Beauty And The Beast By Jeanne-Marie Leprince De Beaumont
The story I analyzed was “Beauty and the Beast” by Jeanne-Marie Leprince De Beaumont. In this story there is a wealthy merchant with 6 children, 3 boys and 3 girls. The youngest daughter Beauty was the epitome of the perfect person; where as her sisters were very pompous and only cared about materialistic items and status. Their father’s fortune was lost and the family had to move out to the countryside. The father then took a trip to the homeport to get his fortune back, but instead he was left with nothing. On his way back to his family he got caught in a snowstorm and had to seek shelter in an immerse castle. There was no sign of life but he felt someone was watching over him. After a good nights rest he set off to leave, but before he did he saw a beautiful rose and he plucked the rose for his daughter Beauty. Then there came a loud noise and coming at him was a giant beast. The beast was furious because the roses were his most prized possession. Once the father explained it was for Beauty the beast made a trade that he can be free if a daughter of his takes his place. Beauty took the place of her father and stayed with the beast. Beauty was alone every day until 9pm, when
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Beast would join her for dinner. Beast was a very kind sole and Beauty could see that. Every night Beast would ask her to marry him and she would always say no. They got very close and Beauty asked if she could see her father for only a week because he was now living alone. Beast agreed and sent her home. There Beauty’s sisters schemed to make the beast become angry at her and kill her. On the tenth night she dreamed of Beast dying and so she went back. When she did she found him dying near the canal. There Beauty proposed that she would marry him because she felt she couldn’t live without him. Then the evil fairy that cursed beast got destroyed and he turned into his human self. They both went into the castle to find Beauty’s family and the magical fairy. Beauty becomes queen with Beast and her sisters are turned into stone statues to watch her be happy until they recognize their faults and they live happily ever after. After reading this I concluded that it’s main purpose of this traditional fairy tale is to serves as a relief from the anxieties and pressures women face when leaving their family’s to marry. Before getting into all the anxieties and pressures expressed in the novel I going to first talk about the stereotypical fairy tale concept and how this story follows its traditional structure and ideas. To start, most fairy tales are structured in a way of a plot diagram. The plot diagram starts with an exposition. This includes the basic background for the story in this case the exposition includes the description of the characters and what has happened to them financially wise. Next there is a rising action. This is all of the events that happen that lead up to the main event. The climax is the main event of the story. This being when Beauty finds Beast dying and confesses that she can’t live without him. The falling action then occurs where the beast is turned into a prince and everyone meets in the castle halls where the fairy makes everything right. The resolution would then be the simple wrap up of “the prince married Beauty, who lived with him for a long time in perfect happiness, for their marriage was founded on virtue”(De Beaumont 42). This structure is found throughout many fairy tales and regular novels as well and makes the story very easy to follow and understand. In addition, most fairy tales include polar opposites to get their point across to how people should act in comparison to how they shouldn’t. This is shown through the idea of a foil. Foil is another character or characters that contrast the main character to highlight certain characteristics. In this story Beauty is constantly compared to her two sisters. “The youngest daughter was not only more beautiful than her sisters, she was also better behaved. The two old sisters were vain and proud because the family had money”(De Beaumont 33). The author sets up the tone for the reader to dislike the sisters because he never has anything positive to say while Beauty is described as a person you should aspire to be. Throughout the story he keeps alluding to this idea of they are bad and she is good and in the end, like most fairy tales, good always triumphs bad. Thus Beauty gets a prince and the sisters are turned to stone and forced to watch her be happy. This concept is consistent through all fairy tales and the evil entity is usually related either by blood or marriage, in this case blood. The name fairy tale comes from the word contes de fees meaning magic and enchantment.
