Esmeralda

Esmeralda is a fictional character in Victor Hugo's 1831 novel Notre Dame de Paris. She is around 16 years old and lives with the other members of Paris' Court of Miracles along with her goat, Djali. Her birth name is revealed to be Agnès

Biography
Esmeralda was born Agnès to Paquette Guybertaut, a woman working as a prostitute due to poverty, in Rheims, France. Her father is unknown. She is doted upon by her mother, who begins to work as a seamstress and find joy in her life again. Unfortunately, when Agnès is around a year old, she is kidnapped by "Gypsies" and replaced with with a deformed child, who is later known as Quasimodo. Believing her child to have been cannibalized by the “Gypsies,” a grief-stricken Paquette decides to live in seclusion in an exposed cell in Paris as an anchoress. She becomes known as Sister Gudule, and devotes her life to mourning her daughter. Due to her belief that her baby was cannibalized, she develops a hatred of “Gypsies”, including Esmeralda, not realizing she is actually Agnès.

Roughly fifteen years later, Esmeralda, named due to the paste emerald she wears around her neck, works as a performer in public areas of Paris. She sings, dances, plays the tambourine, and performs tricks with her goat, Djali. She attracts the attention of Archdeacon Claude Frollo, who becomes obsessed with her. He orders his adopted son Quasimodo to help him abduct her, but she is rescued by Phoebus de Chateaupers, Captain of the King’s Archers. Esmeralda immediately becomes enamored with him.

She returns to the Court of Miracles, where she lives with the “Gypsies” and other outcasts of Paris, including Clopin Trouillefou, the King of the Truands. Clopin and the Truands are about to execute Pierre Gringoire for trespassing. Out of compassion, Esmeralda agrees to marry him in order to save his life.

The next day, Quasimodo is sentenced to flogging and humiliation on the pillory before the public. His pleas for water go ignored by the jeering crowd until Esmeralda offers him a drink out of pity. Unbeknownst to her, Quasimodo falls in love with her due to this compassionate act.

Some time later, Esmeralda is called to the house of Fleur-de-Lys de Gondelaurier, a wealthy young woman who is engaged to Phoebus (a fact which Esmeralda does not know). Fleur-de-Lys, who realizes Phoebus’ attraction, and her upper class friends feel threatened by Esmeralda’s beauty and make fun of her. Esmeralda’s bag full of wooden letters is accidentally opened, and Djali rearranges the letters to spell “Phoebus”, a trick taught to her. Fleur-de-Lys faints, and the rest of her group denounces Esmeralda as witch. Esmeralda runs off but is followed by Phoebus, who tells her to meet him at an inn.

Believing Phoebus loves her (when in reality he is just using her for sex), she readily agrees to meet with him. Just when Phoebus is about to seduce Esmeralda, Claude Frollo bursts into the room and stabs him in a fit of jealous rage. Esmeralda faints, and when she wakes up she finds she is being blamed for the apparent murder of Phoebus. In actuality, Phoebus is merely injured, a fact which the court does not bother to verify. Esmeralda confesses to the murder after undergoing torture, and is sentenced to hanging for Phoebus “death”, as well as witchcraft.

After spending months in a windowless cell while awaiting execution, Esmeralda is visited by Frollo. He declares his love for her (while at the same time denouncing her as a witch), and offers to take her away if she will agree to be his. A horrified Esmeralda recognizes him as the man who harassed her and stabbed Phoebus, and angrily refuses.

The next day, Esmeralda is about to be executed when she is saved by Quasimodo, who carries her into the Notre Dame Cathedral and declares Sanctuary. Esmeralda develops a relatively friendly relationship with Quasimodo, but is still somewhat afraid of him. He gives her a whistle (one of the few things he can still hear), and tells her to use it if she is ever in trouble. She lives peacefully in a cell in the Cathedral with Djali for a period of time. Now knowing Phoebus is alive, she urges Quasimodo to find him and bring him to her. A heartbroken Quasimodo finds him, but the superstitious Phoebus believes Esmeralda is dead and Quasimodo is a devil sent to drag him to Hell.

