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The story of Beauty and the Beast has been around
for centuries in both written and oral form, and more
recently in film and video. Many experts trace similarities
back to the stories of Cupid and Psyche, Oedipus
and Apuleius』 The Golden Ass of the second century
A.D.
The tale of Beauty and the Beast was first
collected in Gianfranceso Straparola』s Le piacevolo
notti (The Nights of Straparola) 1550-53. The earliest
French version is an ancient Basque tale where the father
was a king and the beast a serpent. Charles Perrault
popularized the fairy tale with his collection Contes de
ma mere l』oye (Tales of Mother Goose) in 1697.
The 17th century Pentamerone is also said to include
similar tales.
The first truly similar tale to the one we know today was
published in 1740 by Madame Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de
Gallon de Villeneuve as part of a collection of stories
La jeune amériquaine, et les contes marins (told
by an old woman during a long sea voyage). Mme. de
Villeneuve wrote fairy tale romances drawn from earlier
literature and folk tales for the entertainment of her salon
friends.
Almost half of the Villeneuve story revolves around
warring fairies and the lengthy history of the parentage of
both Beauty and the Prince. Beauty is one of 12 children,
her stepfather is a merchant, her real father being the King
of the Happy Isles. The Queen of the Happy Isles is both
Beauty』s mother and the Dream Fairy Sister. Villeneuve
also made various digs at the many enforced marriages that
women had to submit to, and her Beauty ponders that many
women are made to marry men far more beastly than her Beast.
The story was 362 pages long.
French aristocrat Madame Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de
Beaumont (1711 - 1780) emigrated to England in 1745 where
she established herself as a tutor and writer of books on
education and morals. She took Mme. de Villeneuve』s tale
and shortened it, publishing it in 1756 as part of a
collection entitled Magasin des enfants. Although
taking all the key elements from the Mme. de Villeneuve
story, Mme. de Beaumont omits some dream sequences and the
fact that in the original the transformation to handsome
prince takes place after the wedding night. Intended as a
lesson for her students, some of the subversive edges were
polished off the story. It is pretty well the version we
consider traditional today. Mme. Le Prince de Beaumont』s
story was translated into English as The Young Misses
Magazine, Containing Dialogues between a Governess and
Several Young Ladies of Quality, Her Scholars (1757).
The French tradition of the time was to unfold stories in
a more everyday situation, with a tendency to substitute
dramatic development founded on human emotions in place of
actions based on magic forces. They eliminated whatever was
bloody or cruel and relied on a story with direct action and
without accessory actions, a style sober and unadorned.
French storytellers subjected traditional stories to their
own classical, logical, even rational taste. Perrault began
this trend away from the traditional folk manner, and the
ladies who followed him - Mlle. Lhéritier, Mme.
d』Aulnoy and Mme. Le Prince de Beaumont - went even
further. The lowliest of people in their tales are
gentlemen, shepherds are princes in disguise, and the
stories are peopled by the upper levels of the court. These
influences over the story explain some of the differences we
find between today』s Beauty and the Beast rooted in
these French tales and more traditional versions.
Since its initial publishing the story has been revised
many times. In 1756 the Comptesse de Genlis produced a play
on the theme; in 1786 Mme. de Villeneuve reprinted her story
as part of Le Cabinet des Fées et autres contes
merveilleux.
The nineteenth century saw a proliferation of retellings
in France, England and America. 68 different printed
editions are listed in the Index to Fairy Tales. Notable
versions include the 1811 poem by Charles Lamb, an 1841
『grand, romantic, operatic, melodramatic fairy
extravaganza in 2 acts』 by J.R. Planchée which
premiered April 12, 1811 at the Covent Garden Theatre with
Mme. Vestris as Beauty, Walter Crane』s picture book in
1875, and Eleanor Vere Boyle』s illustrated novella of
1875.
Moving into this century we have been treated to the
landmark film of Jean Cocteau (La Belle at la Bete),
Walt Disney Studio』s cartoon adaptation and a science
fiction Beauty by Tanith Lee. A fuller listing
follows later.
The story of Beauty and the Beast appears in many
other cultures in different forms. Aarne-Thompson lists 179
tales from different countries with a similar theme to
Beauty and the Beast. There are usually three daughters,
the youngest being the most kind and pure, her sisters
displaying some of the undesirable traits of humankind.
