By: Ava Rogha
Name: Quasimodo “Quasi”
Age: 20
Ethnicity: Romany
City of residence: Paris
Eye color: Blue
Hair color: Auburn
Quasimodo, also known as the bell-ringer of Notre-Dame, is a fictional character known from Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996).
Quasimodo, as a child, was brutally taken away from his mother by religious extremist, judge Frollo, and locked inside the tower of Notre Dame because of his looks. He was even described by judge Frollo as a monster.
The kind-hearted bell-ringer could only dream about leaving the tower and discovering the wonders of Paris, until one day, he decides to leave in disguise with a bit of encouragement from talking gargoyles — his only friends.
“If I picked a day to fly, oh, this would be it. The Festival of Fools.”
On this eventful day, Quasimodo attends the Parisian Festival of Fools and meets beautiful Esmeralda, who is a Romany like himself.
Quasimodo bonds with Esmeralda and gets caught up in the moment by joining her up on the stage, where his true self is exposed to the crowd and worse, to Frollo. His little moment of joy is quickly ruined by Frollo’s soldiers, who throw fruits and vegetables at him followed by the crowd’s inhumane reaction to his looks, who tie him down to a spinning barrel.
This heartbreaking scene might make you shed a tear or two before Esmeralda comes to Quasimodo’s rescue and demands justice, from Frollo and his soldiers, for outcasts like them.
Esmeralda’s heroic act turns a horrible situation upside down and inspires people to step up for themselves and others in awful situations like this.
“You mistreat this poor boy the same way you mistreat my people. You speak of justice, yet you are cruel to those most in need of your help.”
With her mind-blowing witchcraft, she peacefully removes herself from the situation and escapes the soldiers, catching nothing but positive attention from the crowd. Esmeralda truly is the definition of a fighter — she even has Frollo’s Captain of the Guard fall head over heels for her.
Esmeralda’s powerful character outsmarts villains in her constant fight for justice. Throughout the movie, this character forms a romantic relationship with the Captain of the Guard, Phoebus.
Quasimodo on the other hand, is helpless and insecure with no faith in himself. It’s not until he reunites with Esmeralda at Notre-Dame, that he finds his true passion in life, which is his newfound love and admiration for the girl. This is the first time Quasimodo has experienced what jealousy feels like, but it doesn’t affect his desperate need to protect and save Esmeralda from the evil.
During all those years locked up in a tower, Quasimodo has never stood up to Frollo — his master. However, when Frollo captures his beloved Esmeralda, that’s when Quasimodo find his voice to combat Frollo once and for all.
“All my life, you have told me the world is a dark, cruel place. But now I see that the only thing dark and cruel about it is people like you.”
Esmeralda is thrilled by Quasimodo’s courageous act. However, that does not change how she feels about Phoebus. But don’t worry, Quasimodo does find true love. In fact, if you’ve watched so far as the second movie, you’ll notice that he forms a romantic relationship with Madellaine, the assistant of an evil circus ringmaster.
It is quite incredible to believe that after all those years of living locked in a cathedral, Quasimodo has finally found the love of his life. But unfortunately it is not that easy. Now, if we reverse for a second, Madellaine was blackmailed by the ringmaster to steal La-Fidèle, which is Notre Dame’s most precious bell; hence why she spends time with Quasimodo.
Luckily, Madellaine is not as cruel as we think. She grows fond of Quasimodo as she spends more time with him and once the circus people get arrested for stealing the bell, they do live their happily ever after!
Even though the bell-ringer of Notre Dame grew up alone with no one to look up to, he has certainly succeeded in becoming the person YOU can look up to, by making bold choices and exposing himself to the public, which have changed his life for the better.
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