Goats

Goats enter the novel chiefly through Djali, the agile animal who accompanies Esmeralda. Djali’s movements and tricks are first part of a public performance, then are presented in court as proof of witchcraft. But the animal is not only an instrument in the accusation: Djali seeks Esmeralda’s attention, follows her after her rescue, and becomes the companion whose return finally releases her tears. That contrast gives the goat a distinct place in the story, between spectacle and evidence, and between the violence of human judgment and the persistence of affection.

Appearance and Associations

La Falourdel remembers a beautiful young girl arriving at her house with a large billy goat. She cannot recall whether its coat was black or white, but its beard and horns make her uneasy: to her, they resemble a man and suggest witches’ Sabbaths. The goat’s appearance thus acquires significance through the old woman’s fears, rather than through any evidence of wrongdoing. Her testimony makes plain how readily ordinary animal features can be folded into suspicion.

Djali is also described as elegant and agile. When brought into the courtroom, the goat pauses at the threshold, stretches its neck as if surveying a wide horizon, then recognizes Esmeralda and bounds over the table and a clerk’s head to reach her. Djali rolls at her feet and solicits a word or caress. Esmeralda remains motionless and gives no sign that she notices; even the animal’s familiar appeal cannot reach her in that moment. The scene establishes both the liveliness of Djali’s behavior and the painful distance imposed on Esmeralda by her condition.

Performance Turned into Evidence

La Falourdel recounts that the captain and the girl were alone in her upper room with the goat. After hearing a cry, she saw a dark, priest-like figure fall through a window into the water. When the watch entered the room, the captain lay stabbed, Esmeralda appeared to be pretending to be dead, and the goat was frightened. The old woman’s account links Djali to the scene of the crime, but does not establish that the animal caused the attack. Her suspicion rests instead on the goat’s appearance and her association of goats with witchcraft.

At Esmeralda’s trial, Jacques Charmolue uses tambourine maneuvers to make Djali perform tricks connected with the date and the month. The spectators have likely applauded the same innocent magic in a public square; beneath the court’s roof, however, they interpret it as diabolical. The performance itself has not changed. Its setting and the authorities’ framing have changed what the crowd believes it means.

The trial’s most damning display uses the movable letters Djali wears around its neck. After the king’s procurator empties the letters onto the floor, the goat extracts the name Phoebus with a hoof. The court treats this as decisive proof that Esmeralda bewitched and helped murder the captain. The moment transforms a trick into an apparent confession, while the crowd’s image of Esmeralda shifts from a dancer whose grace once captivated passersby to a supposed vampire. Djali, likewise, is recast from performer and companion as an accomplice in witchcraft. The evidence depends on interpreting the animal’s action as meaningful within a story the court has already constructed.

Companionship and the Aftermath

Djali’s response to Esmeralda at the trial is not reciprocated: she remains unresponsive even as the goat seeks her caress. Later, after Quasimodo has driven away Jacques Charmolue’s party, Djali escapes after Esmeralda. The animal lavishes caresses on her feet for nearly an hour, still unable to win a glance. The delay matters: Esmeralda’s isolation is so complete that even a familiar companion cannot immediately draw her attention from it.

When she finally feels Djali’s bearded head between her hands, she recognizes the goat and covers it with kisses. She speaks tenderly of having forgotten Djali and of the animal’s continued thought for her. Her response shifts the scene from solitude to recognition: Djali has remained near her, and Esmeralda can still receive and return affection. As she embraces the goat, she begins to weep; the tears ease some of the bitterness held within her grief. Djali does not alter her circumstances, but its presence gives her a bond that can still be felt when she has been left without country, family, or home.

Narrative Significance

Djali’s appearances make the instability of interpretation visible. In the square, the goat’s tricks entertain; in court, the same acts are treated as supernatural evidence. A name drawn from movable letters becomes a supposed revelation, although the performance itself cannot establish the guilt attributed to Esmeralda. Through Djali, the novel shows how fear and judicial authority can convert an animal’s ordinary actions into proof of a charge.

Yet the goat is not confined to that role. Djali seeks its mistress, follows her after the rescue, and persists in offering affection even when she cannot respond. Its final reunion with Esmeralda gives the animal a presence beyond the spectacle and accusation that have surrounded it. The contrast is sharp: the court makes Djali’s behavior serve a case against Esmeralda, while the animal’s quiet attachment helps her emerge, briefly, from isolation and grief.