Notre-Dame de Paris · Chapter
Result of the Dangers explained
Gringoire, stunned from his fall, lies in the gutter and gradually regains consciousness.
What happens
Gringoire, stunned from his fall, lies in the gutter and gradually regains consciousness. He reflects on the cold, the mud, and the alchemist Master Nicholas Flamel, which leads him to think of Archdeacon Claude Frollo. He recalls the violent scene with the gypsy and Quasimodo. A group of children arrives with a straw pallet from a dead merchant, intending to burn it, and they throw it on Gringoire. He makes a superhuman effort to escape, and the children flee, thinking he is a ghost.
Themes in this chapter
Fate and Destiny
Gringoire's fall and subsequent encounters with the children and the straw pallet seem driven by chance, yet he narrowly escapes danger, suggesting a twist of fate.
Appearance and Identity
The children mistake Gringoire for the merchant's ghost, highlighting how appearances and mistaken identity shape events.
Characters to notice
- Pierre Gringoire
Gringoire lies in the gutter after his fall, regains consciousness, reflects on the cold and alchemists, and escapes from children with a straw pallet.
- La Esmeralda
Gringoire's half-somnolent revery includes aerial figures of the gypsy and her goat.
- Quasimodo
Gringoire recalls Quasimodo's heavy fist and the violent scene with the gypsy.
- Dom Claude Frollo
Gringoire thinks of Archdeacon Claude Frollo after recalling the alchemists and the violent scene.
- Jehan Pincebourde
One of the children shouting and dragging the straw pallet.
- Eustache Moubon
The dead merchant whose straw pallet the children take for a bonfire.
Key passages
“Whence comes this chill?”
Where is this cold coming from?
Gringoire realizes he is lying in the gutter and feels the cold.
“That devil of a hunchbacked cyclops!”
That cursed hunchbacked one-eyed monster!
Gringoire curses Quasimodo for his fall.
“The mud of Paris is particularly stinking; it must contain a great deal of volatile and nitric salts.”
The mud of Paris smells very bad; it probably has a lot of volatile and nitric salts.
Gringoire philosophizes about the composition of the mud while lying in the gutter.
“That would be strange!”
That would be odd!
Gringoire reflects on the possibility that the archdeacon was involved in the attack on the gypsy.
“Come! I'm freezing!”
Come on! I'm freezing!
Gringoire realizes he is becoming too cold lying in the gutter.
“S'death! ... am I going to be too warm now?”
God's death! ... am I going to be too hot now?
Gringoire exclaims as the children prepare to set the straw pallet on fire near him.