Reading Response # 4

Reading Response #4
Conflict
Lastly, Hugo enforces conflict in the last significant point of the novel; when Esmeralda is faced with Frollo's ultimatum, discovers her mother in the recluse Gudule, and Quasimodo kills Frollo and then sees Esmeralda's hanging body and disappears; not to be seen again until many years later when a gravedigger discovers the skeleton of a hunchback curled up to the skeleton of La Esmeralda. This final confrontation between the three main characters puts two at a crossroads; Frollo must give in to Esmeralda and abandon all religion or sustain his religion and allow Esmeralda to die, Esmeralda must be with someone she does not love or choose death and thus freedom; Quasimodo, however, has no such say. He is only subjected to observation of the tragic events that occur and after killing Frollo due to emotional turmoil, is forced with no choice but to die alongside Esmeralda in order to achieve peace. This can be represented in the passage where Quasimodo sees Esmeralda's body hanging,
"Quasimodo then lifted his eye to look upon the gypsy girl, whose body, suspended from the gibbet, he beheld quivering afar, under its white robes, in the last struggles of death; then again he dropped it upon the archdeacon, stretched a shapeless mass at the foot of the tower, and he said with a sob that heaved his deep breast to the bottom, 'Oh-all that I've ever loved!" (pg. 455)
The quotation explains the conflict in the novel. Quasimodo is conflicted with himself because he wishes so much for Esmeralda to return his love, and goes out of his way to save her and care for her, but Esmeralda is smitten with the handsome but immoral Phoebus, and even she cannot reach past human's superficial tendencies to love the malformed being. Quasimodo was taunted with the possibility of love, and with the possibility of this love before him, has also killed his master who he has exhibited nothing but humble devotion and trust to in his whole life. This quote exemplifies the theme of tragedy and conflict in the novel because it demonstrates how Quasimodo has lost, as he said, 'all he's ever loved', and now must live with the encroaching guilt. This is why Quasimodo chooses to die with Esmeralda; because he can not bear the physical conflict that has just happened, but also the emotional conflict that will surely manifest in him soon after. Frollo experienced the conflict of giving in to lust and all that he loathes, or remaining with his clergy and continuing to take care of the ones he loves: Jehan and Quasimodo. Esmeralda faced great inner conflict during this pivotal moment because he came to the final realisation that Phoebus will not come rescue her, so she must choose between an imprisoned life with Frollo, who only lusts and obsesses for her, or choose death. She soon chooses death, stating,
"And with a hurried step-making her hurry too, for he never let go of her arm-he went straight up to the gibbet, and pointing to it, 'Choose between us,' he said coolly. She tore herself from his grasp, fell at the foot of the gibbett, and clasped that dismal supporter; then she half turned her beautiful head, and looked at the priest over her shoulder. She had the air of a Madonna at the foot of the cross. The priest had remained quite still, his finger still raised to the gibbet, and his gesture unchanged, like a statue. At length the gipsy girl said to him, 'It is less horrible to me than you are" (pg. 424).
Hugo overall, does a phenomenal job of presenting both inner and outer conflict in the final and most crucial part of the novel. He shows both the beauty and the tragedy of unrequited love and effectively and eloquently points out critical flaws in society and the way in which it thinks and consequently behaves.