Beauty And The Beast

characters like the frog that appear, proving that women are incapable of solving their own problems and need a man to guide them on their journey of becoming the ‘ideal’ women.
Moreover, “Beauty and the Beast,” written by Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont is another story that highlights male superiority through the animal character. Instead of letting the Beauty suffer with the loss of her father, the beast spares his life and takes her in his place. The beast is not portrayed as the ‘usual’ friendly, small creature helper, but he still takes on the role of helping Beauty find her way through life. Male authority is evident throughout the text, as the male creatures seem to have magical powers or magical abilities or wealth that help them
These stories create a bond between the animals and the readers and give a better understanding of how animals should be treated. In earlier times, when most people did not live in the urban society, people shared a closer connection to animals. Nevertheless, with less land and more buildings and factories being built, people lose interest in nature and the animals that live within it, believing that humans and animals are two entirely separate categories. Stories like Aladdin, help to prove otherwise. James Serpell’s suggests in his article, “Creatures of the Unconscious: Companion Animals as Mediators” that “animals are able to provide [people] with a form of stress-reducing or stress-buffering social support” (Serpell 108). When animals are involved in the fairy tales like “Cinderella,” it tends to bring out a calmer and more pleasant atmosphere. Children that read fairy tales begin to understand the role and importance of animals and start to believe that animal companions are more than just wild creatures or ‘play toys,’ but are in fact, intellectual creatures that they can socialize
The species represent the types of human behaviours or personalities or occupations” (Shepard 169). Shepard shows that the reason characters, such as the animals in “Aschenputtel” or the frog in “The Frog King” do not behave realistically or according to their true nature is because they are there to provide a lesson and function as a way to critique human society. He goes on to say that the animals also “help to recognize and clarify aspects of society” by “falsifying the behaviour of animals, narrow[ing] each species to a trait, and by analogy formulated a cast of human stereotypes (Shepard 170). His statement suggests that animals in a sense, have no existence except to awaken and refresh the lesson in the story. It also emphasizes the connection between animals and humans, showing how effective lessons are taught through animals. Though the animals are not portrayed as their “natural” self, the fact that people can relate and see themselves as these creatures demonstrate that humans and animals are not so different. For instance, instead of giving the princess in “The Frog King” a chance to solve her own problem in retrieving her ball, she has the male frog to help her. From the beginning,