Hellfire is a gothic song from Disney’s 1996 animated feature, the ‘Hunchback of Notre Dame,’ sung by the film’s main antagonist, Judge Claude Frollo. Hellfire is identified as one of the best Disney villain songs of all time as Frollo expresses his lust, a strong sexual desire for a lady. This song is prompted by Frollo’s internal struggle as he has sinful thoughts of a voluptuous young women, Esmeralda, who is referred as the “burning desire” that haunts his soul. He is mad that Esmeralda will not love her back despite his “efforts” to be with her, which includes attempted genocide, manslaughter, kidnapping, abuse of power and assault with deadly weapons. Despite he’s faults, he accuses her for turning towards the darkness and of turning …show more content…
It shows, hatred, envy and refers to love. Though the component that makes Frollo’s song more ‘attractive’ is that he is a more complicated character in comparison to other Disney characters. However, this complication doesn’t mean that the audience struggles to dislike Frollo; in fact, his complexity allows us to dislike him even more. Claude’s song is powerful to get the message across because of the reaction it demands from the audience. The audience cannot perceive the song without simultaneously realizing that Frollo is more human than other Disney antagonists. The human quality of his suffering makes him utterly frightening. As it is frightening and makes us feel something, it gets the message across. Throughout the song, the message of the song is clear. He continuously explores his suffering of life, his ‘loss’ of Esmeralda and thoughts of revenge. This is implying to the audience to be not be greedy, and to be a physically harmless person. It tells us that we cannot get everything we desire in life. Alternatively, the message of ‘Hellfire’ simply could be that life is hard whilst the morals of the song are; don’t be greedy, revenge isn’t healthy, life isn’t fair and the truth may be harsh but we have to forget. There are many components of this song that helps the viewer to feel and understand something, simply due to Frollo’s personality and his