Question regarding Frollo...Mother Gothel.

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Question regarding Frollo...Mother Gothel.

Post by DC Fan »

So I´m watching right now Hunchback, a movie that, thanks to most of you I discovered as a masterpiece and now it´s one of my top 5 favorite Disney movies.

Once I opened a topic asking if Mother Gothel somehow loved Rapunzel; arguments were made and in the end we could each take the answer we like the best.

In case of Frollo there´s no denying he didn´t love Quasimodo at all. However, there´s still the case of him raising Quasimodo. He raised a human being by himself; sure, we can all guess he hired people to help him (when was a baby mostly) but what we´re presented in the movie tells us he did everything himself. And that´s quite a task.

He took care of him as a baby, fed him, dressed (yes even if what he wears it´s something simple; but there was Winter), taught him to talk and even educated him.

Even in the scene where Quasimodo´s been humiliated at the festival when he asks for help he turns the face not wanting to see; to me he didn´t enjoy that cruelty. Let´s remember the scene before when his latest captain was being tortured. When he heard him scream he loved hearing it. And when Phoebus asks to release him and he tells him that "a lesson needs to be learned" I do believe it; yes it was awful but that´s how he was punishing him for disobeying him.

So, what do you get of this? I myself don´t know.
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Re: Question regarding Frollo...Mother Gothel.

Post by Elladorine »

Frollo is driven by the guilt from killing Quasimodo's mother. Not because he actually feels bad, but because killing her is a sin he'd never be able to hide from the church, and raising him was suggested by the archdeacon as a way to make up for it. And he only agrees to raise him once he's secured a place away from his own, and also carries the hope that he'll someday be of use to him. He does all this not because he cares anything about Quasimodo, but only because he cares about how he looks in the eyes of the church, and in the eyes of God. His immortal soul is at stake after all, so he has to what's "right." This includes raising him, teaching him, and even punishing him.

And when Quasimodo pleaded for Frollo's help at the fesival? Frollo turned away not because he felt bad and didn't want to witness, but simply because he was disgusted that Quasimodo dared to disobey his orders. I don't believe he has to "enjoy" punishing Quasi as a sign of his selfishness and evil qualities, he's simply doing what he feels is "right" to himself and in the eyes of God. And to me, it's that deluded self-righteousness that makes him one of the most terrifying of Disney villains.
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Re: Question regarding Frollo...Mother Gothel.

Post by Disney Duster »

I mostly agree with Elladorine, but I want to say I don't think the archdeacon meant for Frollo to raise Quasimodo to make up for killing his mother as a sin, but rather that killing Quasimodo would be the sin he can't keep from the eyes of the church and God. Frollo may not think killing Quasimodo's mother was a sin.
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