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.
After Quasimodo tries to kidnap Esmeralda at the behest of Frollo, Quasimodo is punished by being displayed in public and beaten. Esmeralda comes to help Quasimodo during this punishment, providing him with much-needed water to drink. Quasimodo falls in love with Esmeralda for her kindness.
Looking for something to eat, Gringoire admires the graceful beauty of La Esmerelda, a gypsy street dancer, and decides to follow her home. After rounding a corner, she is suddenly attacked by Quasimodo and Frollo.
Who killed Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame?
In the original story, Frollo successfully killed Esmeralda by hanging her. In the film, Quasimodo prevents her tragic death by rescuing her. This also occurred in an episode of the PBS series "Wishbone" where titular Jack Russell terrier is in the role of Quasimodo. He rescues her from being hanged to death by Frollo.
While hating Esmeralda for being a gypsy and humiliating and evading him, Frollo had a powerful feeling of lust for her, so powerful he was desperate to find her and have her to himself, even if that meant burning Paris to the ground.
The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1939) - Quasimodo rescues Esmeralda [HD]
How is Esmeralda sexualized?
The first is during the Festival of Fools, where she performs on stage in a rather sexy red dress. Some compare her to a stripper in this scene (especially when she twirls around a spear she uses as a makeshift pole).
What Makes Him Pure Evil? He devoted his life to a genocidal crusade against the Romani people (otherwise known as the Gypsies), persecuting them on account of their ethnicity and race, due to supremacist and racist beliefs that they are outside the order he wishes to impose.
Charmolue sentences her to death after she falsely confesses to witchcraft and to murdering Phoebus. (Esmeralda is unaware that Phoebus is alive.) Quasimodo attempts to shelter Esmeralda in Notre-Dame, but he is ultimately unable to save her.
She's the love interest of both Quasimodo, the protagonist, Captain Phoebus, the tritagonist and Frollo, the villain. Although Esmeralda ends up with Phoebus and not Quasimodo, she is one of the few heroines not to be obtained by the main character; the first being John Smith.
Madellaine is the deuteragonist of the 2002 film, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II. In the end of the sequel, she becomes Quasimodo's girlfriend and potential wife.
There could be many reasons. The most widely used theory, at least for the Disney film, is the idea of the trinity used for the plot: Frollo sees her as evil, Quasimodo sees her as angelic, and Phoebus sees both the good and the bad. Out of all three, Phoebus saw her as the most human.
As Esmeralda is being led to the gallows, Quasimodo swings down from Notre-Dame and carries her off to the cathedral, temporarily protecting her – under the law of sanctuary – from arrest.
Of course, white Roma exist and it is obvious that in Hugo's mind, Agnès/Esmeralda was nothing but a white woman “with a tan”. But the recurring use of actresses, in later adaptations, whose whiteness is portrayed as approximate points to a commodification of Romani ethnicity.
However, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is the rare case in which the protagonist, Quasimodo, does not get the girl at the end, at least not in Hugo's novel. Quasimodo is in love with Esmeralda in the novel, but unfortunately, she is hanged at the end of the novel.
Love, often based upon physical appearance, contradicts the love of the pure heart that sees beyond looks, e.g., men in the story are mesmerized by Esmeralda's beauty, only Quasimodo loves her because of her kindness. Nevertheless, kindness and beauty could not save Esmeralda or Quasimodo from suffering.
However, the jealous Frollo attempts to exact revenge by stabbing Phoebus, believing he has killed him, and frames Esmeralda for the crime. Esmeralda is found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by hanging. On the day of the Feast of Fools, she is led to the gallows as Frollo watches in triumph.
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.
He is born with what is described as a “hunchback” (medically known as kyphosis), and he is also described as having a large wart covering most of his right eye (Mayo Clinic, 2020). Quasimodo also becomes deaf as he lives and works in the bell tower.
She was a ravishing young Gypsy girl living a vagabond life as a prostitute. Taunted, despised and even envied by fellow Parisians, her services were lusted after by the wealthy and powerful with obsessive fervor.
Everything is a business, and the Disney Princesses world is one. Esmeralda was removed as she wasn't marketable enough for the franchise's standards, as the sales of The Hunchback of Notre Dame's products weren't good, and because the movie dealt with themes that were not entirely suitable for children.
20 years later, Quasimodo has grown up believing his mother abandoned him for his deformity, as told to him by Frollo. During the climax of the film, Frollo reveals to Quasimodo that his mother had actually died trying to save him, a fact reflected by his efforts to save Esmeralda.
In his rage, Frollo finally admits that he killed Quasimodo's mother when she attempted to save her baby, much to Quasimodo's shock and horror. As such, Frollo decides to kill Quasimodo himself like he "should have done 20 years ago".
Frollo directs Quasimodo to stay hidden inside the cathedral for his own sake because he is “deformed and ugly”, and believes his behavior towards Quasimodo is charitable. Frollo also justifies his goal to rid French society of the Romani people because of the sinful acts he claims that they commit.
It's clear that Frollo doesn't care about Quasimodo and is simply raising him because he doesn't want to be damned to hell. We see that he gives little care to the social quality of Quasi's life by locking him away, so why does he even bother to educate him? Frollo teaches Quasi on more than one occasion.
