#3 Judge Claude Frollo

Did you know that was his full name? Well, now you do. 

There are many things that I would like to point out about your Frollo, but the main one is this: he is so much bigger than just a person. Frollo serves as a gatekeeper to the outside world. Between your belltower and the rest of the outside world stands this menacing figure, posing as a caring friend. He pretends to keep you safe when he actually keeps you trapped. He may have mixed intentions of his own, but they come out in the form of pure harm, so we will be treating him like an enemy today. 

There is something interesting that I would like to point out about this character. As strange as this may sound, he’s not actually a liar. At least, not on the surface. Let’s take a look at the opening lines of his musical number to Quasimodo:

You are deformed

And you are ugly

And these are crimes for which the world takes little pity!

You do not comprehend!

Out there, they will revile you as a monster.

Out there, they will hate and scorn and jeer.

I could go on, but let’s just take a look at this chunk for the time being. Now, I’m not one to be a jerk for the fun of it, but I do believe we ought to call a spade a spade. If you actually watch the movie, you have to admit that Quasimodo wouldn’t exactly win “sexiest man alive.” Heck, even on topsy-turvy day, the people weren’t exactly excited about him showing up. 

So Quasimodo actually was a little deformed and ugly, and the world didn’t have much pity for him. And how can we say that he understood this when he hadn’t been outside? And when he did go out, people, yeah, treated him like a monster. They tied him to the main square’s stadium and threw tomatoes at him. 

Sounds like hating, scorning and jeering to me. 

So, on the surface, Frollo isn’t really a liar. If you were to try to approach a Frollo and prove that his claims were wrong, you would actually fail. But notice the underlying intent that his words have. He reminded Quasimodo of all his faults and failures in order to keep him locked up in his bell tower. That’s a Frollo’s purpose. 

In other words, a Frollo takes those faults and, between the lines, says “and because of these things, you should stay in hiding, and stop truly living.” He tries to pin you to the ground, using those shortcomings as his weapons. The lie that Frollo tells is that we ought to stay away from the world because we have faults and imperfections.

Everyone has a fault or two. We might not all have horribly misshapen teeth, or an eye that is nearly swollen shut, but we all have something that our Frollo could use against us. The lie we have to call him out on is to remind him that our flaws don’t need to hold us down. When you are tempted to feel defeated by the fact that you’re awkward or get nervous in big crowds, don’t try to deny that those things are a part of you. Accept them and refuse to let them hold you captive. That’s how you beat a Frollo.

But there’s something else we have to note about our towering antagonist: he changes how we see the rest of the world. Because of him and his towering influence, the whole world starts to warp, morphing from something neutral into something evil, scary, or dangerous. And eventually this starts to bleed into how we see ourselves. We start to see ourselves as unable to function in the world, incapable of success out there. We start to truly believe that the only thing out there for us is bad stuff, and it’s all because we are  dirty, rotten, no-good schmucks. And that’s when we become truly trapped. 

And the way he does it is by pointing out the bad in the world, using that to paint himself in an even better light. He tells you that he is your only friend, and that everyone else will turn against you. He supports this idea with the half-truths, keeping you under his thumb by being the solution to the problem he created. 

In the real world, anyone can be a Frollo. I know most people want to use Frollo as a textbook example of gaslighting, but I think it goes far beyond that. He could be a friend in the group that completely changes the dynamic. He could be a coworker that is a little too domineering. If they make you feel worse about the world outside of them, they are a Frollo.

But here’s the tricky part: most Frollos aren’t pure evil. There will always be a good side to a Frollo. And the more you get to know him, the easier it will feel to justify his actions. But he’s keeping you from getting out there, from tasting the morning or strolling by the sand. He is keeping you locked up, rotting in your prison of safety. And eventually, all you can do is watch your life go by without you. Don’t let your life slip away. Don’t be a slave to your Frollo

Until next time

May Peace be your Guide.