Disney-fication: Modern Day Modification

     Disney is a the version that most children and adults are familiar with in today's day and age. Disney has an incredible knack for taking the ancient tales and folklores of our forefathers and twisting them into happy-ended romances. The tale was adapted into a colorful, song-filled film in 1991.



        The films starts by narrating the curse of a young, selfish prince who turns away an old, ugly beggar woman who asks for shelter. The woman offers him a single rose in return, but again he throws the old woman out. She transforms into a beauty enchantress who curses him to be a beast. If he can return to his form state if he can love and be loved by a woman by his 21st birthday, or he'll remain a beast forever. The prince his away in his castle, ashamed of his form, the castle and its inhabitants are cursed along with him.

       

         In a small French town, Belle is introduced as a beautiful young peasant girl who is found odd by the rest of the town. She is a bit more independent, loves books, and has no interest in the handsome male antagonist Gaston. Her father Maurice, like her, is also a bit ostracized by the town as the "crazy" inventor. The father creates a wood chopping machine, loads it onto their horse Philippe, and sets off for the fair.

       In the meantime, Gaston, the great, manly hunter of the town, attempts to pursue Belle. He even goes so far as to set up the wedding before proposing to her as he believes no woman can resist him. When Belle flatly refuses him, he becomes enraged and vows that he'll have her for his wife no matter what. 

       Maurice becomes lost on his journey to the fair and is chased by ravenous woods. Barely escaping with his life, he flees to a dark, looming castle. He finds no humans within the castle, but moving, talking inanimate objects which offer him a fire and tea. Before he can even sip the tea, a monstrous beast bursts into the room and throws him into the dungeon for trespassing.

 

         Philippe returns empty-handed and Belle sets off to go find her father. The horse leads her to the castle, but refuses to go any farther. Wandering through the castle, she finds her father in the dark, cold dungeon of the castle. He has grown ill from cold. Belle demands to know who has done such a thing to her father. The Beast appears claims the father as his prisoner. The girl offers herself in her father's place. At first, the beast scoffs at her offer, but is then moved by it, telling her that if she agrees, she will have to live there forever. Despite her father's strong objections, Belle agrees. The Beast rips Maurice from his prison and throws him in an enchanted carriage that brings him back to the town without letting the two say goodbye.

        Belle is devastated by this. She is lead to her room and the Beast orders her to accompany him for dinner. The Beast is ill-mannered and appears to have anger issues. When rejects the command, he forbids her to unless it is with him. Belle wanders the enchanted castle but is also forbidden to enter the West Wing, which is the Beast's living space. Her curiosity gets the best of her and when she enters, the Beast terrifies her with a territorial fit. She flees the castle, breaking her promise, and is attacked by the very wolves that chased her father. The Beast, ashamed of his angry outburst, rescues her from the rabid wolves but his wounded himself. They return to the castle where she tends his wounds and there they begin to understand each other and slowly build rapport.

      Meanwhile, in town Maurice tells the town of the creature that stole his daughter. Gaston thinks him insane but creates a plan to marry Belle, using her father's weak mind as leverage. As time passes, Belle and the Beast grow to care very much for each other, but she misses her father greatly. He gives her a magic mirror to see her father and she sees that he is ill and lost in the woods while trying to search for her. With heavy heart he lets her go, know that soon his 21st birthday will be upon him and he will forever be a hideous creature.

      Belle finds her father and nurses him back to health. Gaston knocks at her door and comes to claim her father for the insane asylum. She defends her father's honor and sanity by showing them the Beast via the magic mirror. Seeing the terrifying Beast, Gaston rallies the townsmen to join him in hunting the creature. Though the castle's servants in their object form attempt to defend the castle and Beast, Gaston slips through and finds the despairing Beast. He is too depressed and disheartened from losing Belle to fight and is wounded with an arrow. Belle rushes to the castle to warn the Beast, to find him just as Gaston is attacking him. Roused by her return, the Beast fights back.

       Belle runs up to the roof where they two are battling. Whilst the Beast climbs for her, Gaston stabs him in the side. The beast flails and Gaston loses his grip and falls to his death. The Beast is mortally wounded, lying before her. Desperately she clings to him and confesses her love. He collapses lets out his last breath.



       A series of bright lights illuminates the beast, the castle, and all of servants. His body transforms into a handsome prince. A splendid celebration ensues in honor of the prince's restoration and their marriage. The two live happily ever after. 

