Ever a Surprise, Ever as Before: How Belle Moves Back in Beauty and the Beast

Not All Beasts are Created Equal

The message about "good books" is lost in the movie and likewise, the lesson of virtue—arguably the main point of the 18th century story—is missed entirely. Beaumont's intellectual Beauty slowly comes to love the Beast, who is actually "good" despite his unfortunate exterior and deficiency in wit. Save for forcing the girl to be his roommate in the first place, which I guess is something we'll just have to overlook, the Beast consistently displays his friendly and cooperative disposition. Designating Beauty "queen and mistress" of his palace and himself her servant, the Beast even offers to leave if his own detainee finds his presence troublesome, which is more than I can say for most captors. In fact, his generous qualities are of no surprise to sweet Beauty, who outright admits during their first supper together, "Among mankind, there are many that deserve that name [of "monster"] more than you, and I prefer you, just as you are, to those, who, under a human form, hide a treacherous, corrupt, and ungrateful heart" (something I've personally never said on a first date).

Over the next three months, the pair contentedly dine together each evening and get to know one another, and Beauty grows quite fond of her unsightly companion. Nonetheless, she politely rejects the Beast's nightly marriage proposals, telling him that they are just friends (we've all been there) and lamenting the fact that "anything so good-natured should be so ugly". Although she doesn't like-like him, Beauty knows from Day One that the Beast is a pretty great guy underneath that outer layer of fur, sort of like Hugh Jackman.

Beauty does eventually decide to marry her heartsick suitor, albeit not quite by falling head over heels but by deductive reasoning. (I love the frank and borderline Vulcan pep talk she gives herself here: "I should be happier with the monster than my sisters are with their husbands; it is neither wit, nor a fine person, in a husband, that makes a woman happy, but virtue, sweetness of temper, and complaisance, and Beast has all these valuable qualifications. It is true, I do not feel the tenderness of affection for him, but I find I have the highest gratitude, esteem, and friendship.") When she comes to this conclusion, the moral of the story is elucidated by a fairy who has been watching the whole thing unfold: "Come and receive the reward of your judicious choice; you have preferred virtue before either wit or beauty, and deserve to find a person in whom all these qualifications are united." The Beast, who had been cursed to be ugly and dumb at the whim of a wicked fairy—there are two different fairies in this story, don't ask me why—is subsequently transformed back to being a sexy, not-dumb prince. He otherwise has the same personality traits that he had exhibited all along; it is Beauty who had the insight to recognize his goodness regardless.

In order for Belle's romance with the Beast to be even more astounding, even more profound, even less shallow, Disney chooses to make the Beast worse. The film certainly echoes the same idea as the original tale, proclaiming in its official blurb that "a delightful and tender romance develops between these two unlikely friends and Belle soon learns the most important lesson of all—that true beauty comes from within". What is worrisome is the fact that the same moral is now being applied to an entirely different "friend", one who initially exemplifies neither outer nor inner beauty.

Belle, like Beauty, comes to live in the Beast's domain basically as part of some insane deal to save her dad's life. Unlike Beauty, she does so under the Beast's furry thumb. Far more deserving of his moniker than his harmless predecessor, this Beast is a "spoiled, selfish, and unkind" prince who, being superficial himself, was punished accordingly by an enchantress to remain hideous until he loves and is loved in return. He has an uncontrollable temper and is prone to unpredictable fits of abusive fury, screaming and tearing apart various parts of his castle with regularity. Whereas Beaumont's Beast self-effacingly asks permission to dine with Beauty, practically retreating before she even answers, Disney's Beast threatens Belle with starvation when she refuses to come to dinner during her first night in his custody—only one of his numerous explosions.

Soon, after a single, quickly-abandoned attempt at escape, Belle settles into a routine of teaching and mothering her impounder. For example, she tries to train him to eat with utensils and when he struggles, they compromise and both slurp from the bowl. Ho ho! How lovely. In the ensuing montage set to the tune "Something There" (BEST SONG), the pair frolic in the snow as Belle melodiously ponders with alarming irrationality:

But he was mean and he was coarse and unrefined
And now he's dear
And so I'm sure
I wonder why I didn't see it there before

The lyrics' sudden shift in sentiment reflects the equally abrupt switch in Belle's feelings toward the Beast, whom she now finds endearing. She convinces herself that she must have overlooked his charm when, in reality, she was the one who patiently improved him. She "didn't see it there before" because it wasn't there before. Belle molds the monster into a roughly passable gentleman, then falls in love with her fashioning. It's true that he turns out quite well, especially after the Extreme Makeover at the end, but the Beast was far from a virtuous man prior to her instruction. Therefore, unlike Beaumont's story (and contrary to the movie's synopsis), it isn't a case of discovering the "true beauty" that lies within a person. The film attempts to convey the same message as the fairy tale but, by drastically modifying the nature of the Beast in order to make Beauty look better, alters its meaning entirely.