One night, Frollo sneaks into Esmeralda’s cell, declares his love for her again, and attempts to rape her. She is able to alert Quasimodo with the whistle he gave her, and he runs in and beats the attacker. He is about to kill him when he recognizes his adoptive father. Caught between the two people he loves, he tells Frollo to kill him with his knife before doing anything else. A crazed Frollo is about to do so when Esmeralda grabs the knife, threatening him and forcing him to leave.

Claude tells Gringoire that the Parlement has decided to remove Esmeralda from the cathedral by force. The ungrateful Gringoire is eventually persuaded by Frollo to help her escape. He tells Clopin and the Truands, and they decide to rescue Esmeralda from the King’s soldiers. Quasimodo does not realize they are there to rescue Esmeralda, and attacks them when they reach Notre Dame. During the chaos, Esmeralda is visited by Gringoire and a cloaked man who he refers to as a “friend”, and is told to follow them to safety. They escape down the Seine via boat, but Gringoire leaves Esmeralda with the cloaked man, rationalizing that he can only save her or Djali. The “friend” reveals himself to be Frollo, and he drags Esmeralda through the streets, again giving her the ultimatum to be his or be executed. Esmeralda declares that she would rather die, and Frollo has the “Gypsy-hating” Sister Gudule stay with Esmeralda while he goes to alert the soldiers. Sister Gudule shows Esmeralda the shoe that she gave the baby she lost, and a stunned Esmeralda pulls the matching shoe from her pouch. They are overjoyed at having found each other, and Gudule attempts to hide her daughter in her cell. Unfortunately, the soldiers are alerted to Esmeralda’s presence, and drag her to the scaffold despite Gudule’s impassioned pleas for mercy. Gudule is killed when she hits her head trying to defend Esmeralda. Esmeralda faints and then dies by hanging.

Quasimodo, witnessing her death from afar but unable to save her, pushes the now deranged Frollo off of Notre Dame in retaliation. Years later, Esmeralda and Quasimodo’s skeletons are found intertwined, and when Quasimodo’s skeleton is attempted to be moved it crumbles into dust. It is implied he slowly died of dehydration or starvation while embracing Esmeralda’s corpse.

Trivia

 * According to Gringoire, she has traveled through Hungary, Spain and Catalonia, Sicily, and Algeria, among other countries. In the Notre-Dame de Paris musical, she mentions having lived in Provence, France, and Andalusia, Spain.
 * the song she sings in Spanish in the beginning of the novel is actually a poem by Victor Hugo’s brother.
 * According to Mahiette’s story, Esmeralda’s birthday is January 25 (Saint-Paule's Day), 1466. However, Hugo refers to her as being 16 years old on January 6, when she would actually have been 15.
 * Although she is not Roma in the novel, many adaptions leave out the Sister Gudule subplot and therefore it is implied she is Roma.
 * Her personality is very different in the Disney film, where she is a confidant, street-wise woman in her late 20s.
 * According to Esmeralda, her adopted mother was very kind.
 * She is beloved by everyone living in the Court of Miracles, including Clopin, due to her kind nature.
 * The public’s opinion of her is frequently divided. At times she is seen as a sorceress, in other instances she is simply a beautiful and talented performer.
 * Hugo's naming of Esmeralda could be a nod to the Emerald Tablet, a heremetic text influential to alchemists, especially in the Medieval and Renaissance Era.
 * Her birth name, Agnes, means “lamb” and is the name of a Catholic saint, Saint Agnes of Rome, who was a virgin martyr. According to Catholic legend, she was a young girl condemned to death after she refused to marry a Pagan lord due to her Catholic faith. She is the patron saint of chastity, betrothed couples, and young girls.