Word Count: 963

Reference:

 Beauty and the Beast. Dir. Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise. By Linda Woolverton, Paige O'Hara, and            Robby Benson. Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc., 1991. DVD.

La Belle et la Bête: the Romances of France

            Madame Gabrielle-Susanne Barbot de Gallon de Villeneuve created her own version of this tale in 1740. At first, it appears to be nearly identical to Perrault's. However, Madame Gabrielle-Susanne Barbot de Gallon de Villeneuve had to have her own very complex tale. Both the Beast and the Beauty have detailed back stories which the tale explore. Although, in this tale, we finally have a name for the dear Beauty: Belle (which actually translates to "beauty" in French, so it's a name more or less).

La Belle et la Bête

          A wealthy merchant lives happily with his six daughters and six sons. Live is pleasant for the large family until tragedy struck. The man becomes bankrupt. His ships are sea are lost, his business partners are dishonest, and his house burns. The family is forced to move to a small cottage. Belle, the youngest child of 16 years of age, was the only one of the children who was able to adjust to the vast social and financial change, which earned the scorn of her siblings. 

       Good news arrives to the family, however, when one of the father's ships was reported to have survived the sea and landed at port. The children give their father lists of gifts they wish to receive upon his return, but Belle only asks for a safe journey and a single rose. The merchant arrives to port only to discover that his creditors had already sold the cargo and taken the profits. Filled with sadness, he returns home only to be caught in a blizzard. He seeks refuge in a large castle filled with statues, but no living creatures. He eats the meal provided and warms himself by the fire and stays there for the night. In the morning, the merchant happens upon the garden and plucks a rose for his daughter. 

          He is attacked by a trunked beast who threatens to kill him. He can be saved, however, if one of his daughters willingly comes to live with the Beast in his palace. The merchant agrees and travels home. Belle hears the tale of her father and immediately steps in to take the blame and offers herself to go. The father is rewarded handsomely by the Beast with Belle instructing her father to take gold and jewels as payment. 

An illustration from an early copy of Beauty and the Beast

       As Belle lives there, she has dreams of a handsome young man who speaks kindly two her, saying that she shouldn't be deceived by appearances. She discovers he appears in incredible likeness to the portrait of the man in the castle. A woman also appears in her dreams that begins to give her advice. At this point Belle begins to be suspicious of both the Beast and the man from her dreams.

       Belle soon begins to miss her family and receives permission to go home. She finds her father ill and poor again. Her sister's convince Belle to stay longer than intended and the dreams of the young man disappear. The dreams of the woman, however urge her to return to the Beast who is dying. As he lies dying, he speaks eloquently to her upon her arrival and she confesses her desire to marry him.  In a burst of light and fireworks the Beast is transformed into a prince, the young man in Belle's dreams. 

Beauty and the Beast - Credit: H.J. Ford

        The couple is then visited by two women: a queen and a fairy. Belle recognizes the fairy as the women from her dreams. The past of both Belle and the prince are revealed. Belle, was in fact, not the child of the merchant but rather the daughter of the fairy's sister and a human King, the brother of the prince's mother. A jealous fairy, the Mother of Time, who wanted the King of herself and threw the sister fairy into prison for breaking fairy law. She then cursed Belle to marry a monster and attempted to have her killed. The good fairy took the child and switched her with the last born child of the merchant who was sickly and dying, unbeknownst to him. The King thought his daughter was eaten by wild beasts and refused the Mother of Time when she tried to seduce him.

        The prince's father died when he was a child and his mother was a warrior queen. He was cursed by the same evil fairy, the Mother of Time,  to be a hideous, dumb beast when he refused after she attempted to seduce him like she had with the King. He would only be able to break the curse if he could find someone who would love him enough to marry him.

          The good fairy then wanted to help restore both the prince and Belle to their rightful places. Therefore, she made it so that Belle would come to the castle. The prince had attempted to make coherent contact with Belle via her dreams, but the good fairy warned him to not to reveal the truth too soon or it would ruin everything. In the end everything worked out for the best and the evil  fairy had been imprisoned. 

         Belle's "family" is brought to the castle to celebrate and the merchant is both happy and saddened to hear the news. The prince and Belle are married and fly away on a magical horse and live happily ever after.

Charles Perrault: Getting Closer

       Throughout these last couple of blogs we can see how the story-line is evolving over time. There seems to be a blending of stories as the years past, drawing on the notions of beastly husbands and the story basis of Cupid and Psyche. Greek mythology was the foundation upon which these many versions were based, creating rich layers to this delicious cake we call Beauty and the Beast.

