Esmeralda (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame)
Esmeralda, born Agnès, is a fictional character in Victor Hugo's 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. She is a French Roma girl. She constantly attracts men with her seductive dances, and is rarely seen without her clever goat Djali. She is around 16 years old and has a kind and generous heart.
Character history
Esmeralda's birth-name was Agnès. She is the love child of Paquette Guybertaut, nicknamed 'la Chantefleurie', an orphaned minstrel's daughter who lives in Rheims. Paquette has become a prostitute after being seduced by a young nobleman, and lives a miserable life in poverty and loneliness. Agnes's birth makes Paquette happy once more, and she lavishes attention and care upon her adored child: even the neighbours begin to forgive Paquette for her past behaviour when they watch the pair. Tragedy strikes, however, when Gypsies kidnap the young baby, leaving a hideously deformed child in place. The townsfolk come to the conclusion that the Gypsies have cannibalised baby Agnes; the mother flees Rheims in despair, and the deformed child is exorcised and sent to Paris, to be left on the foundling bed at Notre-Dame.Fifteen years later, Agnes—now named La Esmeralda, in reference to the paste emerald she wears around her neck—is living happily amongst the Gypsies in Paris. She serves as a public dancer. Her pet goat Djali also performs counting tricks with a tambourine, an act later used as courtroom evidence that Esmeralda is a witch.
Claude Frollo sends his adopted son Quasimodo to kidnap Esmeralda from the streets. Esmeralda is rescued by Captain Phoebus, with whom she instantly falls in love to the point of obsession. Later that night, Clopin Trouillefou, the King of the Truands, prepares to execute a poet named Pierre Gringoire for trespassing the Truands' territory known as The Court of Miracles. In a compassionate act to save his life, Esmeralda agrees to marry Gringoire.
When Quasimodo is sentenced to the pillory for his attempted kidnapping, it is Esmeralda, his victim, who pities him and serves him water. Because of this, he falls deeply in love with her, even though she is too disgusted by his ugliness even to let him kiss her hand. There, Paquette la Chantefleurie, now known as Sister Gudule, an anchoress, curses Esmeralda, claiming she and the other Gypsies ate her lost child.
Two months later, Esmeralda is walking in the streets when Fleur-de-Lys de Gondelaurier, the fiancée of Phoebus, and her wealthy, aristocratic friends spot the Gypsy girl from the Gondelaurier house. Fleur-de-Lys becomes jealous of Esmeralda's beauty and pretends to not see her, but Fleur's friends call Esmeralda to them out of curiosity. When Esmeralda enters the room, tension immediately appears—the wealthy young women, who all appear equally pretty when compared to each other, are plain in comparison to Esmeralda. Knowing that Esmeralda's beauty far surpasses their own, the aristocrats make fun of her clothes instead. Phoebus tries to make Esmeralda feel better, but Fleur grabs Esmeralda's bag and opens it. Pieces of wood with letters written on them fall out, and Djali moves the letters to spell out "Phoebus". Fleur, realizing that she now has competition, calls Esmeralda a witch and passes out. Esmeralda runs off, and Phoebus follows her.
Later that month, she meets with Phoebus and declares her love for him. Phoebus takes the opportunity to kiss her as she speaks, and he pretends to love her. He asks Esmeralda what the point of marriage is, which leaves the girl hurt. Phoebus, seeing the girl's reaction, pretends to be sad and says that Esmeralda must no longer love him. Esmeralda then says that she does love him and will do whatever he asks. Phoebus begins to undo Esmeralda's shirt and kisses her again. Frollo, who was watching from behind a door, bursts into the room in a jealous rage, stabs Phoebus, and flees. Esmeralda passes out at the sight of Frollo, and when she comes to, she finds herself framed for murder, for a miscommunication makes the jury believe that Phoebus is in fact dead. Esmeralda proclaims her innocence, but when she is threatened with having her foot crushed in a vice, she confesses. The court sentences her to death for murder and witchcraft, and she is locked away in a cell. Frollo visits her, and Esmeralda hides in the corner. Frollo tells Esmeralda about his inner conflict about her, and he gives her an ultimatum: give herself to him or face death. Esmeralda, repulsed that Frollo would harm her to this extent for his own selfishness, refuses. Frollo, mad with emotion, leaves the city. The next day, minutes before she is to be hanged, Quasimodo dramatically arrives from Notre Dame, takes Esmeralda, and runs back in while crying, "Sanctuary!".
While she stays in the cell at Notre Dame, she slowly becomes friendly with Quasimodo and is able to look past his misshapen exterior. Quasimodo gives her a high-pitched whistle, one of the few things he can still hear, and instructs her to use it whenever she needs help. One day, Esmeralda spots Phoebus walking past the cathedral. She asks Quasimodo to follow the captain, but when Quasimodo finds where Phoebus is, he sees Phoebus leaving his fiancée's house. Quasimodo tells him that Esmeralda wants to see him: Phoebus, believing Esmeralda to be dead, believes Quasimodo to be a devil summoning him to Esmeralda in Hell, and flees in terror. Quasimodo returns and says he did not find Phoebus.
