Claude Frollo

Claude Frollo
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame character
Claude Frollo, holding a baby Quasimodo. Art by Luc-Olivier Merson.
Created by	Victor Hugo
Information
Gender	Male
Nationality	French

Archdeacon Claude Frollo is a fictional character and the anti-hero from Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.

In the novel

In his youth, Claude Frollo was a highly knowledgeable but morose young man who was orphaned along with his infant brother Jehan when their parents died of the plague. His studies led him to become the Archdeacon of Josas, which is his position during the events of the novel. He also has a small fief which brings him a little money, most of which goes to fund his brother's alcoholism.

Frollo has a deeply compassionate side. He rescues Quasimodo, a deformed hunchback child whom he finds abandoned on the cathedral's foundlings bed. He adopts him, raises him like a son, cares for him, and teaches him a sort of sign language when Quasimodo becomes deaf. Frollo is a respected scholar and studies several languages, law, medicine, science and theology. However, he becomes infatuated with alchemy, which leads townspeople to spread the rumor that he is a sorcerer. He also believes strongly in fate. When a visitor to Frollo's quarters sees a fly caught in a web and tries to save the fly, Frollo sharply holds him back, saying, "Do not interfere with the workings of fate!" His dour, prematurely aged appearance (at thirty-six he is already nearly bald), as well as his extreme and irrational fear of women, contribute further to his isolation from society.

Frollo also has strong 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 they prove his undoing. He considers her to be a temptation sent by the Devil to test his faith, and begins by cursing her as a demoness, but finds he cannot resist her, and determines to give in to temptation. Esmeralda, however, is repulsed by his impassioned advances. Frollo orders Quasimodo to abduct her, a crime that Frollo himself instigated out of mad lust for her, and then abandons him when the hunchback is suddenly captured by Captain Phoebus de Chateaupers and his guards. Frollo ignores the poor hunchback when he is being publicly tortured for the crime. When Frollo discovers that Esmeralda is in love with Phoebus, he spies on the meeting between them which Esmerelda has arranged – with Phoebus' consent, as Phoebus only wants one night of passion. As Phoebus and Esmerelda prepare to have sex, Frollo, in a jealous rage, stabs Phoebus, and kisses Esmeralda when she faints. He does not attempt to intercede when she is turned over to the magistrate on charges of witchcraft and murder, however, but he stabs himself during her torture and shows her the wound as a proof of his love for her. She is unmoved however, as she is still in love with Phoebus, even after discovering the truth about his infatuation with her, and shortly before her execution he comes completely undone and leaves Paris in a feverish madness, not realizing that his adopted son, Quasimodo, has rescued her from the gallows. When he returns to the news that Esmeralda is still alive, he quickly becomes as jealous of Quasimodo as he was of Phoebus; the thought drives him to further insanity. Frollo later attempts to rape her at her sanctuary in the cathedral, only to be brutally beaten and nearly killed by Quasimodo, who doesn't realize who he is until he staggers into the moonlight. Frollo has had enough, and decides to rid himself of Esmerelda by handing her over to the authorities.

Frollo's time comes when a group of scoundrels, enraged by news that the French monarchy has ordered Esmeralda to be taken from the cathedral and hanged within three days, arms themselves to assault Notre Dame Cathedral. While Quasimodo is busy fighting off the scoundrels, Pierre Gringoire, Esmerelda's husband – whom she only married to save his life – and a hooded figure sneak into the Cathedral and convince Esmeralda to sneak out with them. The man's face is hidden behind a hood, leaving Esmeralda to guess his identity. They flee to a boat on the Seine River then separate when they head to shore, with Gringoire leaving Esmeralda with the unknown man. The hooded figure drags Esmeralda to a nearby gallows and identifies himself as Frollo by removing his hood.

Frollo issues his final ultimatum- either she accepts his love, or he hands her over to the authorities. She still refuses to reciprocate. Frollo leaves Esmeralda to a recluse to hold her for the royal soldiers coming to hang her and goes back to Notre Dame Cathedral. He then walks up to one of the cathedral's towers to watch the girl being hanged, unaware that Quasimodo has spotted him and followed him upstairs. He watches calmly while Esmeralda is taken to the gallows; then when the girl is actually hanged he bursts into an evil laugh – perhaps he is glad to have her out of his life, or perhaps he sees it as retribution for her rejection of him.