        In 1697 we see another version published by the French author Charles Perrault. Much like the Brothers Grimm and Straparola, Perrault also took common folktales of the beauty and wrote them down into "fairytales." In this version of the story we can see the very direct parallel to notion we have today in Disney.

"Beauty and the Beast"
 Perrault, Charles, 1628-1703; McLoughlin Bros., inc.

        There once was a wealthy merchant with three daughters. While all three of the daughters were beautiful and lovely, it was the youngest who stood out to such an extent that everyone simply referred to her as "Beauty" and stood above her selfish sister's in virtue.
         
        Misfortune struck the family, however, when the merchant ships in the father's possession were lost at see, his warehouses burned, and his partners in business shown to be dishonest and sticky-fingered. The family lost everything and were forced to give up their life of luxury to live in a small cottage with a meager farm. The elder two sisters lamented this change Beauty, on the other hand, while also saddened by the change of events, put on a cheerful appearance and made do with what they had. This maddened her sisters to see her act in such a well-mannered and happy way, as this touched their father greatly to see Beauty be so understanding of the new way of life. In her he found comfort.
        
       For over a year the small family lived this way until news came to the cottage. A ship of the father's, thought lost, had arrived at port and waited for him to claim it. Before he left, he asked each of his daughters what gift they would like to receive when he returned. The two elder sisters asked for rich trinkets and clothes while Beauty simply asked for a safe journey and return and a single rose. Quickly he rode off to gather what money he could salvage, but when he arrived a shoddy business partners had sold the cargo of the ship and divided up the money. With great sorrow he left with little more than he had arrived back to his family.

      To the father's dismay, he became lost on his way home and stumbled upon a beautiful estate and spied a rose. He plucked it as the only gift he could return home with. In terror he peered up to find a hideous ape-like beast before him, who sentenced him to death for stealing his rose. The father pleaded with the Beast, explaining it was a gift for his daughter. Upon hearing this, the Beast told him that he would spare his life if one of his daughters would come to live with him of her own accord.

      The father arrived home and told the daughters of what had taken place. Beauty immediately agreed to the Beast's condition, placing the blame upon herself due to her desired gift. After convincing her father, Beauty rode for the Beast's castle. She and her father spent the night and in the morning bade her him farewell. Beauty wept bitterly after her father's departure, but was comforted by the calm, disembodied voice of the Beast. Beauty took to exploring the large living quarters of her new home by day. In the evening she was served marvelous food by invisible servants and was kept company for dinner by the voice of the Beast.

      Over time, however, she grew lonely, as she could not see anyone. She requested to see the Beast and those who served her. The Beast was hesitant but agreed, saying the servants would appear visible the next day. Later that day, as promised, the Beast revealed his true nature to her.

     Beauty grew homesick, after weeks of living with the Beast and wished to see her family. The Beast gave her a mirror in which she could see what had become of her family and it revealed her father had fallen ill from despair. Beauty begged the Beast allow her to come her father's side. The Beast proposed marriage to the girl, but she refused as she claimed that she did not love him in that way. Reluctantly he let her go, requesting she be back in a week, lest he die without her. He provided her a ring with which to magically appear back at the estate when she was ready. Gathering gifts for her sisters, Beauty traveled home.

      Upon seeing his youngest daughter the father regained his health, but Beauty could not bear to tell her family that she was to return to the Beast. In fact, she stayed home for weeks until she had a dream in which she found the Beast dying. It was then that she resigned to return to him the next day. When she returned the Beast was no where to be found. In dismay, she remembered her dream and ran to the spot in the garden where she dreamt him dead. Lo and behold, there he lay dying. 

      With heavy eyes, he breathed he could die in peace knowing she was there. Beauty begged him to live, saying she would marry him if he did. That moment light illuminated the estate and music began to play. In front of her stood a handsome prince. An evil fairy had cast a spell upon him and all in his estate, he explained, until a lady loved him enough to marry him. A good fairy had been keeping watch over him and his servants and blessed the couple with their new marriage, knowing Beauty would be a fair and kind queen. The couple was married shortly there after and the father and sisters came to live with them where they all lived quite happily ever after. 

"Beauty and the Beast"
 Perrault, Charles, 1628-1703; McLoughlin Bros., inc.

Word Count: 1,015

References:

"Beauty and the Beast" by  Perrault, Charles, 1628-1703; McLoughlin Bros., inc.

