The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (originally published in 1831 as Notre Dame de Paris), a sweeping epic set in the late medieval period, strongly condemns a society that victimizes Quasimodo, a hunchback. Hugo wrote this novel to also make his readers aware of the value of his country’s Gothic architecture during a time of transformation. The novel has been adapted numerous times for the theatre, radio, opera, ballet and film, though almost every version has strayed somewhat from the original. The 1939 film, starring Charles Laughton as Quasimodo, ended on a happy note, while the 1996 Disney version borrowed its ending from an opera that Hugo himself wrote.
