Hellfire (song)
"Hellfire" is a song from Disney's 1996 animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The song is sung by the film's main antagonist, Judge Claude Frollo, who is voiced by the late Tony Jay.
When sinful thoughts regarding the beautiful gypsy Esmerelda enter Frollo's mind, he "panics and seeks to rid himself of source". This internal struggle prompts Hellfire, "one of the best Disney villain songs of all time". Frollo "confronts his lusting for Esmerelda...blaming her for turning towards darkness, and pleading to be saved". He sings "destroy Esmerelda, and let her taste the fires of hell, or else let her be mine and mine alone" while the image of Esmerelda "provocatively danc in front of him". He "does not see any evil in his deeds as he does them in honor of God, even though the Archdeacon often disapproves of his actions".
This "scene of lust and longing" that the song is centrered around received much press coverage at the time of the film's release, along with thealterations made to give the film a G rating, and the facial hair of Phoebus.
Read more about Hellfire (song): Heaven's Light and Hellfire, Composition, Visual Sequence, Production, Themes, DVD Release, Critical Reception, Controversy
Famous quotes containing the word hellfire:
“The feelings that Beethoven put into his music were the feelings of a god. There was something olympian in his snarls and rages, and there was a touch of hellfire in his mirth.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)