Brothers Grimm?

        Jumping ahead a few centuries or so we look at two individuals we are quite familiar with: the Brothers Grimm. For years the pair trudged around collecting old tales to put down to paper. However, a chapter for Beauty and the Beast seems to be missing. In fact, there does not seem to be much record of such a tale within their books. This because they left it in the hands of an Italian writer by the name of Giovanni Francesco Straparola, whom they praised highly for his collection of tales.

In the 16th century, Straparola wrote down the story called "Rico Porco" or "King Pig." This story is much more violent than many others in the time line.

Greece: The Rape of Persephone

       Hades has always been a very beloved figure to me. From the blue-haired, sarcastic Disney version to the dark, cold legends of the Greeks, something about this character has always drawn me in, thus deepening my love for the Beauty and the Beast tale. I love the dark, brooding unloved characters.

       Hades is one of the three major gods in Greek mythology, and therefore one of the most known. The story of him and Persephone is an excellent example of the origins of Beauty and the Beast. Here we have the forced union of a beautiful, young virgin to an unwanted and undesirable husband.

"Hades and Persephone 2" by Sandara via DeviantArt.comhttp://www.deviantart.com/art/hades-and-persephone-2-210920648

         Hades, Lord of the Underworld, fell in love with Persephone, daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Going to Zeus he asked for her to be his bride. Zeus, either promising Persephone to his brother or simply not refusing him, allowed Hades to do so.

        One day as Persephone frolicked and danced in the plains as she loved to do, the ground beneath her feet became to shake and tremble. With a terrible crash the very ground tore apart. (Here versions differ depending on the source. In one version she drops into the Underworld, weds Hades, and grows to love him.) Hades, on his golden chariot drawn by fiery horses tore Persephone from her field of happiness and vanished into the Underworld.

        Upon finding the disappearance of her daughter, Demeter was outraged. She spent the next nine days and nights searching the earth for her daughter neither resting nor eating. It was all in vain. On the tenth day she went to Zeus to demand her daughter back. When she was refused, as the goddess of agriculture and the harvest, cursed the earth with famine, commanding all plants of the earth to bear no fruit until her daughter's return.

       Quickly starvation covered the land and the humans danced on the verge of death. Zeus hastened to Demeter to beg for her to stop such atrocities. The other gods and goddess of Mount Olympus attempted to change her mind and offered gifts and lavishments but she would have none. Zeus then bade Hermes to go to Hades to beg to have Persephone restored to her mother. Persephone, upon hearing the news of her mother's desire and the possibility of home, grew excited. She had not eaten or drank since arriving in the Underworld of out grief. Hades agreed but offered her a pomegranate so she would have strength for her journey, which she accepted. This would prove to be her downfall.

         It was well-know in Greek culture that to eat the fruit of one's capture was to  forever tie them to oneself, ensuring one's return to them. Especially significant was this mistake for Persephone, for eating the fruit of the Underworld meant one could never leave. With this tie to Hades, Demeter was devastated for her daughter's loss. Zeus then struck a deal between Hades and Demeter. For two-thirds of the year Persephone would be restored to her mother in the Upperworld. For the remaining four months, she would live with her husband Hades in the Underworld, thereby creating the seasons. Persephone, however, did come to love Hades in the end.

Word Count: 532

References:

The Myth of Hades and Persephone by Greek Myths & Greek Mythology, 2015

          http://www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/myth-of-hades-and-persephone/

Hades Takes a Wife by InfoPlease.com via The Complete Idiot's Guide to Classical Mythology © 2004 by Kevin Osborn and Dana L. Burgess, Ph.D.

          http://www.infoplease.com/cig/mythology/hades-takes-wife-persephone.html

Mythology Greek and Roman, tr. Mrs. A. W. Hall by Friedrich August Nösselt

Greece: The Beginning

        Greek and Roman mythology are riddled with tragic love stories and grotesque monsters. It is no wonder that the Beast and the Beast legend traces back to these. Not all tales that mimic this story line involve hideous creatures, some of the incorporate more romantic or tragic aspects. One of the very initial characteristics of Beauty and the Beast is the idea of the beautiful female love interest who is forbidden to cast her eyes upon her lover or capture.

       The story of Cupid (or Eros, as the Greeks referred to him) and Psyche is much like this.

