The Hunchback of Notre Dame's "Hellfire"

Hellfire from Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Adapted from Victor Hugo’s gothic novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise, 1996) tells the story of bellringer Quasimodo (Tom Hulce), born with a physical deformity that gives him a hunched back. The Disney animated film first depicts Quasimodo as a baby, when he was stolen from his Romani parents by Judge Claude Frollo (Tony Jay) during one of his nighttime raids on the streets of Paris. The judge reluctantly raises Quasimodo as his own child, but keeps him locked high in a belltower away from all outside contact, until one day, a Romani dancer named Esmeralda (voiced by Demi Moore) enters Quasimodo’s life. Together, the two seek to flee from the judge’s clutches and make it out of Paris alive with the help of soldier Phoebus (Kevin Kline).

Judge Frollo’s song “Hellfire” is a musical number that focuses on his feelings of shame and attraction to Esmeralda and how he is praying to be saved from his thoughts of desire towards the younger dancer. Alone in a dark room, Frollo prays to God to save him, but ultimately his shame and his fear of judgment take him from God’s light and into the arms of the very devil he has tried to save himself from. This blog post offers a closer look at how the animation, lighting, and framing during the “Hellfire” song sequence portrays a man wracked with shame and guilt over being holy and being Godly. I examine the ways in which the animation showcases Frollo’s journey from God to hell through a single song, as well as how this song is unique to the Disney musical format and the representation of Disney villains as a whole.

Fig. 1 - Judge Claude Frollo covets Esmeralda.

Frollo is, of course, not the first Disney villain to have this struggle between his own sexuality, desires, and sense of masculinity, and neither is he the only Disney villain to have a song dedicated to his sexuality. As Craig McGill says in the essay “This Burning Desire is Turning me to Sin”, both Frollo and Gaston from Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise, 1991) – also directed by Trousdale and Wise –  “face incongruence between their private and public identities that threatens to collapse their public image: Gaston, a paragon of (heterosexual) sexuality and ideals of masculinity, struggles with his own inadequacy, and Frollo, a self-righteous God-fearing man who covets [Esmeralda], seeks to be the community model of holiness” (McGill 2018) Fig. 1). Despite their differences in design and heroic personalities, both of these male characters are struggling between the performance they put on for the world and their own ideas of who they actually are, which are supported and perpetuated by certain ideals of masculinity. Gaston frames himself as hyper-masculine, a powerful man who has to have the best woman in town (therefore setting Belle as his target). This element of his character is emphasized in the design of his enlarged, excessive body, and the way he is regularly depicted as towering menacingly over sidekick Le Fou. In The Hunchback of Notre Dame, however, Frollo’s actions are governed by the broader power structure of the Catholic church, his own views on God, and how he fits into the patriarchal power structure he is a part of. Craig McGill states that “the sexuality of both men is a main facet of their on-screen character. For differing reasons, both men chase women who are uninterested in them” (2018). Frollo and Gaston therefore both put on a performance for the audience through the main villain song (a staple of Disney musicals) to demonstrate their inner workings and hope for what they want their outward appearance to be.

In Beauty and the Beast, Gaston sings about how ‘manly’ he is and how he wants to make Belle his wife (despite her lack of interest), while Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame sings about wanting to be saved from his inner thoughts prompted by his encounter with Esmerelda. Frollo is one of the only Disney male villains who gets to have a song dedicated to this internal struggle. Other Disney villains until now, such as Ursula (The Little Mermaid [Ron Clements & John Musker, 1989]) or Scar (The Lion King [Roger Allers & Rob Minkoff, 1994]), do not have a villain song about their inner struggle, but rather the numbers “Poor Unfortunate Souls” and “Be Prepared” are simply intended to reveal their evil plan by communicating their motivations to the audience. Yet the “Hellfire” number from The Hunchback of Notre Dame gives Frollo a song completely about himself, his thoughts, and his forbidden sexual desires.

Fig. 2 - The red hooded figures dramatically symbolising Frollo’s lustful thoughts.

During the sequence, Frollo is presented as alone in a massive room that is deliberately made similar to that architecture of a church. He sings his song to the blazing fire in front of him and is lit by the reds and golds cast on him as he tells the fire how he sees Esmeralda everywhere he looks. Early in the song, Frollo falls to his knees before a massive crowd of red hooded figures, yelling at them that it is not his fault, he is not to blame, that it is Esmeralda who is making him feel these lustful thoughts (Fig. 2). He is positioned as small in the frame as the camera pulls out and tilts slightly to reveal these symbolic figures of fantasy. He is now presented as weak, begging his hooded peers to save him from judgment and shame. He believes at this moment that he is praying to God, but in reality, he is being pulled in by the devil as the fire wraps around him and pulls him toward the fireplace. He is not banishing his demons but walking toward them in a delirious animated fantasy.

As the song proceeds, there is a sudden knock at the door. Immediately the music cuts, and the lighting dims to a more natural blue and soft white as the door opens and a guard enters the chamber. He is backlit by a white and blue glow, so we cannot see his face, only his silhouette, while Frollo is backlit by the rising flames. The guard tells Frollo that Esmeralda has escaped. This is Frollo’s chance. He is out of his head, back in the real world, and this is his moment to set aside his desire, anger, and shame. He can let Esmeralda go. But he is so overcome by his emotions that he calls the guard a fool and orders him out. The door closes, and the song resumes. The hellish red light lights up Frollo’s body again, signifying his choice to turn away from the righteous path. He had his chance to be a truly holy man and return to God, as shown by the momentary blue and white light, but the Judge chose to be vengeful and let his shame consume him. He turns right back to the flames before him, and resumes the masquerade he has been performing his whole life.

Judge Claude Frollo is evidently a complex character who has put himself into a performance of his own making. He is trying to figure out where his sexuality and desires fit into the Catholic religion and his own faith, and whether or not it is ultimately his lust for Esmeralda is a sin he cannot bear. Ultimately, he decides that his desire is too much, too sinful, too shameful, and he must burn the reason for his desire. Instead of forgiveness, the resolution must be achieved through anger. Through the lighting, camera work, and stylistic choices in the “Hellfire” sequence, Frollo’s request to God to save him from his sin is dramatically and effectively realized. Yet when ultimately given the chance, he chooses instead to follow his shame, turn to anger, and follow the fire instead of the light of God.

**Article published: June 30, 2023**

References

McGill, Craig M. 2018. ““This Burning Desire is Turning Me to Sin”: The intrapersonal sexual struggles of two Disney singing villains.” Queer Studies in Media & Pop Culture 3, no. 1 (January): 27-49.

Biography

Alyson Henderson is a student at the University of Texas at Dallas pursuing a degree in Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communications. Her focus is on film and audio, but she loves learning and writing about different mediums such as animation. Earlier versions of this text were developed with the help of Dr. Christine Veras and peers from the Animation Studies course.