Le Roi s'amuse

by Victor Hugo

"Le Roi s'amuse" by Victor Hugo is a French play in five acts written in 1832. It follows Triboulet, a hunchbacked court jester who serves the womanizing King Francis I while secretly protecting his innocent daughter Blanche from the corruption he witnesses daily. When vengeful courtiers abduct Blanche, believing her to be Triboulet's mistress, the jester's carefully guarded world collapses. His quest for revenge through a hired assassin leads to devastating consequences, as a nobleman's curse haunts both king and jester alike.