Beauty often has no name but is referred to as the youngest
daughter. (For purposes of identification I shall use
"Beauty" when referring to the heroine of the
story.) There never seems to be a mother, thus omitting the
possible conflicts a mother would have allowing her daughter
to leave to live with a monster and allowing a closer
relationship with the father who is, in most cases, wealthy.
Although the Beast takes on many guises (serpent, wolf, even
pig) he is never appealing in appearance but is rich and
powerful. Hidden powers seem to guide the humans. At one
point the Beauty is separated from her Beast and at that
time some ill befalls him. Beauty』s remorse, sometimes as
simple as shedding a tear and sometimes as onerous a penance
as going to the end of the earth, saves the Beast and his
transformation to handsome man is achieved.
Much psychological hay has been made of the story of Beauty
and the Beast; the men are all passive, the older women
are less sympathetic, the youngest one pure and virginal and
even the desired rose has come in for its share of analysis.
To the Greeks and Romans the rose was a symbol of pleasure
associated with extravagance and luxuriousness. It is
considered the flower of romance that 『blushes with the
warmth of worldly delights.』 Is the father dying in a
literal sense or is he dying for the love of his Beauty who
is now devoted to the Beast?
As stories swap back and forth, new elements are
introduced and exchanged. Folklorists have developed a
system for categorizing stories, (e.g. the number 425A has
been assigned to tale of the type "The Monster or
Animal as Bridegroom"). Whatever the varying versions
or systematic cataloging, the basic values that the stories
convey are similar. The story and its questions regarding
human values run deeper than the simple facts and details of
the tale and remain timeless. We all have the potential to
be beautiful or beastly; how do we overcome our
『monsters』?
Beauty and the Beast, The Madame Le Prince de Beaumont version.
The
rich merchant not only has three daughters but also three
sons who have little to do with the story. All the girls are
good looking, particularly the youngest who becomes known as
Little Beauty. The sisters are vain and jealous of Beauty
who is by contrast modest and charming and wishes to stay
with her father.
All of a sudden the family loses its money and is forced
into a poorer lifestyle which makes life more difficult all
around and exaggerates the differences between Beauty and
her sisters. Beauty and the three brothers throw themselves
into working for their new life while the sisters are bored.
The father takes a trip in the hopes of regaining his
wealth, and the older sisters demand he bring them expensive
garments. Beauty asks simply for a rose.
The father is unsuccessful in his attempt to regain his
wealth and in despair, wandering in the forest, is trapped
in a snow storm. He comes upon a seemingly deserted palace
where he finds food and shelter for the night. In the
morning he wanders into the garden where he sees the perfect
rose for Beauty. Upon plucking it, a hideous Beast appears
and says that for his thievery he must die. The father begs
for his life and, the Beast agrees to let him go if one of
his daughters will take his place. If she refuses, then he
must return to die himself. The Beast gives him a chest
filled with gold and sends him home. This treasure enables
the older daughters to make fashionable marriages. On giving
Beauty the rose, her father cannot help but tell her what
happened. The brothers offer to slay the Beast but the
father knows that they would die in the process. Beauty
insists on taking her father』s place, and so she returns
with him to the Beast』s palace where he reluctantly leaves
her.
In a dream Beauty sees a beautiful lady who thanks her for
her sacrifice and says that she will not go unrewarded. The
Beast treats her well; all her wishes are met by magic. He
visits her every evening for supper and gradually Beauty
grows to look forwards to these meetings as a break to the
monotony of her life. At the end of each visit the Beast
asks Beauty to be his wife, which she refuses although
agreeing never to leave the palace. Beauty sees in the magic
mirror that her father is desperately missing her and asks
that she might return to visit him. The Beast assents on the
condition that she return in seven days, lest he die.
The next morning she is at home. Her father is overjoyed
to see her but the sisters are once again jealous of Beauty,
her newly found happiness and material comfort with the
Beast. They persuade Beauty to stay longer, which she does,
but on the tenth night she dreams of the Beast who is dying.
Wishing herself back with him, she is transported back to
the castle where she finds the Beast dying of a broken
heart. She realizes that she is desperately in love with the
Beast and says that she would gladly marry him. At this the
Beast is transformed into a prince, the Father joins them at
the palace and the sisters are turned into statues until
they own up to their own faults.
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