The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

The novel describes the “sublime and majestic” (119) Notre-Dame cathedral, comparing it to great works of art. It embodies the creativity of the Medieval era in which it was built. The cathedral has undergone many changes over the years, and humans have “done more harm” (122) to it than time has. The cathedral and the art inside have been changed, defaced, removed, altered, and aligned with changing aesthetic desires. French churches, the text notes, are particularly prone to change due to the prevalence of revolutions and changing fashions, and many Gothic structures have been irrecoverably changed. Notre-Dame is a mix of Gothic aesthetics and the Romanesque foundations that underpin it. In its design, one can read the course of history. In addition to aesthetic changes, innovations in technology and construction are evident. Architecture is a collective rather than individual endeavor, the text explains. The novel describes the history of Christian Europe through the cathedral’s design as it evolved throughout the Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance eras. Although the outside of Notre-Dame has changed significantly, the interior remains very similar. The text compares the cathedral’s interior to a tree’s trunk and its exterior to a tree’s foliage.