Dame - 1831). Frollo is the Archdeacon of Notre Dame de Paris. He, at first, is shown in a positive light but later becomes the main antagonist of the novel.

In the novel

In Victor Hugo's novel, Dom Claude Frollo is the Archdeacon of Josas of Notre-Dame Cathedral. He is approximately thirty-six years old during the course of the story. He was an incredibly intelligent but morose young man who was orphaned along with his brother Jehan when their parents died. His studies lead him to become the Archdeacon of Josas of Notre-Dame and he also has a small fief which brings him a small amount of money, most of which goes to fund his brother's lifestyle of debauchery.

He has a deeply compassionate side. He rescues the deformed hunchback abandoned on the cathedral's foundlings bed and cares for him, raises him like a son, and teaches him a sort of sign language when Quasimodo becomes deaf. He adores his wastrel, scallywag younger brother Jehan, while at the same time chiding him for his insolence. He is a respected scholar and studies several languages, law, medicine, science and theology. However, he becomes infatuated with alchemy, which brings people to claim he is a sorcerer. He also believes strongly in fate. His dour, prematurely aged appearance and extreme dislike and fear of women make him even more of an outcast and set him further apart from society.

He also has strong sexual passions, 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 Esmeralda and eventually are his undoing. The young girl is repulsed by the priest, despite his numerous impassioned pleas for her to love him. He turns all his effort to either make her love him or driving her away forever in death, as to no longer "punish" him. Frollo is so infatuated with her that he loses his self-control, attempts to kill her consort Captain Phoebus de Chateaupers, and kisses her while she faints. He even stabs himself at the sight of her torture when she is turned over to the magistrate as a witch and a "murderer" of her erstwhile lover Phoebus. He becomes completely undone right before her execution and leaves Paris in a feverish madness, not realizing that his adopted son rescued her from the gallows. He also attempts to rape her when she seeks sanctuary in the cathedral. Quasimodo throws him off the heights of the cathedral to his death when the deaf hunchback sees him laughing at Esmeralda's hanging.

Adaptations

In the Disney film

Judge Claude Frollo
First appearance	The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
Created by	Victor Hugo
Voiced by	Tony Jay

Judge Claude Frollo is the central antagonist in Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. His voice was provided by the late Tony Jay, who had been chosen for the role based on his brief appearance as Monsieur D'Arque in Beauty and the Beast (which also re-teamed him with David Ogden Stiers, his co-star from the same film). Supervising animator Kathy Zielinski and her animation team were responsible for animating him.

Appearances

Claude Frollo resides in Paris, France, where he is employed as a Court Judge. A deeply religious man, Frollo uses his position to inflict great suffering upon the gypsy population, believing them to "live outside the natural order" and engage in "heathen" behavior. One night, a group of gypsies attempt to enter Paris, only to be stopped by Frollo and his soldiers. When a gypsy woman attempts to flee, Frollo, believing her to be hiding stolen goods, chases her to Notre Dame and knocks her down the steps, where she suffers fatal head trauma. Frollo then discovers that she was the mother of a hideously deformed infant child. Believing the child to be an unholy demon, Frollo attempts to murder the infant by drowning him in a well but is stopped by the Archdeacon, who convinces him that, in order to save his soul from eternal damnation, Frollo must raise the child as his own son. Naming the child Quasimodo, Frollo raises him within the towers of Notre Dame, attempting to "protect" him from the outside world.

Twenty years later, while attending the annual Festival of Fools, Frollo discovers a gypsy dancer named Esmeralda, who both attracts and disgusts Frollo with her beauty; shortly afterwards, Quasimodo is revealed to have fled the tower and joined the festivities, only to be crowned the "King of Fools". As the townspeople mock Quasimodo, Frollo refuses to help in order to teach him a lesson, and is disgusted when a defiant Esmeralda decides to assist him instead. Esmeralda then ridicules and humiliates Frollo before claiming sanctuary within Notre Dame, while a furious Frollo glares at the miserable Quasimodo, who apologizes and says that he will never disobey him again. That evening, Frollo is disturbed by his attraction for Esmeralda, believing a relationship with a gypsy will result in his eternal damnation (which he expresses in "Hellfire"). Unbeknownst to Frollo, Quasimodo has allowed Esmeralda to escape the cathedral. Upon learning of Esmeralda's escape, Frollo is enraged and begins a ruthless campaign to find her. He later attempts to murder an innocent family whom he suspects of collaborating with gypsies, but an appalled Captain Phoebus intervenes and rescues them; Frollo declares Phoebus a traitor and attempts to execute him, but he is eventually rescued by Esmeralda.

Realizing Quasimodo assisted Esmeralda, Frollo convinces him that the Court of Miracles has been found and will eventually be attacked; a misled Quasimodo follows Phoebus to the Court where Frollo's army attacks and arrests the gypsies. Frollo then sentences Esmeralda to execution. She refuses to become Frollo's mistress and is prepared to burn to death, but Quasimodo rescues her after she passes out and brings her to the cathedral. Frollo gains entrance to the interior of the cathedral and, after directly defying the Archdeacon and flinging him down a flight of stairs, Frollo attempts to kill Quasimodo, ensuing in a violent struggle in which Quasimodo overpowers the deranged judge. Esmeralda awakens, and Quasimodo rushes her to safety. Frollo chases him and Esmeralda onto a balcony overlooking the city, where he and Quasimodo fight furiously. In his hateful rage, Frollo reveals to Quasimodo that he killed his mother and is now planning to kill Quasimodo himself as he "should have done" twenty years ago. Frollo subsequently uses his cape to knock Quasimodo off of the balcony, but Quasimodo manages to hold on and pulls Frollo along with him. Frollo dangles momentarily for his life, but he is soon able to climb on a gargoyle in perfect position to kill Esmeralda, who is attempting to save Quasimodo. However, as he raises his sword, the gargoyle that he is standing on apparently comes to life and crumbles off the cathedral, sending Frollo to the fiery street filled with molten lead far below, where he finally dies.

Other appearances

• Frollo appears in the Disney's Hollywood Studios nighttime show Fantasmic! as one of the main villains called on by the Evil Queen to fight Mickey Mouse. He is destroyed along with the other villains in the show's conclusion.

• Frollo made appearances at Disney's Hollywood Studios in the daily Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade. In 2009, the parade will move to the Walt Disney Studios park at Disneyland Resort Paris and it is uncertain if Frollo will appear in this version, renamed Stars'n'Cars.

• Frollo also appears at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as a meetable character.

• He makes a brief appearance at the beginning of the House of Mouse special House of Villains. At one time, he was sitting with the Mad Hatter, but he had no dialogue. He also appeared sitting near the two outraged guests, but still no dialogue.

External links

• Many faces of Frollo
• Fansite
• Frollo in the Disney Archives-Villains.

v • d • e The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo Characters Esmeralda • Claude Frollo • Quasimodo • Captain Phoebus • Clopin Trouillefou • Pierre Gringore • Madellaine Films Esmeralda (1905) • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1911) • The Darling of Paris (1917) • Esmeralda (1922 film) • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) • Notre Dame de Paris (1956) • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1966) • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1977) • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1982) • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1986) • Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) • The Hunchback (1997) • Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame II (2002) Other Adaptations La Esmeralda (1844 ballet) • Notre-Dame de Paris (1998 musical) • Der Glöckner von Notre Dame (1999 musical)