Protagonist

Character Role Analysis

Pretty Much Everybody

Trying to pick the protagonist of this novel is kind of like trying to pick the protagonist of Game of Thrones. "No," you immediately cry,
"it can't be! The main character is obviously Quasimodo. That's why it's called The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, right?"

Wrong. Head over to our "What's Up with the Title?" section to have your mind blown.

This book is actually called Notre-Dame de Paris, or Notre-Dame of Paris. Hugo himself doesn't single out just one character to put the spotlight on.

As for Quasimodo, the problem is that he's more of a single cog in the plot rather than the center of it. He doesn't even get as much airtime as some of the other characters do. If anything, our inclination to call him the protagonist comes from the fact that he's the only clear "good guy" in the story; but in our opinion, though, that's not enough to earn someone the coveted Protagonist title.

If the idea that there might be no protagonist in The Hunchback really throws you off, you might argue that Frollo, Esmeralda, and Quasimodo are the three protagonists of the story. This makes a bit more sense, given that their stories, collectively, really are the central ones. These three also just so happen to be the novel's three tragic figures.

But more to the point, Hugo is more interested in how these characters' stories (or—dare we say it—their fates) intertwine with each other than he is in following the development of one single character.

So, in the French spirit, we're going to be egalitarian and nix naming a single protagonist. The way these characters' lives and fates intertwine and impact each other is what the novel is really all about.