![]() But there is also a similar tale in the Pentamerone from the 1630s, involving a monster marrying a beautiful princess. There was a 1740 version (much longer) also published in French, by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, and this is the first version of the tale of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ as we now know it.īefore that, Madame d’Aulnoy, French queen of the fairy tale (and originator of the term), had written ‘Mouton’, or ‘The Royal Ram’, which appeared in an English translation in 1721, and shares some similarities with ‘Beauty and the Beast’. But in fact, as already noted, the basic plot of the story dates back far earlier. ‘Beauty and the Beast’ appeared in Madame Leprince de Beaumont’s Magasin des enfans, ou dialogues entre une sage Gouvernante et plusieurs de ses Élèves in 1756. ![]() ‘Beauty and the Beast’: different versions Why did ‘Beauty and the Beast’ become popular when it did? This is difficult to pinpoint for sure, and any analysis of the fairy tale’s popularity must be based partly on conjecture, but it’s possible to see it as a tale promoting the idea of marriage to someone you might not necessarily find attractive: it is significant that Beauty’s father is a merchant, and his daughters either want to marry wealthy and aristocratic men or else it is expected that they will.Īrranged marriages were common in France at the time: was ‘Beauty and the Beast’, in the last analysis, a sort of ‘handbook’ for young brides entering into marriages with hideous older men, all hair and bad breath but with a good kind heart underneath (if they were lucky)? It’s not that there’s no way of interpreting or analysing this so that it makes sense, just that the story’s moral is not as straightforward as it is in some other fairy tales. Beauty’s reward for prizing virtue above physical good looks is … an attractive husband. ![]() Beauty only comes to love the Beast because she is placed under house arrest at his home she initially doesn’t want to be there.Īnd the moral of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ seems to be all over the place. ![]() Stockholm Syndrome: this has made the tale of Beauty and the Beast unpalatable in some circles. ![]()
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