How 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' treats Catholicism

by DisKosh

This is basically a very short essay on how the Disney version Hunchback of Notre Dame treats Catholicism. I couldn't stop thinking of a youtube comment that stated that it treated it unfairly so I thought I'd do a quick investigation.

I heard someone on youtube say that the Disney version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame was unfair in its portrayal of Catholicism. Since then I have been thinking and have decided to write down all my ideas in the form of a simple essay.

Hunchback of Notre Dame could be seen to portray Catholicism unfairly for a number of reasons the most obvious of these being Frollo. Like most Disney villains he does bad things (e.g. burning down Paris etc). He has a lust for the heroine Esmeralda and says that she's a witch and it's her fault that he is lusting and asks God to have mercy on him as he destroys Paris in search of her.

The other negative portrayal of Catholicism is the congregation of Notre Dame who pray for themselves asking for wealth and fame etc.

However, there are several factors that make the film seem to support Catholicism. Firstly the archdeacon; he a good character who stops Frollo from arresting Esmeralda in Notre Dame. He also believes that God cares for gypsies as he says to Esmeralda 'maybe there's someone in here who can help'.

The heroine Esmeralda also prays to the Virgin Mary even though she wasn't religious. This is important because it shows that she must have had a bit of faith, just a little bit, certainly enough to try and use religion to help others.

Another important aspect is, of course, the hero, Quasimodo. He works for the church and therefore must be a Catholic.

The final conclusion, firstly Frollo is extremist and abuses religion doing evil things in its name while the archdeacon does good in the name of religion. This movie is not just the hero and the villain, I think that the archdeacon represents everything that Frollo is not. The different appearance in the two characters can be noted too; Frollo seems to represent the negative side of Catholicism is strong where the archdeacon who seems to represent the positive side of Catholicism appears much weaker. However, it doesn't end there because we have to consider Quasimodo. He destroys Frollo and the archdeacon, Quasimodo and Esmeralda survive. I think that this represents that the good side of Catholicism overrules the bad.