Notre-Dame de Paris · Chapter
The Two Men Clothed in Black explained
Dom Claude Frollo receives Master Jacques Charmolue, the king's procurator in the ecclesiastical court, in his cell.
What happens
Dom Claude Frollo receives Master Jacques Charmolue, the king's procurator in the ecclesiastical court, in his cell. They discuss the torture of Marc Cenaine, a suspected magician, and Charmolue seeks Frollo's advice on alchemy. Frollo becomes agitated when Charmolue mentions the gypsy girl Esmeralda, and he delivers a passionate monologue comparing himself and Esmeralda to a spider and a fly trapped in a web of fate. The chapter ends with the two men leaving to study the cathedral's portal, while Jehan Frollo, hidden under the furnace, is relieved to be alone.
Themes in this chapter
Fate and Destiny
Frollo's monologue about the spider and the fly explicitly frames his obsession and Esmeralda's plight as inescapable fate, with destiny as a web from which neither can escape.
Obsession and Destructive Love
Frollo's intense, possessive reaction to Charmolue's mention of Esmeralda and his identification with both the spider and the fly reveal his destructive obsession.
Religion and Hypocrisy
Frollo, an archdeacon, engages in alchemy and harbors a secret obsession, while Charmolue, a church official, prosecutes a man for witchcraft—highlighting the hypocrisy within religious authority.
Characters to notice
- Dom Claude Frollo
The archdeacon is deeply troubled, obsessed with alchemy and fate, and shows a violent protectiveness over the spider-and-fly symbol, which he applies to himself and Esmeralda.
- Master Jacques Charmolue
The king's procurator in the ecclesiastical court, a timid and deferential disciple of Frollo, who is prosecuting Marc Cenaine and seeking Frollo's help with alchemy.
- Jehan Frollo du Moulin
Hidden under the furnace, he observes the conversation, eats a stale crust and cheese, and is nearly discovered but escapes notice when Frollo claims the noise is from a cat.
- La Esmeralda
Referenced indirectly by Charmolue as the gypsy dancer he plans to prosecute for witchcraft, and by Frollo in his symbolic monologue as the 'poor dancer' and 'predestined fly.'
Key passages
“Let things take their course, Master Jacques, 'tis fate! Alas! Claude, thou art the spider! Claude, thou art the fly also!”
Frollo declares that fate controls everything, and he sees himself as both the predator and the prey in his own obsession.
This moment encapsulates Frollo's fatalistic view and his internal conflict.
“Poor dancer! poor, predestined fly!”
Frollo laments Esmeralda's doomed fate, comparing her to a fly caught in a spider's web.
Frollo's pity for Esmeralda is intertwined with his own sense of predestination.
“I will tell you that hereafter... Busy yourself with Marc Cenaine.”
Frollo evades Charmolue's question about prosecuting Esmeralda, deflecting attention to the other case.
Frollo's hesitation reveals his conflicted feelings about Esmeralda's fate.