Esmeralda (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame) he sees Esmeralda in a white dress, dangling in her death throes from the scaffold. Many film adaptations of "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" have been made, which take various degrees of liberty with the novel and the character. 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. A live action Esmeralda movie is in development. Usually each adaptation portrays Esmeralda as a young
Captain Phoebus passion. Esmeralda arranges to meet Phoebus and tells him of her love for him, and he convinces her that he feels the same way about her. He is in fact engaged to his cousin, Fleur-de-Lys de Gondelaurier, who is a spiteful socialite and jealous of Esmeralda's beauty. Not only that, he has agreed to let Archdeacon Claude Frollo spy on his meeting with Esmeralda. This decision proves his undoing, since as the couple prepare to have sex, the jealous Frollo attacks Phoebus by stabbing him in the back. Frollo makes a quick get-away and Phoebus is presumed dead by homicide.