How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
He stirred up from the bottom of his heart all its hatred and its malice, and he perceived, with the cold indifference of a physician examining a patient, that this hatred and this malice were only distorted love; that love, the source of every virtue in man, was transformed into horrid things in the heart of a priest, and that someone constituted as he was, in becoming of a priest made himself a demon. (IX.I.4)
All right, what exactly is going on here? Basically, Frollo is realizing that because he has denied himself sex and romantic love, when he comes into contact with those things they just make him a really bitter and hateful person. Earlier, he's thought about "the madness of eternal vows, of the vanity of chastity, science, religion, virtue, and of the uselessness of God" (IX.I.3). These are all excuses he has made for himself for why he shouldn't care about sex. He's realizing now that it's not the love or the sex that's evil; it's what he has made them into that's evil. Yikes.
Quote #8
Love is like a tree: it grows by itself; it strikes its roots deep into our whole being, and frequently continues to put forth green leaves over a heart in ruins. And there is this unaccountable circumstance attending it, that the blinder that passion, the more tenacious it is. Never is it stronger than when it is most unreasonable. (IX.IV.3)
Well, there is plenty of unreasonable love to go around in this novel. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find one happy, requited, sincere relationship in the whole thing. Is Hugo just the biggest pessimist in the world when it comes to love? Maybe. This line is in reference to Esmeralda's feelings for Phœbus, but really, we could apply it to all of the relationships in the novel.
Quote #9
"Mercy! Mercy!" repeated the wretched priest. "If you know what my love for you is! It is fire; it is molten lead; it is a thousand daggers in my heart!" (IX.VI.6)
We can't tell whether we should tune up the world's smallest violin or play this. What twisted kind of love is this? Oh, and let's not forget how ironic it is that love is "torturing" Frollo... while Esmeralda is undergoing literal torture. Now, the question is: is this really love? What do you think Hugo wants us to make of Frollo's declarations? Keep in mind, of course, that Frollo is trying to rape Esmeralda as he says all this. So his words don't really match up with his actions.