For weeks Esmeralda and Quasimodo live a quiet life, whilst Frollo hides in his private chambers thinking about what to do next. One night, he brings his master key to Esmeralda's room. The girl wakes up and is paralyzed with terror until Frollo pins her to the bed with his body and tries to rape her. Unable to fight him off, Esmeralda grabs the whistle and frantically blows it. Before Frollo can make sense of her actions, Quasimodo picks him up, slams him against the wall, and beats him with the intention of killing him. Before Quasimodo can finish, Frollo stumbles into the moonlight pouring in from a far window. Quasimodo sees who Esmeralda's attacker is, and drops him in surprise. Frollo fumes with fury, and tells Esmeralda that no one will have her if he cannot, before leaving the cathedral.
Frollo finds Gringoire and informs him that the Parlement has voted to remove Esmeralda from the sanctuary, and intends to order soldiers to forcibly accomplish the task. Gringoire reluctantly agrees to save the girl, and formulates a plan with Frollo. The next night, Gringoire leads all the Parisian Gypsies to Notre Dame to rescue Esmeralda. Mistakenly responding to this assault, Quasimodo retaliates and uses Notre Dame's defenses to fight the gypsies, thinking that these people want to turn in Esmeralda. News of this soon comes to King Louis XI, and he sends soldiers to end the riot and hang Esmeralda. They reach Notre Dame in time to save Quasimodo, who is outnumbered and unable to prevent the gypsies from storming the Gallery of Kings. The gypsies are slaughtered by the king's men, while Quasimodo runs to Esmeralda's room. He goes into a panic when she is nowhere to be found.
During the attack, Gringoire and a cloaked stranger slip into Notre Dame and find Esmeralda about to sneak out of the cathedral. When Gringoire offers to save the girl, she agrees and goes with the two men. The three get into a nearby boat and paddle down the Seine, and she passes out when she hears many people chanting for her death.
When Esmeralda wakes, she finds that Gringoire is gone, and the stranger is Frollo. Frollo once more gives Esmeralda a choice: stay with him or be handed over to the soldiers. The girl asks to be executed. Angry, Frollo casts her into the arms of Gudule. There, the two women realize that Esmeralda is in fact Gudule's lost child. The guards arrive, and Gudule pleads for them to show Esmeralda and herself mercy. Gudule follows the guards to the scaffold, kicking and biting along the way. A guard throws Gudule to the ground; she hits her head and dies.
Back at Notre Dame, Quasimodo is still frantically looking for his friend. He goes to the top of the north tower and finds Frollo there. Quasimodo notes Frollo's demented appearance and follows his gaze, where he sees Esmeralda in a white dress, dangling in her death throes from the scaffold. After Quasimodo pushes Frollo off the tower in a moment of rage, it is all but explicitly stated that he tracks Esmerelda's body to the mass graveyard where she was left after her execution and starves himself to death while embracing her corpse.
Adaptations
Many film adaptations of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame have been made, which take various degrees of liberty with the novel and the character. The 1956 movie by Jean Delannoy, in which Esmeralda was portrayed by Gina Lollobrigida, introduced a number of significant changes to her character. Namely, in Delannoy's version Esmeralda is a Romani rather than a Frenchwoman adopted by the Romani, and her costume was designed to be as close as possible to that of a Medieval Romani woman. Lollobrigida was also the first actress to portray Esmeralda barefoot, in contrast to Hugo's novel; all these details made their way into a number of subsequent adaptations, including Disney's 1996 animated version.In the Disney version, Esmeralda is shown to be a kind, caring, independent and witty gypsy who is willing to help others in need. Esmeralda's greatest wish is to see outcasts like Quasimodo and her fellow gypsies be accepted to society and be treated as people.
Usually each adaptation portrays Esmeralda as a young woman in her 20s, not a 16-year-old girl as in Hugo's novel. Among the actresses who have played her over the years are:
| Actress | Version |
| Denise Becker | Esmeralda |
| Stacia Napierkowska | 1911 film |
| Theda Bara | The Darling of Paris |
| Sybil Thorndike | Esmeralda |
| Patsy Ruth Miller | 1923 film |
| Maureen O'Hara | 1939 film |
| Gina Lollobrigida | 1956 film |
| Gay Hamilton | 1966 TV cartoon show |
| Michelle Newell | 1977 TV film |
| Lesley-Anne Down | 1982 TV film |
| Angela Punch McGregor | 1986 animated film |
| Eleanor Noble | The Magical Adventures of Quasimodo |
| Demi Moore Heidi Mollenhauer | 1996 Disney animated film |
| Salma Hayek | 1997 TV film |
| Hélène Ségara | Notre-Dame de Paris |
| Mélanie Thierry | Quasimodo d'El Paris |
| Tina Arena | Notre-Dame de Paris |
| Candis Nergaard | 2008 BBC Radio adaptation |
| Ciara Renée | 2014–2015 musical |