Everyone please remember that PLAGIARISM is unethical and very much frowned upon by all institutions of learning, so please give Victor Hugo, the other writers referenced on my page, and myself credit for referenced material.
Claude is the one who told the authorities of Esmeralda's witchcraft. He hoped that the church could cleanse her and thus break the gypsy magic spell that he believes that she holds on him.
The creature before my eyes was of that supernatural beauty which can come only from heaven or hell. She was no mere girl made of a little of our earth, and feebly lighted within by the flickering ray of a woman's soul. It was an angel, but of darkness-a flame, not a light. Just when I was thinking these thoughts, I saw near you a goat, a witch's beast, which looked at me and laughed. The noonday sun turned its horns to fire. Then I spotted the demon's trap, and I no more doubted that you came from hell, and that you came to destroy me. I believed so. book8 chap4
Esmeralda is arrested for murder and witchcraft due to the archdeacon. During Esmeralda and Phoebus's secret rendevous, when things were getting hot, Claude jumps out of a closet and stabs Phoebus in the neck. Claude then escapes leaving Esmeralda (who faints) with the body and the knife. Later, Claude comes and visits her while she is in the dungeon awaiting execution. The archdeacon describes to her what was going on in his mind just before the attack.
To be present, with one's jealousy and one's rage, while she lavishes on a stupid braggart her treasures of love and beauty! to behold that form which maddens, that voluptous bosom, that flesh panting and blushing under the kisses of another! O heaven! To love her foot, her arm, her shoulder-to think of her blue veins, of her brown skin, till one writhes whole nights on the pavement of one's cell, and to see all those caresses one has dreamed of end in her torture-to have succeeded only in laying her on the bed of leather! O these are true pincers heated in the fires of hell! Oh blessed is he that is sawed in between two planks, or torn to pieces by four horses! So you know what torture it is when, during long nights, the arteries boil, the heart is bursting, the head is splitting, and one's own teeth bite one's won hands; when exorable tormentors are unceasingly turning one, as on a burning gridiron, because of thoughts of love, jealousy, and despair? Young girl, mercy! I beg you, desist for a moment! Place a few ashes on this living coal. Wipe away, please, the perspiration that streams in large drops from my brow! Child torture me with one hand and caress me with the other! Have pity! Have pity on me! book8 chap4
Esmeralda will not consent to his physical urges and instead utters the name Phoebus over and over again. This is the final straw Claude! When he would do anything for her, she is in love with this egotistical worthless slug of a human named Phoebus! Claude leaves her to the executioners.
Of course Quasimodo saves her from the gallows this first time....it is on her second trip there that she meets death. After her rescue Esmeralda lives in Notre-Dame for 4 years. During which time Claude stays in the shadows and does not bother her till one night when he cannot stand it anymore and he goes to her room. Well, things get crazy and all the ruckus of her hitting him and his pleading with her awakens Quasimodo who comes to her rescue and sends Claude back to his cell.
For his part, the priest groped his way back to his cell.
It was done. Dom Claude was jealous of Quasimodo! Lost in thought he repeated his doleful words, "No one shall have her!" book9 chap5
Well, he certainly holds true to that statement. Not long after that episode, while the Truands are attacking the cathedral in an attempt to rescue the gypsy, Pierre and Claude sneak Esmeralda out the back door and across the river to "safety". It is here that Pierre takes Djali and leaves the archdeacon with Esmeralda. After plenty of gratuitous dialogue, Claude gives Esmeralda two choices; she can give herself to the gallows or to him.
The priest took her in his arms with violence, and laughed an abominable laugh. "Well, yes, a murderer," he said, "and I will have you. You shall not have me for your slave; I will be your master. I will have you. I have a den to which I shall drag you. You will follow me. You must follow me, or I'll deliver you to the executioner. You must die, fair one, or be mine-the priest's, the apostate's, the murderer's-this very night. Do you hear? Come, my joy! Come, kiss me, mad-woman. The grave, or my bed!" book9 chap4
Well, Dom Claude kept his word and summoned the authorities after she told him no. He quickly returns to the top of the cathedral to watch the execution. Joining him up there is Quasimodo who also watches Esmeralda as she is hung. Claude is enjoying the show so much that he wears a big grin on his face and laughs out loud. This is just to much for Quasimodo who walks up behind the priest and pushes him off the cathedral. Claude never saw it coming. There is no final battle between these two at the end, no struggle, just a push from behind.
Of course he does let out the famous "Damnation!" just before he lands on the gargoyle which temporarily breaks his fall, giving him time to plead with the deaf hunchback before his final plummet to death.