This means that for a tale to be considered a fairy tale there has to be something of that illusory nature. Throughout the tale mentions of fairy’s or other imaginary creatures are included weather it’s the father while in the castle saying “’this palace belongs to some good fairy who has taken pity on me’”(De Beaumont 34) or Beauty’s dream of a woman coming to her and telling her that she will be rewarded for her selfless decisions. It is not till the very end that a real fairy is revealed to be the cause of everything; a bad one who put beast under the curse and a good one who made a great happy ending. Regardless of good or evil this tale has the magic and enchantment element required for a fairy
tale. While De Beaumont’s baseline was imaginary there are real life ideas and conflicts that are presented. Women had a very precise image that society told them they had to achieve. You were to dress your best in order to impress, look your part, don’t worry about intelligence, obey your husband, and marry into wealth. This tale disregarded all those stereotypes about the perfect girl. Sure the idea of physically beauty was incorporated it was not the main focus. The emphasis was on her personality and the beauty within. She was well-behaved, sweet, sincere, read books, and she had a lot of virtue; characteristics that had nothing to do with possessions and looks.
De Beaumont describes the miserable lives of the sisters because she wants the reader to see that fortune and power don’t determine how happy your life is. Your happiness is based on your attitude toward the situation your in. While on the farm thee sisters were too focused on what they lost they were miserable. While Beauty acknowledged the fact that “No matter how much I cry my tears wont bring back our fortune. I must learn to live without it”(De Beaumont 33). After this realization she helps out her father and find little things she can do to make the poverty life more enjoyable. This idea of not being materialistic is very hard for young lady’s to understand because to them their only hope in happiness in the arranged relationship is wealth. Wealth can’t make you truly happy and you never know what can happen, it can be gone in a split second. In addition, De Beaumont bashes on the idea of flattery. Women and men are conditioned to say things to make other people feel good about themselves even when it’s completely false. In the beginning Beast flat out says, “ ‘I am not called ‘My Liege,’’ said the monster. ‘My name is Beast, I don’t like flattery and I prefer that people say what they think’”(De Beaumont 35). De Beaumont straight up says flattery is not something many people care for because most of the time your only complementing the person to get something in return like mercy from a beast that you just angered. De Beaumont encourages the idea of being honest and not deceiving the person. Beauty refuses to flatter the Beast by replying to Beasts question do you find me ugly with, “ ‘Yes, I do,’ said Beauty. ‘I don’t know how to lie. But I do think you are very kind”(De Beaumont 38). Beauty sees no reason to lie, mainly because she doesn’t know how, but by adding two honest opinions her word has more meaning. Knowing someone’s word is genuine is more valuable than knowing someone will only say things to make you happy and like them more.
Women in the time period this story was written were normally put into arranged marriages with a person they never met and sent away usually never to see their family’s again. This story plays with the idea of who will your “beast” turn out to be. De Beaumont gives many options that can happen. The man could end up being a gentleman who looks aren’t the best but has a pure heart, Beast. The man could be handsome man, but only cares about himself and his looks or very intelligent man and annoys everyone around him, the sister’s husbands. Regardless, there will always be flaws in a man whether it is his appearance or character. The key to success is to focus on the positives and push the negatives aside because they will only upset you more. With these arranged marriages women never knew whom they were going to get so there was always nerves. De Beaumont tries to give a little advice in the way of just keep an open mind and they might surprise you. Beauty never shunned Beast for his appearance and lack of intelligence she accepted his flaws and tried to get to understand him. With each day she found more and more good qualities within Beast and while she would still not officially marry him in a way she was already his. When you are married you are forced to live with this person, see them consistently, and share things with them; all of which Beauty and Beast did. The traditional new couple will sit at a table and do small talk till they get comfortable like the two did every night. Eventually, you will grow on the person and possibly not be able to live without them. All you have to do is give it time and patience. Another idea that De Beaumont contradicts is that the man will always boss you around. While there are men who take control of the women this is not one of those cases. If anything Beauty has the agency and is in charge of everything that happens. “’ You are my master,’ said Beauty, trembling. ‘No you are the only mistress here,’ replied beast. ‘ if I bother you, order me to go, and I will leave at once’”(De Beaumont 38). Continuously, Beast did everything Beauty wished including taking her home; even though there was a chance she might not have come back. This shows that while we live in patriarchal society, we are more than a mere servant of our master husband. We have a say and most men are willing to at least listen and some will even do as you please to make you happy, it’s a rare quality, but it’s out there. While there are many ways to connect this tale to the anxieties of women it can also be switched to the males point; either the father or Beast himself. Just like the lady the man has never met the other person either. He could end up with the vain and proud older sisters or the kind Beauty. Regardless of what side you are on there is some nervousness about who your partner could be. In modern day society we don’t have the arranged marriages as much, but we do have blind dates to which you don’t really know who the person is. This tale is open to many interpretations and perspectives if one looks close enough.
