Don't get me wrong, Alfredo was a horrid man and needed to be smacked about and often (although knowing his character he'd probably enjoy it) -- but do you think Hop Toad was just in his method of revenge? After all, Esmeralda - although irrationally slapped by the man - was only slapped! Did Alfredo deserve to be murdered -- and so gruesomely?
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I had a feeling that Hop Toad was corrupted by the environment and wasn't a scrupulously "just" person.
shareIn the story in which he actually appears--"Hop-Frog", not "Masque..."--it was expanded upon that he and the dancer were both treated cruelly for years and was in fact owned by the Alfredo character. There is some suggestion that the dancer is sexually abused as well. Pf course, in the story, Hop-Toad is so named because he is not just a dwarf but physically deformed so that he could only walk about like his namesake, and was forced to display his deformity for the entertainment of guests.
Yea, all in all, I think Alfredo got what he deserved.
Prospero was amused by his friend's end, if no one else. Interesting party there ...
shareIt is revealed that Hop Toad was sickened by the things he saw and/or was forced to partake in at Prospero's palace. Alfredo had a horrible death, yes, but he was a horrible person whose depravity went well beyond that of slapping the dancer. All of this is inferred by his "friendship} with Prospero. You know he has stood by and laughed at the atrocities committed by Propsero for a long time. He in fact did earn his death, as horrible as it were.
I find it much more interesting that Hop Toad was spared by the Red Death. Earlier, the Red Death asked Gino if he killed for himself in reference to the soldiers who die by his blade, to which the answer was no. Yet Hop Toad did indeed kill for himself, a blatant act of revenge against Alfredo, but justified in his mind because of the depraved man Alfredo already was. The Red Death seemed to approve that Gino's greater concern was for Francesca, and that can be said of Hop Toad too, since his greater concern was for Esmeralda.
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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?
He was a product of his environment. I think after seeing as much cruelty as he had seen, and probably partook in, in Prospero's castle, he didn't have much of a sense of right or wrong anymore. Just self-preservation and protection of those he cared about. He definitely wanted to protect Esmeralda.
I think it was implied also that Alfredo did a bit more than just slapping. Maybe not in the case of Esmeralda, at least not yet, but other women and probably young girls as well. Prospero made some remark to Alfredo that suggested something like that. Hop Toad probably did the world a favor with what he did to Alfredo.