Claude Frollo - in The Disney Film

In The Disney Film

An adaptation of the character, Judge Claude Frollo is the main antagonist in Disney's animated film version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1996. Frollo was animated by Kathy Zielinski and Dominique Monféry, and was voiced by the late Tony Jay, whom directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale chose for the role based on his brief appearance in their previous film, Beauty and the Beast. Disney's Frollo, unlike Hugo's, is a justice minister rather than an archdeacon, and lacks much of the original character's compassion and deep emotion, becoming more of an evil villain than a tragic anti-hero, but is still depicted as the ruler of Paris and effectively above every law in the city outside of the Cathedral, with his very own army of thugs who dress up as soldiers to enforce his will. Regardless, he still has lustful feelings for Esmeralda, and, as in the novel, plans to have her executed if she refuses to love him. Frollo hates gypsies, seeing them as "impure commoners", and wants nothing more than to wipe them out of Paris. He is presented as a vindictive, coldly intelligent, arrogant, and genocidal sadist with little to no compassion or understanding for anyone or anything except himself. However, he is also perceived as a tragic figure, tormented by his maddening self-righteousness and narrow views, the opening song noting that he longs to purge the world of vice sin and sees corruption everywhere except in himself. Frollo is also symbolic of religious hypocrisy, which was also an enduring theme in the novel.

Frollo is heavily influenced by the villain Jehan Frollo (Claude in all but name), played by Sir Cedric Hardwicke in the 1939 version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which Disney borrows several ideas from. Like Disney's Frollo, Jehan is the Court Judge of Paris and has a deep hatred towards gypsies. He also has a black horse, wears black robes and a black hat, and has a nose, eyes, lips, and sideburns similar to Claude in the Disney film. Tony Jay stated that he knew the part of Frollo especially from the 1939 film.

One night, Frollo chases a gypsy woman, believing her to be hiding stolen goods. They arrive at Notre Dame, where he snatches the bundle from the woman and kicks her down the steps, resulting in a fatal head trauma and breaking her neck. Frollo then discovers that the "stolen goods" are actually a hideously deformed baby boy. Believing the boy to be an unholy demon, Frollo attempts to drown the infant in a well but is stopped by the Archdeacon, who convinces him that, in order to save his soul from eternal damnation for committing murder on an innocent woman on the steps of Notre Dame, Frollo must raise the baby as his own son. Frollo reluctantly agrees, hoping to somehow use the child to further his own purposes. Naming the boy Quasimodo, Frollo raises him within the towers of Notre Dame, attempting to "protect" him from the outside world and convincing him that he is a monster and will never be accepted by society. He also lies to him about his mother, claiming that she abandoned him when he was a baby (which happened in the novel).

Twenty years later, Frollo appoints a new Captain of the Guard, Phoebus, since his last one was "a bit of a disappointment" to him. He hopes to clear the gypsies out of Paris with Phoebus' help and go to Heaven when he dies. While attending the annual Festival of Fools, Frollo discovers a Gypsy dancer named Esmeralda, who attracts him with her beauty. Shortly afterwards, he discovers that Quasimodo left the bell tower and joined the Festival and was crowned the King of Fools. Frollo refuses to help Quasimodo when he is being publicly humiliated by the crowd in order to teach him a lesson even he refuses Phoebus' permission to stop it, and is enraged when a defiant Esmeralda decides to assist him instead. Esmeralda then ridicules and humiliates Frollo before claiming sanctuary within Notre Dame. That evening, Frollo is disturbed by his attraction to Esmeralda which he believes is turning him to sin and pleas the Virgin Mary to protect him from her "spell" and to let Esmeralda taste the fires of Hell. Upon learning from one of his guards that Esmeralda has escaped the cathedral, Frollo is enraged and begins a ruthless campaign to find her, burning down the houses of those that would shelter gypsies and interrogating the gypsies that were captured. He later attempts to execute an innocent family whom he suspects of collaborating with gypsies, but an appalled Phoebus intervenes and rescues them; Frollo declares Phoebus a traitor and attempts to execute him, but he is eventually rescued by Esmeralda after being left for dead.

Realizing Quasimodo assisted Esmeralda, Frollo convinces him that the Court of Miracles has been found and will eventually be attacked. A misled Quasimodo accompanies Phoebus to the Court, and Frollo and his army of thugs follow and arrest the gypsies. Frollo sees that Phoebus has survived and intends to "remedy it". He then sentences Esmeralda to execution. She refuses to become Frollo's mistress and is prepared to burn to death, but Quasimodo rescues her after she passes out and brings her to the cathedral. Frollo orders his soldiers to break down the door and some his soldiers attack the Citizens of Paris and the French army who are been lead by Phoebus, The king of France and his successor.

Frollo gains entrance to the interior of the cathedral, directly defying the Archdeacon and flinging him down a flight of stairs. He then attempts to kill Quasimodo, resulting in a violent struggle in which Quasimodo throws Frollo to the floor and finally rejects all that Frollo had taught him. Quasimodo almost kills Frollo, but Esmeralda awakens, and Quasimodo rushes her to safety. Frollo chases them onto a balcony overlooking the city, slashing at them with his sword with Quasimodo unable to fight back due to protecting Esmeralda.

In his rage, Frollo reveals that he killed Quasimodo's mother and will now kill Quasimodo himself as he "should have done" twenty years ago. Frollo subsequently uses his cape to knock Quasimodo off of the balcony, but Quasimodo manages to hold on and ends up pulling Frollo along with him (but is unwilling to let him fall). Frollo dangles momentarily for his life, but he is soon able to climb on a gargoyle in perfect position to kill Esmeralda, who is attempting to save Quasimodo. However, as he raises his sword, the gargoyle that he is standing on starts to break and he falls, clinging on for dear life and dropping his sword. In his last moments, the face of the gargoyle come to life and demonically roars, terrifying Frollo as the gargoyle breaks off completely from the balcony and sends him falling to his death into a vast lake of molten lead created by Quasimodo, clearly meant to symbolize that his soul is now trapped in eternal damnation in the satanic fires of hell for all eternity as punishment for his actions and ending his tyranny once and for all. His soldiers are defeated by the citizens of Paris and the French forces.

In The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, Frollo and his attitude towards gypsies are alluded to when Sarousch reminds Madellaine that when he caught her stealing food from him when she was little, he took her in instead of handing her to the authorities. This implies that Sarousch was aware of Frollo's prejudice towards gypsies. He is also referenced when Clopin announces Esmeralda's dancing performance, and jokingly tells a young boy that she just "might steal your heart," using a puppet that looked a lot like Frollo, referencing Frollo's passion for Esmerelda. Also, when Madellaine tries to convince Quasimodo that she truly loves him and begs him to trust her, Quasimodo replies "I already made that mistake" possibly referring to how Frollo tricked Quasimodo for twenty years into loyalty to the former.