Beast would join her for dinner. Beast was a very kind sole and Beauty could see that. Every night Beast would ask her to marry him and she would always say no. They got very close and Beauty asked if she could see her father for only a week because he was now living alone. Beast agreed and sent her home. There Beauty’s sisters schemed to make the beast become angry at her and kill her. On the tenth night she dreamed of Beast dying and so she went back. When she did she found him dying near the canal. There Beauty proposed that she would marry him because she felt she couldn’t live without him. Then the evil fairy that cursed beast got destroyed and he turned into his human self. They both went into the castle to find Beauty’s family and the magical fairy. Beauty becomes queen with Beast and her sisters are turned into stone statues to watch her be happy until they recognize their faults and they live happily ever after. After reading this I concluded that it’s main purpose of this traditional fairy tale is to serves as a relief from the anxieties and pressures women face when leaving their family’s to marry. Before getting into all the anxieties and pressures expressed in the novel I going to first talk about the stereotypical fairy tale concept and how this story follows its traditional structure and ideas. To start, most fairy tales are structured in a way of a plot diagram. The plot diagram starts with an exposition. This includes the basic background for the story in this case the exposition includes the description of the characters and what has happened to them financially wise. Next there is a rising action. This is all of the events that happen that lead up to the main event. The climax is the main event of the story. This being when Beauty finds Beast dying and confesses that she can’t live without him. The falling action then occurs where the beast is turned into a prince and everyone meets in the castle halls where the fairy makes everything right. The resolution would then be the simple wrap up of “the prince married Beauty, who lived with him for a long time in perfect happiness, for their marriage was founded on virtue”(De Beaumont 42). This structure is found throughout many fairy tales and regular novels as well and makes the story very easy to follow and understand. In addition, most fairy tales include polar opposites to get their point across to how people should act in comparison to how they shouldn’t. This is shown through the idea of a foil. Foil is another character or characters that contrast the main character to highlight certain characteristics. In this story Beauty is constantly compared to her two sisters. “The youngest daughter was not only more beautiful than her sisters, she was also better behaved. The two old sisters were vain and proud because the family had money”(De Beaumont 33). The author sets up the tone for the reader to dislike the sisters because he never has anything positive to say while Beauty is described as a person you should aspire to be. Throughout the story he keeps alluding to this idea of they are bad and she is good and in the end, like most fairy tales, good always triumphs bad. Thus Beauty gets a prince and the sisters are turned to stone and forced to watch her be happy. This concept is consistent through all fairy tales and the evil entity is usually related either by blood or marriage, in this case blood. The name fairy tale comes from the word contes de fees meaning magic and enchantment.
This means that for a tale to be considered a fairy tale there has to be something of that illusory nature. Throughout the tale mentions of fairy’s or other imaginary creatures are included weather it’s the father while in the castle saying “’this palace belongs to some good fairy who has taken pity on me’”(De Beaumont 34) or Beauty’s dream of a woman coming to her and telling her that she will be rewarded for her selfless decisions. It is not till the very end that a real fairy is revealed to be the cause of everything; a bad one who put beast under the curse and a good one who made a great happy ending. Regardless of good or evil this tale has the magic and enchantment element required for a fairy
tale. While De Beaumont’s baseline was imaginary there are real life ideas and conflicts that are presented. Women had a very precise image that society told them they had to achieve. You were to dress your best in order to impress, look your part, don’t worry about intelligence, obey your husband, and marry into wealth. This tale disregarded all those stereotypes about the perfect girl. Sure the idea of physically beauty was incorporated it was not the main focus. The emphasis was on her personality and the beauty within. She was well-behaved, sweet, sincere, read books, and she had a lot of virtue; characteristics that had nothing to do with possessions and looks.