When Quasimodo sees him laughing at Esmeralda's hanging, he becomes enraged and pushes Frollo off the balustrade. A gargoyle suddenly stops his fall for a while. He cries out Quasimodo for help, but Quasimodo remained silent. Then, Frollo finally falls down the cathedral, until suddenly, the roof of a house breaks his fall. He slides down the roof, hits the pavement of the town square, and dies.

Adaptations

The novel has been adapted to film on numerous occasions. The most interesting change perhaps comes from the 1923 silent film version, in which Frollo isn't the villain at all; instead, he is a good archdeacon, and the villain of the novel is actually his younger brother Jehan. The 1939 adaptation also had its own obvious changes, with Frollo as a Judge rather than an Archdeacon and having the given name of his brother (Jehan) rather than Claude. This version of the story is said to be what most influenced the 1996 Disney adaptation, which had the same conditions aside from the name change. Many conclude that such changes were made to avoid a negative reaction from religious organizations. Typically, the adaptations omit Frollo's capacity for compassion, adding a selfish interpretation to his adoption of Quasimodo that is not present in Hugo's novel.

Actor	Version	Character
	Victor Hugo's novel	Archdeacon Claude Frollo
Walter Law	1917 adaptation	Archdeacon Claude Frollo
Annesley Healy	1922 adaptation	Archdeacon Claude Frollo
Brandon Hurst	1923 adaptation	Jehan Frollo
Sir Cedric Hardwicke	1939 adaptation	Judge Jehan Frollo
Alain Cuny	1956 adaptation	Archdeacon Claude Frollo
James Maxwell (voice)	1966 adaptation	Archdeacon Claude Frollo
Kenneth Haigh	1977 adaptation	Archdeacon Claude Frollo
Derek Jacobi	1982 adaptation	Archdeacon Claude Frollo
Ron Haddrick (voice)	1986 adaptation	Frollo
Tony Jay (voice)	1996 Disney adaptation	Judge Claude Frollo
Richard Harris	1997 adaptation	Dom Frollo
Daniel Lavoie	1997-2002, musical	Frollo
Richard Berry	1999 parody	Serge Frollo

In the Disney film

Judge Claude Frollo
First appearance	The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
Created by	Kathy Zielinski Dominique Monféry
Voiced by	Tony Jay

An adaptation of the character, Judge Claude Frollo, served as the primary antagonist in Disney's 1996 musical animated version of the novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Frollo was animated by Kathy Zielinski and Dominique Monféry, and was voiced by the late Tony Jay, whom directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale chose for the role based on his brief appearance in their previous film, Beauty and the Beast. Disney's Frollo, unlike Hugo's, is a justice minister rather than an archdeacon, and lacks much of the original character's compassion and deep emotion, becoming more of an evil villain than a tragic anti-hero, but is still depicted as the ruler of Paris and effectively above every law in the city outside of the Cathedral, with his very own army of thugs who dress up as soldiers to enforce his will. Regardless, he still has strong passionate feelings for Esmeralda, and, as in the novel, plans to have her executed if she refuses to love him. Frollo is presented as a vindictive, coldly intelligent, arrogant, sadistic and genocidal extremist with little to no compassion or understanding for anything except himself. However, he is also perceived as a tragic figure, tormented by his maddening self-righteousness and narrow views, the opening song noting that he longs to purge the world of vice sin and sees corruption everywhere except in himself. Frollo is symbolic of religious hypocrisy, which was also an enduring theme in the novel.

An inspiration to Frollo is the villain Jehan Frollo (Claude in all but name), played by Sir Cedric Hardwicke in the 1939 version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which Disney borrows several ideas from. Like Disney's Frollo, Jehan is the Court Judge of Paris and has a deep hatred towards gypsies. He also has a black horse, wears black robes and a black hat, and has a nose, eyes, lips, and sideburns similar to the character in Disney's version. Tony Jay stated that he knew the part of Frollo especially from the 1939 film.

