Esmeralda (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame)

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Esmeralda
French Romani

Esmeralda (French: [ɛs.me.ʁɑl.da]), born Agnès, is a fictional character in Victor Hugo's 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (French: Notre Dame de Paris). She is a French Roma girl (near the end of the book, it is revealed that her biological mother was a French woman). 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

Holding her daughter Agnès in her arms, Paquette visits the Gypsies to have her fortune told. Drawing by Luc-Olivier Merson (c. 1889).

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

Notre-Dame
.

Fifteen years later, Agnès – 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.

Pierre Gringoire's life by choosing him as her husband. Drawing by Louis Boulanger
(c. 1831).

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 perceived 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.

Claude Frollo stabs Captain Phoebus. Oil painting by Auguste Couder (1833).

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 (he has no intentions of leaving his fiancée Fleur-de-Lys, he just wants to "sleep" with Esmeralda), 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 (the court has seen Djali's spelling trick), and she is locked away in a cell. Frollo visits her, and Esmeralda hides in the corner (before this point in the book, the readers know that Frollo's lustful obsession of the girl has caused him to publicly denounce and stalk her). Frollo tells Esmeralda about his inner conflict about her, and he gives her an

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.

The Death of Esmeralda, by Nicolas Eustache Maurin (1834)

Frollo finds Gringoire and informs him that the

King Louis XI
, and he sends soldiers (including Phoebus) 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 (who has not realised that the soldiers wish to hang Esmeralda) 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 (she had feared that soldiers were trying to take her away when she heard the battle). 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 (Paquette Guybertaut). There, the two women realize that Esmeralda is in fact Gudule's lost child, Agnès. 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.[1][2] 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.[1][2][3]

In the

Disney Parks and Resorts, but can be seen as a figure inside Clopin's Music Box in Fantasyland.[4] When the Disney Princess franchise was first formed in the early 2000s Esmeralda was also officially part of the original line-up, but she was soon removed along with Tinker Bell as it was decided that they did not suit the brand.[5][6] Nevertheless she is still marketed in some Disney Store products, albeit more moderately than other Disney heroines.[7]

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 (1905 film)
Stacia Napierkowska 1911 film
Theda Bara The Darling of Paris (1917 film)
Sybil Thorndike Esmeralda (1922 film)
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 (voice) 1986 animated film
Eleanor Noble (voice) The Magical Adventures of Quasimodo (1996 cartoon TV show)
Demi Moore (voice)
Heidi Mollenhauer (singing voice in the first film)
1996 Disney animated film and its 2002 sequel
Salma Hayek 1997 TV film
Hélène Ségara Notre-Dame de Paris (1997–2002 musical)
Mélanie Thierry Quasimodo d'El Paris (1999 parody film)
Tina Arena Notre-Dame de Paris (2000 musical - Original London cast)
Candis Nergaard (voice) 2008 BBC Radio adaptation
Ciara Renée 2014–2015 musical

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "The Hunchback of Notre Dame [Notre-Dame de Paris] *** (1956, Gina Lollobrigida, Anthony Quinn) – Classic Movie Review 2666". www.derekwinnert.com. 5 July 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Gina Lollobrigida's Esmeralda". english.svenko.net. Archived from the original on 18 April 2011. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  3. ^ "Esmeralda". english.svenko.net. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  4. ^ "Clopin's Music Box Adds to Old-World Charm of Fantasy Faire at Disneyland Park". 26 February 2013.
  5. ^ PoodleLambAdmin (2019-06-12). "Disney Store Hunchback of Notre Dame Esmeralda". Toy Sisters. Retrieved 2022-08-20.
  6. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2022-08-20.
  7. ^ "Esmeralda Classic Doll – The Hunchback of Notre Dame – 11 1/2 | shopDisney". shopDisney.com. Retrieved 2022-08-20.