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Beauty and the Beast is a traditional folktale (type 425AD -- search for a lost husband -- in the Aarne-Thompson classification). The first published version of the fairy tale was a meandering rendition by Madame Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in La jeune américaine, et les contes marins in 1740. The best-known written version was an abridgement of M. Villeneuve's work published in 1756 by Mme Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, in Magasin des enfants, ou dialogues entre une sage gouvernante et plusieurs de ses élèves; an English translation appeared in 1757. Similar tales include the Hellenistic romance Cupid and Psyche (1st century BC), The Small-tooth Dog, and Madame d'Aulnoy's Le Mouton (The Ram).
Plot summary Beauty's father, caught in a storm, finds shelter in the Beast's palace. As he leaves, he plucks a rose to bring back to Beauty, offending his unseen host, who denouncing him as a thief, tells him he must now die. The father begs to be allowed to see his daughters again: the Beast says that if one of the man's daughters will return to suffer in his place, he may live. Beauty journeys to the Beast's castle convinced she will be killed, but instead she is made mistress of the enchanted palace, and the Beast asks her to be his wife. She says she can be his friend, and will stay with him forever, but not as his wife, asking only to return to her home for a week to say farewell to her father. Her sisters entice her to stay beyond the allotted week, and she returns belatedly to the castle, finding the Beast lying near death from distress at her failure to return. She begs him to live, so that he may be her husband, and by this act the Beast is transformed into a handsome prince. After Beauty returns to the palace, her family comes to live with her. Significance Beauty and the Beast is often interpreted as a young woman's coming-of-age story. Content with a pure love for her father, she finds sexuality bestial, and so a man who feels sexual desire for her is a beast. Only when she is capable of regarding the desire of sexual relationship as human is she capable of achieving happiness. The tale has also interpreted as a commentary on arranged marriages; the first known versions stem from upper-class ancien regime France, where such marriages were the norm. An arranged marriage, particularly to a much older man, could easily seem like marriage to a beast to a young daughter; the fairy tale argued that such marriages could be happy, and their "bestial" husbands could indeed prove to be good men. And, of course, the obvious "messages" of the story are there as well: appearances may be deceiving and the love of a woman can civilize and "transform" a man. Adaptations The tale has been notably adapted for stage and screen several times. In many of these adaptations, there is a common problem with the dramatic impact of the story; by the end of the story, the audience is so accustomed to and charmed by the Beast, that when he changes back into the prince, it is a disappointment to see him reduced to just another pretty face. Movie versions
Stage Versions The Disney film was adapted for the stage by Linda Woolverton and Alan Menken, who had worked on the film. Howard Ashman, the original lyricist, had died, and additional lyrics were written by Tim Rice. Seven new songs, "No Matter What", "Me", "Home", "How Long Must This Go On?", "Maison des Lunes","Human Again", and "If I Can't Love Her" were added to those appearing in the original film score in the stage version. "Human Again", a song written for the movie but eventually cut from the final release, was added back in for the DVD release of the movie, as well as the stage production. Later, another song, "A Change In Me", was added for Belle. There is a great deal of emphasis on pyrotechnics, costuming and special effects to produce the imagery of the enchanted castle that was produced by Disney Theatrical. This version of Beauty and the Beast is often examined in gender studies because of the underlying female and male roles it presents to young audiences. Also, in 2003, the RSC put a version on stage that was closer to the original novel than the Disney version. It was so popular that the RSC repeated it in 2004 with additions and slight variations to their original script. Television Beauty and the Beast (series), which owed as much to bodice-ripping romance novels and fantasy fiction as to the fairy tale, originally broadcast from 1987 to 1989. This was centered around the relationship between Catherine, an attorney who lived in New York City, played by Linda Hamilton, and Vincent, a gentle but lion-faced "beast", played by Ron Perlman, who dwells in the tunnels beneath the city. Wendy Pini created two issues of a comic-book adaptation of the TV series. George C. Scott turned in a memorable made-for-TV rendition in 1976, in which, early in the presentation, his Belle Beaumont Trish Van Devere spots him devouring some of the local wildlife in the style of a lion, only later to comport himself in his dialogs with her (still as the Beast) with the nobility and charm of a knight. Scott was nominated for an Emmy for his performance. Fiction Versions Beauty and the Beast has been the subject of many novels, most notably in by Robin McKinley, the Newbery Award-winning author. McKinley's second voyage into the tale of Beauty and the Beast resulted in Rose Daughter. Tanith Lee's collection Red As Blood, or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer included a SF retelling, from the point of view of a female Beast in love with a male human. Donna Jo Napoli wrote a novel Beast centered around the Beast's point of view. Beauty and the Beast are characters in the Fables comic book. They are resident in the New York City branch of Fabletown, and are rather poor at the beginning of the series. After the election of Prince Charming as mayor of Fabletown, they are promoted to, respectively, assistant to the mayor and sheriff, vice "Bigby Wolf" (Big Bad Wolf) and Snow White, the previous holders of these offices, who do not wish to work with Prince Charming due to prior difficulties with him. The story was adapted by Mercedes Lackey into her Elemental Masters novel The Fire Rose, setting the story in early 20th-century San Francisco. Shigeru Miyamoto cited the story as an inspiration for the Nintendo game Donkey Kong. In 1967, a made-for television movie called Ugly and the Model was made. It was a parody of the tale and is very loosely based on it. The Beast and later Beauty make a small appearance in the webcomic No Rest for the Wicked. Megan Hussey's "Behold the Beauty," featured in Midnight Showcase's "Deities of Desire" erotic digest, is a feminist spin on the "Beauty and the Beast" tale. Hero Prince Beausoleil is a classically handsome young man who falls desperately in love with the healer Agnatha, an unconventional, often ridiculed woman who lives in the woods of Ravenshead; a mythical European province where Beau's family rules and many younger, more conventionally attractive women vie for his affections. Two separate adaptations of the tale appear in Angela Carter's short story collection The Bloody Chamber, which reinterprets several different fairy tales. Beauty and the Beast in popular culture See also | ||||||||||
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