Esmeralda calmly rejected the poet Granguwa's love idol for her: "I can only love a man who can protect me." And told him that marrying him was only to save his life, so he could only maintain a nominal relationship with him. When Claude gave Esmeralda his last choice before the gallows, Esmeralda replied, "If he is dead, why did you persuade me to live?" But in the face of Claude's courtship, her answer was: "The gallows are far less disgusting than you."