“Beauty and the Beast” is a European folktale that has been adapted into famous cartoons and other representations. The plot is about a female who marries a beast to save her father’s life (The Beauty and the Beast). Beauty is one of the three daughters of a merchant who has lost his fortune. She is the most modest out of the three and the most admirable because, unlike her sisters, she is kind and caring.
Beauty agrees to go to the Beasts’ house to fulfill her father’s promise, who accidentally plucks a rose from the Beast’s garden. The Beast threatened to kill the father but then allowed him to go back to his daughters if one of them would return and be killed instead. However, when Beauty arrives, the Beast treats her well, yet he asks her to marry him. She refuses, although admitting that he is physically ugly but caring and kind. After some time, Beauty misses he home, and the Beast allows her to go back for a week, providing her with the finest clothes.
Upon her return home, Beauty meets her sisters, who are unhappily married and try to ruin the happiness of their younger sisters. At this point in the plot, the two older sisters are shown as malicious and jealous since they try to convince Beauty that the Beast would kill her if she returned. The Beauty, however, remembers that the Beast has treated her well and returns to his house. At the end of this fairy-tale, she agrees to marry him, which breaks an evil spell that transforms a young and handsome prince into a monster. “The Beauty and the Beast” is the representation of the mortal values that one upholds and the consequences for one’s actions, as well as the need to look beyond a person’s appearance.
The first theory applied to understand the concept of “The Beauty and the Beast” is Cultural Materialism. This approach aims to determine the historical context and value of the story. “The Beauty and the Beast” is an ancient fairy tale that has had several interpretations over the course of its existence. However, an important aspect of understanding this story is that arranged marriage has been common in the past, which is shown through the examples of Beauty’s sisters. They constantly talk about marrying wealthy and noblemen, disregarding the age of the latter or the feelings that these sisters might have towards their future husbands.
Beauty, however, chooses to marry the Beast after she realizes that he has been kind and caring towards her and that she has enjoyed his company. In return for this, she is rewarded because the Beats turns into a beautiful man after she agrees to marry him. Hence, from a cultural and historical perspective, this fairy tale shows the impaired moral values that accompany the arranged marriages and the focus on something beyond a person’s wealth or appearance.
The second theory is based on the feminist perspective and the gender roles of people. This fairy tale clearly shows a difference in how Beauty sees the world and her role in it in contrast to the views of her sisters. This is shown even at the beginning of the story when the father, who has already lost his wealth, asks his daughters what gifts he should bring to them. The two sisters request expensive gifts, while the younger one asks for a rose.
The latter gift is simple and not costly; however, it represents the Beauty and the caring attitude of the girl’s father. Hence, from a feminist perspective, Beauty demonstrates her focus on things beyond material goods and wealth, unlike her sisters, who want to marry rich men in order to sustain their living. In the end, the sisters are unhappily married, while Beauty is rewarded for her attitude because she finds a caring man to marry.
The final theory of literary criticism is the reader-response theory, where the audience’s reaction to the text is the source for the analysis. Arguably, there is a difference in the way the readers would respond to this story, for example, during the Middle Ages and now. In the past, this fairy tale would promote novel ideas, including feminism and the need to look beyond a person’s appearance and focus on their behavior and how they treat others. However, a modern reader may find several issues with “The Beauty and the Beast,” since the plot of the story shows that the reward for Beauty’s choice is her marriage to a young, handsome, and wealthy man.
In conclusion, this paper analyses “The Beauty and the Beats” from the perspective of the cultural theory, feminist approach, and the reader-response theory. This fairy tale describes the different ways of treating others, contrasted in the marriage arrangements Of Beauty and her sisters. Considering the acceptance of the arranged marriages in the past, this tale promotes feministic ideas and emphasizes the value of morals over material wealth.
Work Cited
“The Beauty and the Beast.” World of Tales. Web.