Victor Hugo's Notre‐Dame de Paris on the Nineteenth‐Century London Stage

Abstract

Victor Hugo's Notre‐Dame de Paris (1831) was translated for English readers as The Hunchback of Notre‐Dame in 1833. One year later, Quasimodo, Esmeralda, Frollo, and the rest of Hugo's cast of characters appeared in London theaters. This article is the first to discuss three nineteenth‐century English stage adaptations of Hugo's novel: two adaptations penned by dramatist Edward Fitzball – Esmeralda; or, The Deformed of Notre Dame (1834) and Quasimodo; or, The Gipsey Girl of Notre Dame (1836) – as well as Andrew Halliday's Notre‐Dame; or, The Gypsey Girl of Paris (1871). These adaptations rewrote Hugo's historical romance into domestic dramas that eschewed the novel's tragic ending in favor of a happy ending. They also erased Hugo's political commentary and social critiques from the drama. Overall, the essay demonstrates that although these changes kept Hugo's story in mass circulation for almost two centuries, they have done so at the expense of the novel's republican politics and social commentary.