Claude Frollo is the main antagonist in the musical adapation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, based on the character of the same name.
Background[]
Frollo appears in both the German and North American musical adaptations of the film. In the German musical, Frollo is revealed to have been a priest in his youth (referencing his role as an Archdeacon in the original novel) and decided that Paris needed to be safe so he became a judge. He hated the Romani people and believed that they were the sole problem with Paris. He took care of Quasimodo as an act of contrition for killing Quasimodo's mother. He hoped that Quasimodo would think like him and his emotional abuse was something that he was unaware of. Frollo became consumed with lust for Esmeralda which drove him insane. He thought the cure was either to possess her or to destroy her.
His fate is changed between the versions of the play. In the German version of the play, he is thrown off of the cathedral to his death by Quasimodo, rather than falling off of the crumbling gargoyle fixture. In the English version of the play, when Esmeralda awakens, Frollo draws his sword and prepares to kill both of them, but then stops, drops the sword, and leaves. This was most likely included in this version of the play to give Frollo a chance at redemption, though whether or not he took that chance is unknown.
In the North American musical, which follows much more closely the original novel, Frollo and his younger brother, Jehan, were raised in Notre Dame after they are orphaned. While Frollo studied to become a priest, Jehan constantly found himself in trouble and was eventually expelled from the church. Years later after becoming the Archdeacon, Frollo learned from a dying Jehan that the latter fathered a deformed child who needed to be looked after, the child being Quasimodo. As penance for the sins of his brother and seeing it as a test of faith, Frollo vows to raise the child to be devout as him. Years later, Frollo sees Esmeralda dance at the Festival of Fools and how she defends her actions in assisting Quasimodo. He offers for her to stay at Notre Dame and learn from him the ways of the church, and indicates his attraction to her which disgusts her. He obsesses over Esmeralda and receives permission from the king to use military power to find her and make her his own.
As in the movie, Frollo offers her his ultimatum to her at the stake before she is rescued by Quasimodo. However, Esmeralda later dies from smoke inhalation and Quasimodo is overcome by grief and blames Frollo for her demise. In his anger over his former master's actions, Quasimodo throws Frollo over the edge of the cathedral to his death.
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