"Cupid and Psyche" by Alicechan via DevianArt.com 

http://alicechan.deviantart.com/art/Cupid-and-Psyche-315642768

        This tale began like any others, with a king and a queen who had three attractive daughters, but the youngest was by far the most beautiful. Her beauty was so great that many simply forgot to worship Venus (Aphrodite), the goddess of beauty, love, sex, and fertility, and flocked to view Psyche. This enraged Venus. To deal with this insolence, she sent her son Cupid (Eros) to use his bow to make her fall in love with a poor, dirty man. In this way no one would ever respect or want her again. Cupid went to do as his mother commanded of him, but when the young Psyche awoke amid his preparation to strike her, he fell upon his own bow. And like that, poor Cupid fell steadfastly in love with Psyche. 

       Nevertheless, Psych was still cursed by Venus. Psyche's charms were fruitless now. Although people still looked upon her with great love and in awe of her beauty, no man would ask for her hand in marriage. While her two sisters were happily wed, Psyche sat alone. Consulting an oracle, her distressed parents were informed that Psyche was destined to marry a man not of human origin who waited for her upon a mountain. Now, there was rumored to be a terrifying monster atop this mountain. Her parents feared they were to sacrifice their youngest daughter and with great sorrow they gave her up. Zephyr, the wind of the West, lifted her up to her new home whereupon she fell asleep on the grass.

      When she awoke, to her surprise, a grand palace awaited her. Here she had everything she could ever desire. Her new husband, however, was nowhere to be seen and would only speak to her as a disembodied voice. At night, while she slept, he would come to her and be gone by the time she awoke. Psyche eventually wished to see her husband, to which he scolded her it was best if she did not see him, he would rather she love him as an equal. 

        Eventually she grew to miss her sisters and requested they be allowed to see her. With his permission, they came to see their little sister. Swollen with jealousy at their sister's grand home and gracious ways of living, the sisters poisoned her mind with suspicion against her husband. After getting Psyche to admit she has never physically seen her husband, they said that he was a monster who needed to be slain. That night they instructed her to wait until he slept and then taking a lamp with which to see him, and then remove his head from his shoulders.

        That night, after struggling with herself, Psyche gave in to her sisters' idea. When she shown the light on her husband, she found a beautifully handsome winged man. But he awoke with a startle and a cry. Now that she has seen him, they could never be together. He flew out the window, with Psyche following him. She fell to the ground and the palace was gone. The sisters then thought perhaps one of them would be his new wife. Calling Zephyr to lift them to the mountain, they went to test this idea, but fell to the ground and perished when Zephyr could not hold them.

        Psyche, with help of Ceres, went to the temple of Venus to beg for her husband. Venus, still enraged at Psyche for her initial treason and now for the harm against her son, gave Psyche three nearly impossible tasks to perform in order to win back Cupid. With the help of Cupid, river gods, and others was able to succeed time and time again. At the tend, Cupid consulted Jupiter (Zeus), a friend of Venus, to persuade her with their tale of love. Jupiter was able to convince Venus to let the lovers be. Psyche was then brought up to the heavens and given a cup of ambrosia, making her immortal.

Word Count: 757

Reference:

Age of Fable or, Stories of Gods and Heroes, Third Edition by Thomas Bulfinch, 1855 

“Tale as Old as Time”: The Literary Origins of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST by The Marquee,

               (http://mtiblog.mtishows.com/tale-as-old-as-time-the-literary-origins-of-beauty-and-the-beast/)

Beauty and the Beast: Here We Are

"Tale as Old as Time"

           I'm not entirely sure what it was that originally made me fall in love with this classic tale. I think I watched the Disney version of it so much that my family was ready to throw it out the window. I know every line and verse in the songs. But... is that truly the story? Is it really just dancing teapots and talking candelabras, inventive fathers and book-reading daughters, a handsome fiend and a miserable beast?

I think not.

"There must be more than this provincial life!" - er, story.

          In my research I have found many, many tales that seem to point back to this story line. While not all are outright variations, many have small elements that the later versions may have very easily drawn upon for influence. This is the very process of literary evolution, from word of mouth to the written word stories have been shared, treasured, and recorded, but I digress.

         I believe that time and place are very heavy factors in the changing of stories as well. Culture and environment influence quite heavily on every aspect of like, not just literature, which is why it is so important when considering the evolution of a tale. The characters, situations, and idea change on the time in history the story takes place, the time it is written, and the people both in character and as authors. This is why I wish to start this journey from one of the early sources: Greece. 

(http://moviegifss.tumblr.com/post/4167066754/far-off-places-daring-swordfights-magic-spells)

Word Count: 250