One night, Frollo chases a gypsy woman, believing her to be hiding stolen goods. They arrive to Notre Dame, where he snatches the bundle from the woman and kicks her down the steps, resulting in a fatal head trauma and breaking her neck. Frollo then discovers that the "stolen goods" are actually a hideously deformed baby boy. Believing the boy to be an unholy demon, Frollo attempts to drown the infant in a well but is stopped by the Archdeacon, who convinces him that, in order to save his soul from eternal damnation for committing murder on the steps of Notre Dame, Frollo must raise the baby as his own son. Frollo reluctantly agrees, hoping to somehow use the child to further his own purposes. Naming the boy Quasimodo, Frollo raises him within the towers of Notre Dame, attempting to "protect" him from the outside world and convincing him that he is a monster and will never be accepted by society. He also lies to him about his mother, claiming that she abandoned him when he was a baby (which happened in the novel).

Twenty years later, Frollo appoints a new Captain of the Guard, Phoebus, since his last one was "a bit of a disappointment" to him. He hopes to clear the gypsies out of Paris with Phoebus' help. While attending the annual Festival of Fools, Frollo discovers a Gypsy dancer named Esmeralda, who attracts Frollo with her beauty. Shortly afterwards, Quasimodo is revealed to have fled the towers and joined the festivities, only to be crowned the "King of Fools" and mocked by the townspeople. Frollo refuses to help in order to teach Quasimodo a lesson, and is enraged when a defiant Esmeralda decides to assist him instead. Esmeralda then ridicules and humiliates Frollo before claiming sanctuary within Notre Dame. That evening, Frollo is disturbed by his attraction to Esmeralda, fearing that this will result in "Hellfire", and blames his own lust on her. Upon learning Esmeralda has escaped the cathedral, Frollo is enraged and begins a ruthless campaign to find her, burning down the houses of those that would shelter gypsies and interrogating the gypsies that were captured. He later attempts to execute an innocent family whom he suspects of collaborating with gypsies, but an appalled Phoebus intervenes and rescues them; Frollo declares Phoebus a traitor and attempts to execute him, but he is eventually rescued by Esmeralda after being left for dead.

Realizing Quasimodo assisted Esmeralda, Frollo convinces him that the Court of Miracles has been found and will eventually be attacked. A misled Quasimodo accompanies Phoebus to the Court, and Frollo and his army of thugs follow and arrest the gypsies. Frollo sees that Phoebus has survived and intends to "remedy it". He 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, directly defying the Archdeacon and flinging him down a flight of stairs. He then attempts to kill Quasimodo, resulting in a violent struggle in which Quasimodo throws Frollo to the floor and rejects all that Frollo had taught him. Esmeralda awakens, and Quasimodo rushes her to safety, but Frollo chases them onto a balcony overlooking the city, and he and Quasimodo fight.

In his rage, Frollo reveals that he killed Quasimodo's mother and will now 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 ends up pulling Frollo along with him (but is unwilling to let him fall). 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 starts to break and he falls, clinging on for dear life and dropping his sword. In his last moment, his sees the face of the gargoyle come alive and demonically roar, terrifying Frollo as the gargoyle breaks off completely from the balcony and sends him falling to his death into a vast lake of molten lead created by Quasimodo, clearly meant to symbolize the satanic fires of hell and ending his tyranny.

In The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, Frollo and his attitude towards gypsies are alluded to when Sarousch reminds Madellaine that when he caught her stealing food from him when she was little, he took her in instead of handing her to the authorities. This implies that Sarousch was aware of Frollo's prejudice towards gypsies.

Other appearances

Frollo appears in the Disney's Hollywood Studios night-time 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 moved 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 makes a brief cameo appearance during the night-time show Disney's World of Color at Disney California Adventure. "Hellfire", the song that Frollo sings in the feature film, is also heard in the show. Frollo also appears at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as a meetable character.

Frollo 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 who was annoying him and making fun of his bulbous hat, but he had no dialogue. He also appeared sitting near the two outraged guests, but still no dialogue.

Frollo is confirmed to appear in the upcoming Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, along with a world based on the Disney movie called "Le Cite des Cloches". His role as a boss has yet to be confirmed, as well as his English voice actor, due to Tony Jay's passing in 2006.

Frollo leads a team of Disney villains in The Kingdom Keepers IV: Power Play in order to free their leaders, Maleficent and Chernabog.

External links

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