The ‘ἀνάγκη’ and the spider on the scales. Courts and trials in Victor Hugo's «Notre-Dame de Paris»

Abstract

The aim of this analysis is to examine the different narrative modes through which, in the novel Notre Dame de Paris, Victor Hugo evaluates and therefore criticises the judicial system in France in the XV century. The investigation develops on three different levels; firstly, the places of justice were examined: depicted in an extremely realistic way, these environments profoundly shape the author's narrative spaces. The following section has its focus on both the characters that, in the story, work as the embodiment of justice, and the ones that come into contact with it or that are somehow affected by it: their analysis adamantly shows Hugo’s aversion and intolerance towards the judicial institution itself. Lastly, the judicial apparatus is considered through a careful investigation of the trials, sentences and punishments that can be found in the novel, often working as the engine of the narrative machine. Moreover, an entire paragraph is dedicated to an in-depth investigation of the sources of law used by Hugo in the novel, sources that clearly prove quite a good legal knowledge on the part of the author.