CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of Study
Sometimes, readers only aware of the literal meaning of stories they read or
watch. They are satisfied of it, and sometimes they are unable to find the alternative
meaning of the story. However, the literal meaning’s message is not as strong as the
hidden meaning, the underlying meaning, of the story. Moreover, the authors convey
their ideas by saying something in their mind implicitly using symbolism. Indirectly,
the meaning is more appreciated than the direct meaning. Some people missed the
symbols inside the story, which makes them only able to grasp the general meaning
of the literature. As an illustration, they only accept a dog as an animal which has
four legs, fur coat, a tail, and a mammal. However, the dog may deliver another
deeper meaning than just an animal. It can be symbolized by the author as a symbol
of loyalty, activeness, passion or even a beast. It can be anything depending on the
context of the symbol. A submissive dog can have a different meaning from the
aggressive one.
The inability to comprehend the implicit values by some of the readers is
becoming this research’s main concern. This problem occurs due the insensitivity
towards the literary work. They just accept the story as a story that is told in a
particular way. Symbolism can help them to interpret the real intended meaning by
the author that is hidden under the obvious meaning. Then the experience of reading
a story using symbolism will deepen the value of the story.
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame novel has one obvious meaning, which is to
avoid judging one person by his or her outer appearance. This can be seen very
clearly by the reader, even for children. The meaning is shown by the character of
Quasimodo. Victor Hugo tried to build the sympathy towards this character by
contrasting him to a noble Priest, named Claude Frollo. He is very religious, yet his
soul is corrupted. As for Quasimodo, he is very deformed on the outside, but gentle
and kind on the inside. Therefore, the built sympathy may bring the enlightenment to
the attitude of prejudice or discrimination of appearance. However, if the reader be
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more sensitive to the story, there are many underlying meanings inside the story
related to the value that the author concerned about at the time he wrote the novel.
According to Kennedy and Gioia (2005), Symbol is a “…thing that suggests
more than its literal meaning” (p.223). Therefore, symbolism is about the use of the
symbols in the literary work in order to make a deeper meaning that lies under the
surface meaning. It can be deciphered by collecting the hints that are given, not by
seeing for the stated literally by the author. There are many symbols inside this novel
which made the writer becomes motivated to make this research of symbolism.
Furthermore, the context is the main focus of the study of the symbol. Symbol can be
interpreted from culture, or history, or merely on the characteristics of the sign itself.
There are two previous studies which are used as comparison to this research
and those research findings will be developed furthermore by this research. The
previous research which are compared and used as the comparison to this updated
and more advance research. They are collected using Proquest Journal and Google
Scholar search engine. The two previous studies which have the same concern with
the topic of this research are a BA Dissertation and a scholarly journal article.
The first previous study is an undergraduate dissertation entitled Sexuality in
Hugo’s Notre-Dame de Paris written by Scott Yearsley in 2010. This dissertation
provides reports about the characters analysis using psychoanalytic process in order
to comprehend the cause of the characters’ sexual behavior. The main concern is
about Claude, the priest whose lust causes misery for other characters, Quasimodo
and Esmeralda. While this research also concerns with the cause of the asexual being
such as Quasimodo and Esmeralda can never be as a sexual being. It turns out that
Claude is a sexual being from the beginning, but he never had a chance to release his
sexual longing. This is the reason behind his hatred towards gypsies and women in
general, because he is a priest and he knows how to put “false modesty” over his lust.
He banned gypsies for entering Paris and eventually when he met Esmeralda, the
most enchanting girl he had ever seen, he lost his control over his passion. The other
aspect that causes Claude to void the tenets of his religion is because he is repressed
by his parents to enter the priesthood in his young age. This causes Claude to
develop other interest in alchemy and astronomy, and overwhelmed his desire. As for
Quasimodo, according to Yearsley, he never feels any sexual desire towards
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Esmeralda because he sees Esmeralda as a new master for him because he is saved
by her when he is punished. He is against his old master when he saw his new
master, Esmeralda, is being harassed by his old master, Claude. Moreover, he
respects Esmeralda when he is covering his eyes when Esmeralda is changing, which
contrast the lust of the priest. Esmeralda is an innocent young girl who is depicted
wrong in almost every movie she is in. In the movie, she is such a seductress while in
the novel she is absolutely pure and innocent. She is a contrary to Quasimodo and
Claude in case of transformation. While they are damned because of transformation,
Esmeralda is damned because she stays to be like she is. Preserving her love only for
Phoebus and risking her life to get closer with him.
The second previous study is written by Kathleen B. Solon-Villaneza. The
title of the article is Hugo’s “Notre Dame De Paris” and Rizal’s “Noli Me Tangere”:
A Phenomenology of Confluence. This research is a comparative study towards two
novels, the first is The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the second novel is Noli Me
Tangere (The Lost Eden). The study implies that the two novel shares some
similarities, or confluence one with another. The confluence is being studied and
analyzed using rhetorical devices and imagery. The result then shows that the novel
shares the same aspects in their characters, settings, point of view, and conflict.
Hugo’s Claude Frollo is seen as a confluent of Rizal’s Priest Damaso in the villain
aspect, Priest Salvi in the aspect of lust, and Tasio in the aspect of knowledge thirst.
Then Esmeralda is confluence with Maria Clara in Rizal’s novel. She is depicted for
having the same beauty, abilities, maternal background, and stubbornness with Maria
Clara. The third character which is having the sameness with the character in Rizal’s
novel is Phoebus. He is confluent with Ibarra for his passion for woman, and their
marriage which represses them of being a free man in terms of loving many women.
Paquette is matching with Sisa because of her madness and being a loving mother
towards their daughter. The last character is Quasimodo which is confluent with
Basilio and Crispin as a bell-ringer with deformity. The settings also similar, the
Notre-Dame Cathedral is a resemblance of Church of San Diego in Rizal’s novel.
Then they also have the same symbol, which is a place of refuge and torment of the
characters. It is assumed that both books are using tarot symbols in foreshadowing
the settings. The thematic confluence which is found is about the concept of God,
and influence of the religion to the relationship.
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From the two previous studies mentioned, it can be seen that the first study
more concerned towards the characters and characterization using the method of
psychoanalysis to understand their motives of action they did in the novel. While the
second previous study concentrate on comparison between two literatures and trying
to show the confluence they share. This method revealed all the aspect to the
similarities between two works of literature. Considering these two studies as a
stepping stone, this research is going to discuss about the implied values regarding
the symbols that has some significances to the story’s value. The symbolism method
is taken from Charles Sanders Peirce’s Semiotics theory. This will take the first study
as a guide to analyze the character and the second study as guidance to an analysis of
the whole story’s aspects.
1.2. Problem Formulation
In order to do the research, the main question which has to be answered is
“How do the symbols in the novel represent the implicit values of the story?”. This
means that the problem is about discovering the way of symbolical values
represented through symbols.
1.3. Scope and Limitation
This research’s scope is a novel entitled The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. This
story is originated from Victor Hugo’s novel made in 1831 and translated into
English by Walter J. Cobb in 1965 and published by Signet Classics in March 2010.
It consists of eleven books with the total of the page for about over than 500 pages.
The limitation of this thesis is focusing on the characters and the action of the
characters, and objects and the influence of the objects upon the characters, to give a
deeper insight from the story using semiotic theory of symbolism on those two
aspects, which produce values that are related to the symbols. In short the limitation
of this research is only on the symbolism aspect of the characterization.
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1.4. Goals of Research
The problem for this research is about the represented values of the symbols
within the story. Therefore, the main goal that comes from the problem formulation
is “To find out the symbol representations of the implied values in the story using
symbolism.”