Characters of the Noli Me Tangere and the Hunchback of Notre Dame: A Comparative Analysis

Although the Noli contains more characters than the Notre Dame, it seems the Hugolian characters are nonetheless distributed in such a way that they are seen in more than one character in Rizal’s. For example, at least three characters from the Noli likely typify the character of Fray Frollo: Fray Damaso, Fray Salvi, and Philosopher Tasio.

Fray Frollo. First of all, like Fray Frollo, Fray Damaso is the villain. He abuses the power of the church to get what he personally wants, highlighting the injustices received by the other characters. In particular, his moral obligation as a fray is vilified because he is the biological father of Maria Clara.

Fray Damaso’s intention –be it for the couple Tiago and Pia to experience a real miracle of having a child from constant prayer to the saints or be it for mere lust, the moral fiber of Fray Damaso is put to question as all frays are believed to have sworn to a life of celibacy which is now utterly defied. In addition, Damaso’s ploy of destroying the noble man Don Rafael just because he would not go to confession is another abuse of power.

Here Damaso wants to know every possible information to gain advantage over the richest man in San Diego, but Don Rafael would not give him a chance to as he chose not to go to confession, hence, the accusations and the imprisonment which lead to the old man’s death . Furthermore, Fray Damaso takes control of the lovers’ fate.

Maria Clara, later is revealed as his daughter, and Ibarra, the son of the noble man Don Rafael whom he orders to be tortured are consistently pulled apart by Fray Damaso. So, Hugo’s Fray Frollo and Rizal’s Fray Damaso are both “fathers” as priests.

Literally, Fray Damaso is a biological father, while Fray Frollo is the adoptive father to his brother Jehan when they were orphaned. Also, Fray Frollo and Fray Damaso wanted somebody else’s wife. Frollo wants Esmeralda who happens to be the wife of Gringoire under the Cour de Miracles just as Damaso wants Pia who is the wife of his friend Tiago.

Damaso’s use of the church’s power in getting the information he wanted by making Don Rafael confess is like that of Frollo’s inquisition on Gringoire about Esmeralda.

Secondly, the Hugolian Fray Frollo is a mirror image of Fray Salvi, the lusting priest. Fray Salvi’s obsession with Maria Clara and Fray Frollo’s obsession with Esmeralda is a sharp similarity. These priests are the heads of the churches, Fray Salvi is a curate of San Diego and Fray Frollo is the archdeacon of the Notre Dame Cathedral.

Fray Salvi who is a peeping tom in the Noli is a very disturbing character as disturbing a character as Fray Frollo who is also a peeping tom in several instances in the novel, who craves for Esmeralda, even forcing her to love him, and when his love is rejected finds a way to torture the gypsy.

Thirdly, Rizal’s character Philosopher Tasio, the philosopher and scientist, has also some of the traits found in Hugo’s Fray Frollo. Philosopher Tasio, a rich son of a merchant who chose not the monetary riches, but the intellectual riches the world can offer, is described as a lunatic because of his eccentric disposition and by the fact that he locks himself most of the times inside a book.

His love for knowledge is directly proportional to the love for learning Fray Frollo has.

Esmeralda. The enchanting Hugolian beauty Esmeralda possesses a sharp similarity to Maria Clara. Rizal describes her first appearance in the novel as

“a deity wrapped in misty gauze, a sylph enveloped in a luminous halo, who moves forward apparently without touching the floor. In her presence the flower bloom[s], the dance awakens, the music bursts forth, and troops of devils, nymphs, satyrs, demons, angels, shepherds and shepherdesses, dance, shake their tambourines, and whirl about in rhythmic evolutions, each one placing some tribute at the feet of the goddess.”[33]

Rizal continues to describe her as a maiden who is “beautiful and graceful”, and whose eyes reveal a “spotless soul” [34].

Aside from their astonishing beauty, Esmeralda and Maria Clara’s mothers–Paquette and Pia— wanted desperately to bear a child. However, their mothers experienced an even more tormenting crisis. Pia was raped by Fray Damaso, while Pacquette had been tricked by gypsies.

The irreconcilable truth that Maria Clara is an offspring of a priest and of someone else’s wife has made Maria Clara “ugly”. Also, the inconceivable truth that Esmeralda is a gypsy has made Pacquette see her as “ugly”.

Unlike Maria Clara, though, Esmeralda is accepted later on by Pacquette when the real identity behind the gypsy facade was revealed through the little shoe.

Furthermore, both Esmeralda and Maria Clara share the same stubbornness in regard to their only loves: Phoebus and Ibarra, respectively. Esmeralda vehemently chooses to die than to be anywhere near Fray Frollo in the same manner as Maria Clara would rather kill herself if she is forced to marry Linares.

Both women were greatly loved by men. Esmeralda is chased after by Frollo, Gringoire, Quasimodo, and a little by Phoebus; Maria Clara on the other hand is loved by Damaso, Tiago, Salvi, Linares, and Ibarra. However, it is noteworthy that there is a commonality between Frollo’s conflicting idea of Esmeralda, an angel or a demon, and, Damaso’s dilemma on the complicated existence of Maria Clara- the two women being the causes of their damnation as priests.

