MBTI Type: ESFP

Esme is a very dynamic, present woman – from dancing and performing on the streets for money, to participating as a star attraction in the Festival of Fools, to defying Frollo by freeing Quasi despite orders to the contrary, and fleeing into the church for sanctuary. She doesn’t hesitate to act, using a candelabra to attack Phoebus, then saving his life by throwing a stone to upset Frollo’s horse. She leaps into the water and rescues him from drowning, then carries him to Notre Dame to entrust him to Quasimodo. Even though she’s “scared” as Quasi helps her escape, Esme doesn’t seem troubled by his admission he’s never “done this before.” She has a strong moral center, which refuses to stand by and watch Quasimodo persecuted for being different and abused by the crowd, but is mostly concerned with and focused on her own feelings for Phoebus. She is so wrapped up them, she fails to notice the hunchback’s crush on her, nor pick up on his subtle romantic advances. She thinks because he helped her once, and is a kind person, he will help her again – unknowingly breaking his heart by asking him to take care of Phoebus for her. She does not care what anyone thinks of her, much less Frollo, and draws a hard, silent line in the sand – she’d rather burn than be his mistress. Esmeralda doesn’t hesitate to take swift action, aimed at accomplishing something – putting food on the table, misleading Frollo, using the crowd to help her escape, protecting Phoebus, and organizing everyone to leave the Court of Miracles unharmed. Her inferior Ni is her blind spot. When Frollo enters the church and orders her arrest, Esme leaps immediately to the wrong conclusion – that Phoebus was distracting her long enough for his boss to come along; she doesn’t respond well to him, until he later proves himself trustworthy. She also doesn’t think through the ramifications of fleeing inside the church (“gypsies don’t do well inside stone walls”).

Enneagram: 2w3 so/sx

Esmeralda is a hard character to type, since I did take into consideration the fact that she shows a lot of social 8 tendencies… but when it comes right down to it, she reeks of super-ego. Her song, “God help the outcasts,” denies that she herself needs anything, but begs him to have mercy and favor upon the outcasts that surround her (2s are rejection types, who are afraid to ask for things for themselves). When she goes after Frollo, she hits him with super-ego judgments – he’s a bad person, someone in authority who SHOULD be compassionate and merciful, and she judges him harshly for it. Elsewhere, she is quickly affirming to Quasimodo, leaping in to defend him when he calls himself a “monster” (she insists that is not true, and asks if he thinks she is evil), and even kissing him on the cheek to cheer him up. She praises his intricate handiwork in his mini village, and builds him up emotionally through warmth, closeness, and attentiveness (which he misreads as romantic overtures). So, it can be argued that any 8 is creeping out when she sees things that upset her (abuses of authority and a lack of compassion), and she launches into protective Mother Bear mode. She is a performer more than a moralist, although she does lecture people for their bad behaviors; a sensual, extroverted, flamboyant woman who loves to be the center of attention, who plays to the crowd when insulting Frollo and evading his guards, and who shows assertiveness in her direct confrontation of him.