De Beaumont describes the miserable lives of the sisters because she wants the reader to see that fortune and power don’t determine how happy your life is. Your happiness is based on your attitude toward the situation your in. While on the farm thee sisters were too focused on what they lost they were miserable. While Beauty acknowledged the fact that “No matter how much I cry my tears wont bring back our fortune. I must learn to live without it”(De Beaumont 33). After this realization she helps out her father and find little things she can do to make the poverty life more enjoyable. This idea of not being materialistic is very hard for young lady’s to understand because to them their only hope in happiness in the arranged relationship is wealth. Wealth can’t make you truly happy and you never know what can happen, it can be gone in a split second. In addition, De Beaumont bashes on the idea of flattery. Women and men are conditioned to say things to make other people feel good about themselves even when it’s completely false. In the beginning Beast flat out says, “ ‘I am not called ‘My Liege,’’ said the monster. ‘My name is Beast, I don’t like flattery and I prefer that people say what they think’”(De Beaumont 35). De Beaumont straight up says flattery is not something many people care for because most of the time your only complementing the person to get something in return like mercy from a beast that you just angered. De Beaumont encourages the idea of being honest and not deceiving the person. Beauty refuses to flatter the Beast by replying to Beasts question do you find me ugly with, “ ‘Yes, I do,’ said Beauty. ‘I don’t know how to lie. But I do think you are very kind”(De Beaumont 38). Beauty sees no reason to lie, mainly because she doesn’t know how, but by adding two honest opinions her word has more meaning. Knowing someone’s word is genuine is more valuable than knowing someone will only say things to make you happy and like them more.
Women in the time period this story was written were normally put into arranged marriages with a person they never met and sent away usually never to see their family’s again. This story plays with the idea of who will your “beast” turn out to be. De Beaumont gives many options that can happen. The man could end up being a gentleman who looks aren’t the best but has a pure heart, Beast. The man could be handsome man, but only cares about himself and his looks or very intelligent man and annoys everyone around him, the sister’s husbands. Regardless, there will always be flaws in a man whether it is his appearance or character. The key to success is to focus on the positives and push the negatives aside because they will only upset you more. With these arranged marriages women never knew whom they were going to get so there was always nerves. De Beaumont tries to give a little advice in the way of just keep an open mind and they might surprise you. Beauty never shunned Beast for his appearance and lack of intelligence she accepted his flaws and tried to get to understand him. With each day she found more and more good qualities within Beast and while she would still not officially marry him in a way she was already his. When you are married you are forced to live with this person, see them consistently, and share things with them; all of which Beauty and Beast did. The traditional new couple will sit at a table and do small talk till they get comfortable like the two did every night. Eventually, you will grow on the person and possibly not be able to live without them. All you have to do is give it time and patience. Another idea that De Beaumont contradicts is that the man will always boss you around. While there are men who take control of the women this is not one of those cases. If anything Beauty has the agency and is in charge of everything that happens. “’ You are my master,’ said Beauty, trembling. ‘No you are the only mistress here,’ replied beast. ‘ if I bother you, order me to go, and I will leave at once’”(De Beaumont 38). Continuously, Beast did everything Beauty wished including taking her home; even though there was a chance she might not have come back. This shows that while we live in patriarchal society, we are more than a mere servant of our master husband. We have a say and most men are willing to at least listen and some will even do as you please to make you happy, it’s a rare quality, but it’s out there. While there are many ways to connect this tale to the anxieties of women it can also be switched to the males point; either the father or Beast himself. Just like the lady the man has never met the other person either. He could end up with the vain and proud older sisters or the kind Beauty. Regardless of what side you are on there is some nervousness about who your partner could be. In modern day society we don’t have the arranged marriages as much, but we do have blind dates to which you don’t really know who the person is. This tale is open to many interpretations and perspectives if one looks close enough.