In contrast, everyone sees Quasimodo as a monster, hideous and yet one Esmeralda later befriends, while everyone sees Linares as a fitting and an eligible man, Maria Clara sees him as a monster. And while Esmeralda chooses to marry Gringoire to save his life, Maria Clara also decides to marry Linares to save her father, Capitan Tiago, from being tortured.

Esmeralda’s mock-marriage with Gringoire still does not stop her from going after Phoebus, to whom she has already given her vow to own her after he saves her from Quasimodo’s attack, in the same way that Maria Clara never ceases loving Ibarra though she is eventually engaged to Linares, even giving her vow of love for Ibarra verbally in their last meeting at the azotea and living her vow when she chooses to be a nun.

Phoebus. Phoebus and Ibarra share quite a fortunate circumstance when it comes to the loyalty of the women who love them. Phoebus for example is faithfully admired and loved by Esmeralda after he rescues her. Ibarra in the same way is loved by Maria Clara. Both men also underwent a so called ‘death’ which placed the two women in distress in their own stories respectively. The rumored death of Phoebus condemns Esmeralda to the gallows; the rumored death of Ibarra consigns Maria Clara in the convent.

In contrast, Phoebus is loved by Esmeralda at first sight, while Ibarra is loved by Maria Clara since they were childhood friends. Phoebus is respected for his charm and the fact that he is a man-in-shining-armor, a king’s man, while Ibarra has a besmirched repute for being the son of a heretic and later an accused outlaw. Phoebus also is not seen for quite some time in the story because he was hiding in shame after being stabbed, while Ibarra was not seen for quite some time because of the false accusations thrown at him.

Paquette. Like a real mother to Esmeralda, Paquette resembles a mad woman, mournful for the disappearance of her child, and hopeful in finding her child again in the same manner as Sisa, a loving mother to Basilio and Crispin, goes literally mad due to the disappearance of her children and the confusion given by their circumstances.

Paquette’s connection with her daughter, the little shoe, and Sisa’s connection with Basilio, the blood-stained shirt, are both significant reminders that torture them.

Once reunited with Esmeralda though, Paquette’s fortune shifts from instant happiness to inconsolable grief while Sisa, on the other hand, once reunited with Basilio but without her being able to identify him as his son, throws stones at the poor boy.

Quasimodo. The imagery of Quasimodo as a bell-ringer is seen likely in the situation of Basilio and Crispin, the sacristanes at the same time bell-ringers of San Diego. It is easy to spot the deformity of Quasimodo which is directed at his physical attributes, but for Basilio and Crispin the deformity lies in the perception of the people who see them as the sons of a drunkard and gambler and an insane mother.

Evidently, the three characters have “fathers” who never really loved them: Frollo and the drunkard-gambler. They also share a similar connection with sounding of the bell in that they are able to express themselves through it. For Quasimodo:

…he would cry with burst of laughter. Meanwhile the bell swung faster, and as it swung, taking an even wider sweep, Quasimodo’s eyes opened wider and wider, and became more and more phosphorescent and enflamed [Hugo:153]

There seems to be a feeling of release, of freedom like that of a normal person who can walk freely in the cynical Parisian streets in his tolling of the bell here:

Quasimodo remained in front of this gaping throat, squatting down, but rose at each return of the bell. He inhaled its boisterous breath, and looked…at the enormous brazen tongue which came, time after time, to bellow in his ear. It was the only speech he could hear, the only sound that broke the universal silence. He reveled in it like a bird in the sun. All at once, the frenzy of the bell possessed him; his expression became extraordinarily wild. He would wait for the huge bell to pass, as a spider waits for a fly, and then he would flung himself headlong onto it.[153]

Basilio on the other hand seems to evoke nostalgia and hope in every peal. His emotions and those of his brother are heard by how they sounded the bell and how the lightning, rain and wind assemble the chorus of a play, supplementing his supposed spoken lines:

…blinding flash of zigzag lightning, so that it might have been said that God was writing his name in fire and that the eternal arch of heaven was trembling with fear. The rain, whipped about in a different direction each moment by the mournfully whistling wind, fell in torrents. With a voice full of fear the bells sounded their sad supplication, and in the brief pauses between the roars of the unchained elements tolled forth sorrowful peals, like plaintive groans.[Rizal:101]

Though Quasimodo and Basilio might share a different emotional charge when each sounds the bell, one thing in common is the feeling of fury and violence:

…he would redouble the fury of the pealing [Hugo:153]

The elder did not answer; he was watching the melting wax of the candle, apparently lost in thought. [Rizal:102:par1]The elder took his gaze from the flame, raised his head, clutching the thick rope pulled violently on it so that a sonorous peal of the bells was heard.[Rizal: 102:par3]

This emotional charge of fury and violence is caused by the harsh society which enslaves them to their obligation of sounding the bell.

About the author: Kathleen B. Solon-Villaneza is currently a University administrator, English language and literature professor, and researcher.